RE: NANFA-- breeding darters

Mark (markb_at_columbus.rr.com)
Fri, 17 Jan 2003 17:28:48 -0500

At 3:51 PM -0500 1/17/03, Ashton, Matthew J. wrote:
>yes the light cycle is pretty rediculous but because its a public
>viewing thing i dont have as much say in the light cycle as i want. i am
>running at abotu 55 now but its an 8-5 photoperiod. tons of javamoss
>clumps scattered over the tank as well as two anubus plants. ive also
>found that taking a plastic plant (coontail) and letting javamoss invade
>it forms a nice looking natural mop. by the colors the fish have right
>now youd think theyd be ready to spawn any second but alas im still
>eggless. wish natives were as easy as tropicals were for me.

If they have been on a consistent 9-hour-light (8am-5pm) photoperiod, pick
up a timer for 6.00 bucks at your favorite discounter (K-mart, etc), set it
for a longer on-period and plug in your light through the timer. I won't
say whether you have to increase the day length gradually or just bump it
up all at once. I don't really know. A sudden bump-up might get the males
going without the females having time to develop mature eggs. If you
wanted to be scientific, you could set up two tanks and do one treatment on
each. You would have to isolate them from one another with light proof
barriers, though, or it won't be a valid experiment. What you want to end
up with is a long day similar to what they would have in their native
habitat in the spring and summer. I think overkill is OK, so shoot for
maybe 15 hours of light and 9 hours of dark. Beware, if you have displays
of sunfishes nearby, they will also respond to this treatment and become
more aggressive. Cool temps will help to counteract that.

Mark
Ohio
USA
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