What is the dry time for this species at room temp?
Is Langton 3 okay?
Thanks for any info.
Darrell

Hello Darrell,

The incubation time of Nothobranchius Cardinalis is between 8 and 12 weeks, but my personal experience with Nothobranchius Cardinalis Lisinjiri River Tan 97/27 is the following.

My first hatch the temperature was between 23-25°C. was at 4 months. Then , something bizar came on, the second hatch the eggs were not ready after 5, 6, 7, 8, then the 9th month they all hatched. So, please do not give up hope as they can go into diapause II for a long time. Depending on the oxygen, temperature and dryness. I talked to Ruud Wildekamp about this and he concluded the same. I do not know if Brian shares the same experience and maybe he can explain why in nature this might be the case,at the lisinjiri river?

I believe that they are a very playfull fish and they are very prone to velvet. They need regular water changes and i use some salt from time to time. My first hatch they were habited by my feeding times and they even ate out of my hands, it was very nice to see.

Today, both Mbwemkuru River KTZ 85-28 and Lisinjiri River Tan 97-27 are in the hobby and commonly spread although the Lisinjiri was a few years ago less in the hobby. The lisinjiri strain has a completely red anal fin, whereas the Mbwemkuru has a yellow line in the bottom of the anal fin.

as with all fish, you need to check for diapause III (the eyes in the eggs) before wetting the eggs. It takes some experience especially with small eggs such as N. Janpapi but it saves you wetting the peat unneeded.

greetings
Tom

In general, under the conditions that most hobbyists maintain and breed Nothos, the incubation times will be far less than they are under natural conditions. I have discussed this subject in my article on the ecology of Nothobranchius in the JAKA special issue (March/April, 2009) so will not repeat that in detail here. Essentailly, the conditions under which most hobbyists breed these fish are such that the timing of the stimuli, and the nature of the stimuli, that cause the embryo to go into, and come out of, the various diapauses can be quite different under captive conditions compared to those in the natural habitat.

We are able to take eggs of many Notho species such as N. cardinalis through to a fully developed and “ready to hatch” stage (Diapause III) in about 2-4 months. However, in nature that process would take at least the duration of one dry season, at least 6-8 months. Under natural conditions the eggs are spawned into an anaerobic substrate where most will immediately enter Diapause I. They will (in my opinion) remain in that state until the habitat dries up causing them to enter Diapause II. They then remain in that state until after the habitat substrate is moistened by the very early rains at the start of the following rainy season. At that stage they will enter Diapause III. After the habitat has contained water for some time and anaerobic conditions have again developed in the enclosing substrate, the eggs will hatch. In the case of N. cardinalis that sequence can take perhaps 7-9 months. If Notho eggs developed as fast in nature as they generally do when we breed them under captive conditions, then embryo development would be out of phase with the seasonal changes and conditions in the habitat substrate, and the species simply could not survive.

By contrast, under captive conditions, the eggs will mostly be deposited in an aerobic spawning medium and incubated under more or less constant conditions, with respect to moisture content (which will probably also be somewhat higher than under natural conditions), oxygen/carbon dioxide ratio and temperature, and will progress much more rapidly through the diapauses, perhaps even skipping one or two.

As an aside, it is possible to simulate natural conditions somewhat more closely by allowing the fish to spawn in a thick, dense mass of fine peat moss, and by harvesting it infrequently (at, say, intervals of every two months or so). That will allow anaerobic conditions to develop in the peat moss, simulating the conditions in the natural substrate. Storing the eggs in peat moss with a relatively low moisture content and at relatively low temperatures will also prolong incubation although care should be taken not to allow the moisture content of the peat moss storage medium to become too dry.

The incubation time of Notho eggs bred in captivity is, obviously, dependant on a number of factors that can vary, depending on conditions that we cannot always predict or sufficiently control. For that reason, I am always uncomfortable recommending a specific incubation period for a particular species. As Tom points out, after the usual recommended time, examine the eggs and, if eyed-up eggs (in Diapause III or pre-hatching stage) are in evidence, then wet the peat moss and you will probably get a hatch. If all you can see are clear eggs then it is probably too early.

Tom, you make the statement that: “The lisinjiri strain has a completely red anal fin, whereas the Mbwemkuru has a yellow line in the bottom of the anal fin.” While it is true that the Mbwemkuru strain in the hobby can have a yellow margin to the anal fin, it is not a uniform characteristic. It is something that seems to have developed through generations of captive-bred fish, especially in Europe. I maintained the Mbwemkuru population from F1 specimens for more than 10 years and never had a specimen with a yellow margin to the anal. When we collected the Lisinjiri River population in 1997, I was still maintaining it and I could see no difference between them.

Brian Watters