Kuhli breeding attempt.

[malfunkshun]

The leaves are indian almond (Terminalia catappa) bought from a eBay shop.








A few weeks later some cherry shrimp moved in.

The leaves started to give the water a beautiful amber colour.


What it looks like now. Currently there are 10 kuhlis and 15 cherry shrimps living there along with some Endlers guppys untill they get their own.




The temperature is 26.5, soft water and a pH around 6.5.
Anything I've missed?

[Mad Duff]

Looking good.

What sort of filtration do you have in there ?

I have found that my Pangio's really like it when the almond leaves are shredded up or cut into pieces with the hard stems removed, they spend hours swimming in and out of the bits of leaves.

[chefkeith]

Beautiful tank.

Breeding pangio kuhli's is very ambitious. I hope you have success. Not many have done it on purpose.

[Ded1]

What was the price of leaves if I may ask?

[malfunkshun]

Looking good.

What sort of filtration do you have in there ?

I have found that my Pangio's really like it when the almond leaves are shredded up or cut into pieces with the hard stems removed, they spend hours swimming in and out of the bits of leaves.

I have a small "shrimp safe" internal filter, think it's about 100-150l/h, giving a slight current simulating a slow moving stream.

Thanks for the tip. I've shredded them now and it seems to be quite popular

Beautiful tank.

Breeding pangio kuhli's is very ambitious. I hope you have success. Not many have done it on purpose.

Thanks!
Yes, it's a bit ambitious. But I have nothing to lose really. And from what I've read so far most of the successful spawnings has occurred when the tank is almost neglected. Don't know how true this is, but I only plan to do what's absolutely necessary with the tank and just leave it the way it is.

What was the price of leaves if I may ask?

I think I payed about $15 for 100 leaves with shipping included. There is a link in my first post. Just click "eBay".

[Ded1]

Thanks, didn't noticed the link. Sorry if I am off topic a bit here, but those leaves really interest me. You put them to lower pH? For how long can you rely on them to low the ph in tank?

They eventually also sink I persume ?

[andyroo]

Yes, the leaves sink. It can take a day or so. With loaches, synodonts and plecos they last for about 3-5 weeks- after that they are only stems and structures. Quite pretty by that point. Everybody picks at them- angels, cats, tetras, RTS, swordtails, snails, fan-shrimp, gobies........
Last time i tried them my Y-modesta freaked out, so i took the leaves out. I think i'll try again now that summer's here and the water's a little warmer. There's a few trees in the yard.
A

[malfunkshun]

Well it's been a while now since I posted in this thread. But I'm still attempting to breed these adorable fishes.
Just a few minutes ago I was doing some routine maintenance and noticed one interesting thing...

MY KUHLIS WAS BREEDING...I think.

I have a seriously thick layer of crystalwort (Riccia fluitans), a good 2 inches in some places, on the surface. It was full of really fat kuhlis and some not so fat. And I mean FAT, like seriously plump ones. Looked lite hot dogs with fins.
It was crawling with them right below the surface in the crystalwort.
The water is "old" and really mature and somewhat stagnant. I remembered reading somewhere that people that had successful breeding (by accident) often had neglected tanks with a low water level.

This is what I have aimed at the whole time.
I have noticed some smaller (1½") kuhlis earlier in the tank but not really paid much attention to it thinking they are stunted old ones. Going through the current population I notice an increase in fishes, meaning they have spawned a few times at least. Found around 30, starting with 10 I think.
No point in asking for photos since I didn't find anything worth photographing. Found no eggs or fishes smaller than 1-1½ inch. I heard the eggs are supposed to be green and sticky. Not easy to find in crystalwort

So, it seems they like stagnant water with a lot of maze like plants on the surface. Mission accomplished