Maybe we should try to organise a wish-list of info needed for the next
trip out there. I would like to hear more about stomach contents, water
chemistry, temperature variation ( I get the impression that it is not too
variable despite the location.) and perhaps levels of nitrogneous wastes in
the water.
BTW I was interested to see the Etymology in FOS - I thought the Scat- part
might have been from dung (from the cattle dung around the springs) as in
Scatophagus ;-)
Bruce Hansen
ANGFA
email: bhansen at ozemail.com.au
Don't miss the ANGFA web pages at -
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~fisher/angfa.htm
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From: Adrian R. Tappin <atappin at ecn.net.au>
I found that even with wild stock the success rate was very low. My initial
wild stock consisted of 2 males and five females and the number of eggs
collected over the first 3 weeks was 180. Of these only 79 hatched - a mere
43%. The problem I find is similiar to Peters in that getting eggs is not
the problem getting them to hatch is! I find that many of the eggs are soft
and of course don't hatch. I haven't done a percentage check on good eggs
lately but suspect that its still around 40% or less.
I thought perhaps it may have been water conditions and bumped up the
alkalinity but that didn't seem to make any difference also tried
increasing
the salinity but again nothing? I also tried feeding them different types
of
foods but it doesn't seem to matter either.