{"id":206933,"date":"2026-02-01T08:32:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T07:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/how-i-raise-the-nothobranchius\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T08:32:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T07:32:23","slug":"how-i-raise-the-nothobranchius","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/en\/how-i-raise-the-nothobranchius\/","title":{"rendered":"How I raise the Nothobranchius"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Zo breng ik Nothobranchius groot<\/h2>\n\n

There is no need to provide aeration or filtration in the “raising trays.” I never change the water in the trays. I only top them up with aged water as the fry grow. Remember to use only aged water. If you add water straight from the taps, all the fry will be dead the next day. I age my water by letting it stand in a bucket for at least 2 days. <\/p>\n\n

Nothobranchius <\/a>fry do not take well to water changes. I find that a certain amount of neglect works best when raising Notho fry. Changing water, checking on the trays several times a day, overfeeding or moving the trays about unnecessarily can result in massive die-offs. <\/p>\n\n

\"1
1 day old Nothobranchius rachovii<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

One of the best food for Nothobranchius fry is baby brine shrimp. I feed only once a day during the first week. Do not overfeed as too much uneaten brine shrimp can contaminate the water and kill the fry. Microworms and vinegar eels are suitable fry food too but it can be a hassle harvesting them. Swollen bellies are a sure sign that the fry are eating well. <\/p>\n\n

Fish rarely starve to death. More often than not, it is overfeeding that kills them. Do not be over-zealous when feeding the fry. A few drops of baby brine shrimp from a turkey baster is sufficient food for 20 fry in a 20 cm X 20 cm tray. <\/p>\n\n

\"1
1 week old Nothobranchius rachovii<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Raise the water level as the fry grow. Always keep an eye out for dead fish and remove them from the tray as soon as you spot them. Killies are good jumpers but Notho fry won’t jump so there is no need to put any cover on the tray. <\/p>\n\n

\"3-week-old
3-week-old Nothobranchius rachovii<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Do not leave your “raising tray” directly under the sun. It can get too hot for the fry as still water heats up in a very short time. Usually, a layer of scum\/oil will form on the surface of the water. It won’t do any harm to the fish but if it bothers you, remove it by sliding a sheet of newspaper over the surface. <\/p>\n\n

When the fry are 2 weeks old, I supplement their diet of baby brine shrimps with chopped tubifex worms. That’s when their growth rate starts to accelerate. At 3 weeks of age, the fry are ready to be transferred into a proper tank. <\/p>\n\n

\"1-month-old
1-month-old Nothobranchius rachovii<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

I use small tanks to raise the 3 week old fry to adult stage. My tanks are about 20 litres in volume. I usually try to grow some plants inside the tanks. Micranthemum micranthemoides<\/a> or Hygrophila difformis<\/a> are plants that can be grown quite easily without having to provide CO2 injection or artificial lighting. Floating plants like Duckweed<\/a>, Salvinia natans<\/a> and Ceratophyllum demersum (Hornwort)<\/a> are good for killie tanks too as they help prevent the fish from jumping. <\/p>\n\n

Notho fry won’t jump but adults will. And they will jump through the narrowest of gaps. So if you don’t want to find your fish all dried out on the floor, cover the tank with a plastic mesh or something. <\/p>\n\n

\"6-week-old
6-week-old Nothobranchius rachovii<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

You will never hatch every egg you get nor raise every fry you hatch. It’s very much a numbers game. In nature, for every fry that reaches adult stage, hundreds perish. So be happy if you can raise 75% of your fry to the adult stage. <\/p>\n\n

\"Adult
Adult Nothobranchius rachovii<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Photos: Loh Kwek Leong – Hristo Hristov<\/a>Source: www.Killies.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A step-by-step guide to raising newly hatched Nothobranchus fry. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":81504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56812],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-206933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-killifish"],"featured_image_urls_v2":{"full":["https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Nothobranchius-rachovii-Kruger-National-Park.jpg",800,600,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Nothobranchius-rachovii-Kruger-National-Park-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Nothobranchius-rachovii-Kruger-National-Park-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Nothobranchius-rachovii-Kruger-National-Park-768x576.jpg",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Nothobranchius-rachovii-Kruger-National-Park.jpg",800,600,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Nothobranchius-rachovii-Kruger-National-Park.jpg",800,600,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Nothobranchius-rachovii-Kruger-National-Park.jpg",800,600,false],"commercegurus-pdp-large":["https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Nothobranchius-rachovii-Kruger-National-Park.jpg",800,600,false],"commercegurus-plp-mobile":["https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Nothobranchius-rachovii-Kruger-National-Park.jpg",441,331,false],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Nothobranchius-rachovii-Kruger-National-Park-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Nothobranchius-rachovii-Kruger-National-Park-600x450.jpg",600,450,true],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Nothobranchius-rachovii-Kruger-National-Park-150x113.jpg",150,113,true]},"post_excerpt_stackable_v2":"

A step-by-step guide to raising newly hatched Nothobranchus fry. <\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"Killifish<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"Loh Kwek Leon","url":"https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/en\/author\/loh-kwek-leon\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aquainfo.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}