"Fundulopanchax gardneri N'sukka...They spawned???"
or "The Algae In My Turtle Tank Is Pearling"

By Brian Torreano
First published in Splash, Milwaukee Aquarium Society,
and Wisconsin Area Killifish Organization newsletter
See also Brian's website about North American native fish: www.btdarters.com
Aquarticles

Well, for those of you who are killie keepers, I can't promise that you won't cringe while reading this article, but hang on...it has a good ending.

This story begins with a tank, a turtle, some guppies, and a trio of Fundulopanchax gardneri N'sukka. The turtle, a Ouachita (pronounced: watch-it-tah) Map Turtle came into my possession about 4 years ago. There is one very important thing you have to know about this turtle, no matter how hungry he got in the 4 years I had him, he never ate any fish in his tank. Actually, I had bought the guppies at about the same time that I got the turtle, and placed them in his tank so that he would have some food if, on a busy day, I forgot to feed him. But he never ate any. In the 4 years I had him, many generations of guppies lived and died in that tank, and had babies, but none were ever eaten. It is for that reason that I knew when I got the Fundulopanchax that they would be safe in his tank. It wasn't that I wanted to put the killies in a turtle tank, it was just that I didn't have any room for them in any other tank. So when I got them, in they went.

Now I have to tell you about the water quality in the turtle tank. You may think from the title of this article that I didn't take good care of my charges. Nothing could be further from the truth. I'm not saying that the water was changed twice daily and three times on Saturday, but the water, for a turtle tank, was pretty clean. Initially I kept an airstone in the turtle tank water and changed 100% of the water as needed. There was little algae in the tank on the glass, and a little in the gravel, but that was mostly picked-clean by the guppies. Eventually, filtration was added to the tank. This came at a time when a friend of mine was taking care of the turtle and guppies for me. I think that he may have been putting a little too much food in the tank because he was changing 100% of the water every day and still couldn't keep the water clean. He tried a number of different filters and eventually stumbled upon the Duetto Multi Filter by Aquarium Systems. Man, did that puppy work! Kept the water in the turtle tank spit-polished clean for more than long-enough for my friend to catch his breath. He only had to change the water about once a week then. Well, when I got my turtle and guppies back from my friend he let me keep the filter. I was happy about that after hearing all of the problems he had. So at that time, I had a clean tank with a turtle and guppies.

Back to the killifish. The killifish went into the turtle tank without much fanfare. As I mentioned, they went in the turtle tank out of necessity. As I am a darter person, I can't really say that I really gave them as much attention as I would a new pair of Rainbow Darters or Cherry Darters or the like. They were just another trio of fish to me. In fact, for a while, I forgot about them. I continued to feed the turtle and guppies, and change their water, but didn't give a moment's thought to the killifish. In fact, I am not sure how they survived that time of forgetfulness. At feeding time, the turtle got turtle sticks, and the guppies got flake food and that was it. On to the next tank. But one day I noticed something different. One of the guppies was a little redder than all the rest and had a little different shape. It was eating flake food but was clearly not a guppy. Then I remembered that I had put some killifish in there. In fact, I had left the empty fish bag with their name on it next to the turtle tank. "Hmmm. Fundulopanchax gardneri N'sukka, interesting!", I said. As I looked closer in the tank, I found the other two N'sukka. They were still alive! This after months of flake food alone. I quickly got some blackworms and put them in the tank near the killies. They hesitated at first, maybe they forgot what blackworms were? But soon all of the wriggling enticed them to bite. Soon they were eating blackworms regularly at feeding time. Sounds great, right? Well, one more thing had to happen before they spawned.

Up to this point, I have left one thing out about my turtle...He was a biter. Every time I took him out of the tank to check up on him and make sure that he was OK, he would bite me. Now this wasn't a huge turtle, we're not talking Alligator Snapper here, but the turtle's biting was just enough to irritate me. I am a very hands-on type of person and the fact that my turtle would bite me every time I checked on him really started to get to me. So, after months of deliberation I decided to get rid of the turtle. A friend, who promised not to pick up the turtle much, was soon the recipient of my Ouachita Map Turtle. This left only the guppies and the N'sukka in the tank. Well, for the person who bought 20 guppies in a bag at the MAS spring auction, you got my guppies. This left only the N'sukka in the tank. At this time I increased the water level in the tank and continued to feed the killies a steady diet of blackworms and flake food. Although the water was crystal-clear, there must have been some nutrients left in the gravel because after a few days of guppy-less-ness, a thin mat of algae began to form on the gravel. It was inoffensive at first, but after about 7 days there really was a thick mat of it going. It even started to "pearl". (For those of you who don't know what that term means in relation to aquarium husbandry, it means that the algae was creating so much oxygen that visible bubbles formed on the surface of the algae.). Also on that seventh day I noticed something else in the tank. I saw a little fish, about a quarter inch in length, swimming among the algae's oxygen bubbles. At first I thought I had missed one of the guppies when I cleared them out of the tank. Upon further examination I noticed that this little fish was red and not guppy-shaped at all. Could it be? Had the N'sukka actually spawned? I looked harder. There were more of these little wonders swimming among the fake plants and algae. I wondered if I had enough for the BAP requirements. Sure enough, there were at least 5. Wow, I finally did it! Fundulopanchax gardneri N'sukka...They Spawned!!! And the algae in the tank pearls a little brighter now.