Diehard Aphanius

Joined
Jun 10, 2017
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Location
Adriatic Coast Italy
Hardiness Zone
9
Country
Italy
For a few years I have been wanting to keep some Aphanius, small killies from around the Mediterranean. Here in Italy Aphanius fasciatus is naturally occuring, seldom on freshwater, often in brackish and sometimes in hyperyaline waters (up to 4 times saltier than the sea!). As a first attempt I wanted to try Aphanius mento, originally from southern Turkey. It is ok with next to freezing temperature up to baking hot and is ok even in freshwater as long as quite hard.
Tried to hatch them from eggs I got on Aquabid but none born, ordered 4 pairs from Charles Zammit a breeder in Malta. He posted me 4 pairs and they took 11 days to arrive (today), mostly spent at the Italian postal customs in Milan (so useless it is not even a joke). To my surprise 7 out of 8 are alive and well. Will leave them in a holding tank for a few days for them to recover, as soon as the boys colour up and start chasing the girls I will sort the pairs, put 2 pairs in individual tanks for insurance/breeding and the rest straight in their tub (that I have added with a mix of minerals)
Fingers crossed!
 
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Very nice, Paul! I look forward to hearing about your success. Given their wonderful adaptability, what specific gravity and temperature will you use? Also, nice video.
Stephen
 
Joined
Jun 10, 2017
Messages
63
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Location
Adriatic Coast Italy
Hardiness Zone
9
Country
Italy
Hi, for the moment I have them in a QT tank with grit (the stuff you give to hens to help them make the eggshell) as a substrate. It is actually crushed Maerl (coralline) algae. It has pushed the TDS of my tapwater from 100 to about 450 ppm. I added various salts to the tub (some of the fish) will go into but it absolutely poured with rain yesterday so may have diluted it somewhat so I will have to add some more salts (and fetch the resident frog out) before I put any Aphanius in
 

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