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I 



Breeding Haplochilus Cameronensis 



HUGO C. NELLES 



President, Ridgewood Aquarium Society 



Much is heard of the difficulties and 

 the insignificant results attendant upon 

 attempts to breed Haplochilus cameron- 

 ensis, one of our most beautiful aquar- 

 ium fishes. The usual procedure in 

 breeding the species of Haplochilus is 

 to place floating plants in the tank con- 

 taining the breeding pair. When eggs 

 are discovered, either the plants to which 

 they are adhering or the adult fish are 

 placed in another receptacle. I followed 

 this plan with poor success, rearing com- 

 paratively few young in proportion to 

 the number of eggs secured. This be- 

 ing the usual result with other aquarists, 

 I put on my "thinking cap," deciding to 

 leave the beaten path and follow a new 

 system. That I was successful is proven 

 by 200 fine fish raised from three breed- 

 ing pairs. 



In the early spring I was fortunate in 

 possessing five pairs. From them I se- 

 lected three well-matched pairs, taking 

 care to avoid direct inbreeding. These 

 were placed in an aquarium holding a 

 gallon, the bottom covered to a depth of 

 1 */2 inches with bird gravel and sparsely 

 planted with Sagittaria subulata. A 

 bunch of Utricularia, the tiny species, 

 floated at the surface covering about 

 half of the area. The temperature was 

 about 80 degrees. Daphne and my 

 "Faultless" food were fed alternately. 



On former occasions and when feed- 

 ing by the old method I had noticed, 

 when the Utricularia was removed and 

 placed in a white basin, numerous brown- 

 ish microscopic animals darting to and 

 fro in the water dripping from the plants. 

 When I examined the water in the breed- 



ing tank I now discovered similar crea- 

 tures. Water from the hydrant after 

 standing for a few days and then ex- 

 amined under the microscope was also 

 found to contain many organisms, not 

 as many as in the aquarium water, but 

 still enough to make me decide to use 



Haplochilus cameronensis West Africa 



Photograph by Lee S. Crandall 



sterilized water in which to develop the 

 eggs. A quantity was therefore boiled 

 and placed aside, well covered, for sev- 

 eral days before using. 



Eight days after placing the breeding 

 pairs in the aquarium I examined the 

 floating plants for spawn and found 

 some. A quart jar was then filled with 

 the water previously boiled and set aside, 

 this, as should be, was the same temper- 

 ature as that in the aquarium. The plants 

 were then placed in a basin before a 

 strong light — then the fun started. Hold- 

 ing up piece after piece against the light 

 I carefully picked off the eggs one by 

 one, just 67, dropping them into the jar 



