Fellows:
Can I use as a ground Coco Fiber for my Nothos,
previously clean and rinse?
Thanks in advance for your answer

I just saw this post. I have been gone for most of September and October. In answer to your question. Yes, coco fiber works very well for Nothobranchius. I just take a brick, place it in a tub and fill with hot water. It will take a few days for everything to settle. I just store it in the tub until I need some. I then rinse a net full with hot water and it is ready to use.

Bob Morenski

Morenski:
Thanks very much for your information.Receive my best personal regards,from Buenos Aires,Argentina

I have to say that the eggs I got from Bob have been much easier to find in the coco fiber.

Bob, in using coir horticulturally we find that it dries out more quickly than peat. Have you had any problems with it drying out more quickly in long term storage for species like rachovii, fuzeri, Cyn. itapicuruensis, etc? I've been debating moving to using coir myself, but I don't check eggs from May to August. So if they dry out more quickly, I'll have to take steps to reduce moisture loss.

Also, coir is more pH neutral and does not break down quckly (coir has been found to last for up to 20 years) which is a major bonus. It is also less hydrophobic, which means it reabsorbs water more quickly.

I don't always use Coco fiber as a spawning medium for Nothos but when I do I always blend it with regular peat moss, more or less in a 1:1 or 1:2 ratio (Coco fiber: peat moss). I find that the Coco fiber is rather coarse and granular and many Nothos prefer a softer substrate. Also, in my experience, Notho eggs simply survive better when in a finer peat than they do when in a coarse and granular medium. For me, the viability rate of eggs in peat moss is significantly better than in Coco fiber.

There is also the disadvantage already pointed out in that it dries more rapidly and, since I usually have very long incubation times, that can be a problem - for me at least. One advantage of Coco fiber is that when thoroughly wet it is heavier than peat moss to tends to stay in spawning containers better than does peat. However, if you harvest the peat often (which I don't) then that is not a serious issue.

Brian Watters

Hi Nick and Brian,

I have been using coir almost exclusively for the last year. I do not dry it out like I would with peat. When I remove the peat from a spawning cup, I squeeze out as much water as I can in a fine mess net. I then take 3 to 4 sheets of old newspaper and roll the coir up tight to remove excess moisture. I then dump it in a freezer bag for storage with out any additional drying. I have stored many eggs in excess of 7 months with no problems.

I have not noticed any drop off in egg production with Nothobranchius. I think it works better for Nothos than it does for South American annuals.

Bob

Thanks Bob and Brian. I'm going to try a couple of different methods. I'll likely have to double bag as my peat tends to get somewhat dry in storage, even if I put it away fairly wet.

I'm interested to find out how it works for species that have the tendency for eggs to break down in storage. If the phenomenon is from too low of a pH, coir might reduce the problem as it's more pH stable. It's also coarser and promotes more oxygen to reach the eggs. I picked up Renova oscari at WAKO, which is a SA species that reportedly has the problem. I have them over peat right now, but will switch to coir at some point.

Nick

I have a problem with wetting peat (from Jiffy Peat Pellets). Some times it does not sink but floats for days. Some sinks and eggs hatch, but the floating peat makes it very difficult to see the fry. I think sometimes I have some hatch and cannot see them and either re-dry them with the peat or discard them. Of course, that may be unjustified concern, but I would like to get sinking peat. Will coir or different peat be better?

Lee,

I think you are referring to the peat floating after wetting for hatching. In my experience coir also floats on the surface after wetting. I learned a trick from Brian Watters that solves this problem.

I use peat exclusively. I don't like coir for the reasons already mentioned. When I wet the peat for hatching I do so in shoe boxes. I have a fine net with a wire frame that I "remodelled" by bending the frame such that it fits snugly across the shoe box. After I wet the peat I work it with my fingers to break up any lumps and to encourage as much as possible to sink. I then allow it to stand for a few minutes, at which time any floating peat will have come to the top. I take that net and scoop that floating peat out, which I return to the original storage bag. If I decide to re-store that batch of peat after removing fry, I put it back in that bag too.

Any eggs will sink when you wet and break up the peat so you will not lose hatchable eggs.

After doing this there is minimal peat on the surface and when the fry hatch you'll be able to see them. It also aids in scooping the fry off the peat for raising.

All these comments pertain to Nothos but should apply equally well to SA annuals.

Barry Cooper

I routinely double bag my peat for storage, using 2X 2 mil poly bags. I also ensure that the peat volume is fairly large (usually fist-sized at a minimum) as that will also help with moisture retention. Quite often that will mean that I will actually have to add moist peat moss to the harvested spawning medium to increase the volume for storage. When I do add peat in that way it is always fine peat derived from peat pellets.

Provided the peat moss is not wet to the point where it will not "crumble" apart, sufficient oxygen will reach the eggs regardless of the granularity of the peat. However, in the extreme, where the peat is fine and very wet (and the pore spaces in the peat mass are effectively filled with water), anaerobic conditions can develop in the peat mass during storage and result in extended incubation times (because the eggs become locked in an early diapause).

In my experience, the eggs of some species of Nothos seem to be less viable in the coir medium, not only during storage but also while the medium is still in the tank. I suspect that the activity of the fish during spawning results in the eggs becoming damaged by the relatively coarse, harder, and more abrasive, coir particles. In this regard, for me, N. ocellatus and N. orthonotus are especially bad.

Brian Watters