Hi Donna, Haven't noticed this recently, on the market, maybe for the reason that you mention as them being advertised lately on the kids' channel. Interesting though, although just another older gimmick to dupe the unsuspecting out of their money to help make a company (or some 'enterprising' individual) richer at the public's expense.
This is not a new concept, as it was first tried some 52 years ago back in 1958. Sort of reminds me of the "Sea Monkey's" (that are seen mentioned in your link) scam, when salt and brine shrimp eggs were sold to the gullible public under that fancy name. Almost as bad as the 'Pet Rock' craze, only that people knew what they were buying when they bought rocks.
When this "Grow-a-Fish" idea first came about back in the late '50's, a outfit by the name of Whammo Company introduced the thought at a pet trade show in New York City. You may remember hearing of the fad of "Hula-Hoops" that were the rage back then. These were produced by the Whammo Company -- Richard P. Knerr and Arthur K. Melin. Well, another company (by the name of Butterfly Art) at this trade show picked up on the idea of instant fish and shortly thereafter approached Dr. James Atz (Assistant Curator then, to Christopher Coates -- Curator) of the New York Public Aquarium to obtain inform about such fishes that would produce living young after being stored nearly dry for some time. The company later teamed up with Whammo, allowing them to market the idea while they both shared the profits.
With the information that certain annual Killiefish went through such a stage, Butterfly Art approached a good friend of mine, Rosario LaCorte, who contracted to (only) supply them with the needed eggs. Rosario sold this company some 250,000 eggs during the remainder of 1958. As he was only the supplier of these eggs, and did so in good faith, he had no part in trying to dupe the public with this concept, and even objected tio the name used at that time of "Wham-O Instant Fish," as it sounds like you're going to get 'Live Fish' (adult size, as the name might imply) when placing the contents in the water -- NOT FRY. They too, gave the buyer 6 eggs, and a packet of BBS eggs -- which, as we know, won't give a very good hatch after being on the dealers shelf for any extended length of time. Brine shrimp eggs need to be stored refrigerated to have any kind of shelf life.
I would have to guess that these present "Magic Powder" fish eggs are most probably from one of the commoner Nothobranchius species from East Africa, as most South American Annuals are rarer for the most part, even though Whammo did use Cynolebias whitei as one of their offerings at the time, which I believe they developed an albino strain of which still persists today; C. Whitei is a S.A. Annual. I believe Rosario supplied the company with Nothobranchius guentheri that he had collected the parents of on the plains within sight of Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Around this same time, Steinhart Aquarium in Californa also gave the idea to Rosario of the possibility of using eggs of the marine Grunion fish which deposits eggs in the sand during Spring high Tide, when the tide is at its maximum. This was demonstrated to Rosario at his hatchery and he was amazed at how, as soon as the dried eggs hit the water, they hatched into free-swimming fry -- although this idea was never used as it would be as convenient as breeding Killiefish. Dr. Herbert Axelrod was also another one to approach Rosario to supply him with Annual eggs for his offering of them, but Rosario was already committed to Whammo for supplying them with eggs at this time. None of these ventures lasted very long, as even though instructions came with the kit, best results were only had if one already had aquarium experience -- and many buyers did not.
While there are a relatively few species of Killiefish that can be aggressive, even including some Annuals from South America (Austrofundulis transilis, as an example), MOST all other Killiefish are extremely peaceful. There are also some exceptions from Africa, as I've had Fundulopanchax occidentalis Toddi (now called, Fundulopanchax toddi) that was extremely aggressive.
Many of the Nothobranchius species' males are noted for being hard drivers of the females when spawning, but this behavior is in efforts to preserve themselves as a species when considering their temporary pools dry up in about 9 months and they need to deposit enough eggs for the following season to be able to continue as a species. The F. toddi is a Semi-Annual and behaves as such for the same reason. I don't know what possesses your American Flag Fish Killie (Jordanella floridae) to behave aggressively when you had them, as they're not Annuals, but unfortunately, some 'Pupfish' such as this species will behave aggressively. For the most part though, as I've already mentioned previously, I'll reiterate that most Killies are quite peaceful. You need to just try the old favorite Lyretail Killiefish (Aphyosemion australe) -- which has been in the hobby over 100 years -- to see how "more normal" Killiefish behave. There are many similar Killies which are just as peaceful, so there's no reason to give them a bad rap because of a few. Ray
--- In tropicalfishclub@yahoogroups.com, Donna King <donnalynneking@...> wrote:
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> http://www.toysforoutdoors.co.uk/#/magic-fish/4539744261
> Hey all have you seen this on the market.
> Its killie fish eggs called "magic powder".
> At least the care instructions are better than the Grow a Frog kit where they
> tell you to keep the frogs in tiny cubes and don't explain anything about the
> need to change the water. I have a hard time believing you would be able to
> hatch enough BBS to feed 6 fry.
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> I wonder if the killie groups have seen these. I've seen adds for these running
> on Qubo (kids channel) .
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> I hope they are a breed that don't grow and get mean like so many of them do.
> Donna
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