# Killifish!



## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

After wild bettas, killifish are my favourite species of fish. However, I hadn't had the chance to own any up until last weekend. I now own two pairs, have a third I'm picking up Sunday and am more than likely going to be ordering two separate lots of eggs from online. 

Just wondering if anyone else here keeps/breeds killies?

I am hoping to make up some spawning mops this Saturday and will have to see how that goes. Unfortunately, in Australia we are limited on available species due to quarantine regulations.

Anyway, here's some photos of my Aphyosemion australe. I just moved my other pair into a new tank so they are still a little camera shy. He's only around 2 inches so not very big at all.




































One of the females. The male likes hogging my attention as you can see from his nose coming down into view.


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## Fabian (Dec 16, 2011)

I've never kept them before but i had done some research before in the past.
If you wanted to breed them you might need to add some peat soil into the tank.


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

Omg so cute! :3
Are these the kind whos eggs dry out?
I've seen photos of them, and just my opinion but some of the incredibly bright, colors that don't match look horrible D: it's like neon fish.
Can you post a photo of their whole tank? I love the way your tanks look


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## Pitluvs (Jun 22, 2011)

I too have researched them, but decided against because of our water prams here. But I just adore them  The one you have is amazingly beautiful, I wish I could have killies like that!


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

These ones are mop spawners and non-annuals, so they live for around 3 years. I do have peat over the sandy substrate, but this is to add tannins and make them feel more comfortable. 

The bright colours really pop in tannin-stained or murky water, which is important when you need to find a mate and only have nine months to live. Unfortunately, most of those guys are off limits here as quarantine doesn't let the peat/soil they come in through apparently. 

I will get a shot of the whole tank once everyone wakes up here. Pretty uninmpressive ATM though. Just some IAL, floating ambulia and a chunk of root-looking driftwood.

I am intending on building a riparium or paludarium using peace lillies, ferns and anubias afzelii emersed to mimic an African river bank.


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## MollyJean (Dec 29, 2009)

Have you ever seen the My Best Fish Friend kits? They have dried eggs of a really pretty breed of Killifish that I've heard is hard to find.


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

MollyJean said:


> Have you ever seen the My Best Fish Friend kits? They have dried eggs of a really pretty breed of Killifish that I've heard is hard to find.


Wow, fish too? I hate when animals become little "toys" for kids -__-


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## MollyJean (Dec 29, 2009)

Yeah, it's kind of sad, from what I've read most of them never really hatch because killifish are naturally hard to handle, they need water peramaters perfect and large tanks, let alone newbies raising them from eggs to fry and up. The kits come with brine shrimp food for the fry and that's about it. But for someone who knew what they where doing I think it would be a good project and very rewarding.


<--- Guilty as charged on the animals as toys thing.. I have seamonkeys. *shame*


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

Haha, I had these things called triops once.. bug things that came in a kit.. they're supposed to grow huge but I never had more than teeny tiny ones, then they died Dx

I think the killifish is a bad idea for kids.. besides being cruel to the fish themselves, those poor kids must feel like failures when they die Dx


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## MollyJean (Dec 29, 2009)

Yeah, the reviews were bad, almost no one got them to grow, so I'm sure there where a lot of disappointed kids. Thankfully kids don't get as attached to eggs as they do live fish. When I was hatching my seamonkeys my daughter was kind of indifferent when there where no babies after a week. Now, after we've had seamonkeys for a year, she would probably be really upset if they died.

There where a few experienced breeders that where successful, though, and I think that's the only reason I would get the kit. I've bred Angelfish before, but they're nothing at all like Killifish or betta. I would like trying my hand at the My BFF eggs, but only after doing the research and getting the right setup. The adults I saw where just amazing!


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

Wow. They are very pretty and almost look like bettas!


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

I have now increased my killifish collection by four more fish. I also have another two pairs and two sets of eggs coming my way later this week/early next week. 

Here's a belated photo of two of my killifish tanks

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The others are still settling in and are a little skittish. 

Now I just wish I could convince my guys to get in there and use their spawning mop.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

Great. Do you know how youre going to hatch them eggs?


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

I have a question. How many can I have in a 16 gallon? I have been trying to research them but I haven't found out a whole lot, Recommend any sites?


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

I use Seriously Fish as a basic guide to stocking levels, adult size and spawning. 

However, this site had more information than I could shake a stick at. 

http://www.aka.org/wak/Genera_Index.htm

Off the top of my head, I believe panchax and gardneri species males can be aggressive towards each other. But don't quote me on it as I am a novice.

However, I got two eggs from my australe and two from my striatum pair in their spawning mops, so here's hoping I can get a few more!


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## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

I bought two male gardneri last night! So pretty. I believe mine are blue lyretails. They are currently living in my sorority, but I have a place to rehome them to if things go pear-shaped. 

If things are still ok in a month, when everyone moves to the 20 gallon, I will consider adding a pair of females and breeding them. Luckily the local Killi club is always on hand to consult, and the guy who bred them can give me advice.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

I am getting two adult pairs and two lots of eggs from Serkan (he goes by killieorcory on most forums), and I just enquired about a pair of chocolate australe from Jodi-Lea. 

Hoping to get my blasted betta barracks finished so I can shove all my males into there and open up some more fish room space.


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## betta lover1507 (Aug 6, 2011)

i want some killi but i have no space, they look very pretty to me


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## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

Serkan is our local killi expert! It was his presentation, the first night at the local aquarium society, that made me want killies.  I believe he bred the grand or great grandparents of my two boys.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Haha I thought you might know him. I kept seeing his eggs and fish up on OzFishyBids and then there were three separate species in at my not so local FS so I was pretty quickly hooked.

For me, they are a sort of cross between wild bettas and splendens.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

I thought I'd share a couple more pics of my killies.

Lagos female









Striatum male


















Australe male


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## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

Your striatum looks like my gardneri. I really love the australes, I am going to have to get some one day! I feel this may become my new addiction...

I love the way their mouths are the same width as their heads. It gives them such a cute and comical look.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Yeah I like that they look like they're always smiling at you. 

I am now in the midst of setting up my new pairs' tanks. Just soaking the peat moss and rinsing the gravel. I ran out of ambulia (my new favourite plant) so they just get some leftover java moss. 

I'm hoping to set-up an African riverbank riparium to have on display in my bedroom.

Jodi-Lea's chocolate australe pair should arrive Friday, and I sneakily tacked on a betta tussyae pair as well heh heh. Luckily mum has not noticed the subtle expansion.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

I would love love love to keep some killis but unfortunately, my water is much too hard and alkaline. *sobs* I'd love to keep the Argentine and Rio Pearlfish someday. Oh, but I can keep Tanganikya Killis, my water params are good for them.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Yeah our tapwater here has literally no carbonate hardness. It goes from around 6.8-7.0 out of the tap to around 6.0 (very yellow) in 24 hours. Great for softwater species, but hard if you intend on maintaining stable, cycled tanks.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

I think mine is stable but stable at very high params. The pH in the tanks is 8.0 and I haven't measured it out of hte tap for a while. The hardness is about 6 dgh, I think? 

By the way, your killis really are beautiful.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Thanks. I will have to take some photos of my new arrivals once they are settled. Just finished setting up their tank and according to my online tracker they are onboard with the courier. 

Until I get my 'serious' fish room set up downstairs supposedly next month, I'm just going to leave any eggs in with the parents and see if I can't get 1-2 fry out of them. 

I think I need a separate grow-out room. I have four lots of wild fry, intend to start conditioning a pair of splendens on Monday, and am going to attempt to successfully hatch around 30-35 killifish eggs being delivered today. 

I think the lines are blurring between hobby and obsession.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Haha, I think that line is pretty blurred for a lot of us. So you don't keep any annuals? If I ever get the right water params, I'd love to try the peat hatching method just once, to see how it works. 

Even if I use water from the kitchen faucet, which is soft because of the water softener, I can't get the pH down lower than 7.8 using peat.


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## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

I would love to set up a biotype for the killis. I do feel a bit guilty - I'm currently mixing west African, SE Asian and South American species in one tank...


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Haha, they should be fine. None of your fish are as sensitive to water params as killis or cichlids are.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

I don't have any annuals as we are restricted on what species of killifish can legally pass through customs, and I'm not sure what forms of annuals are currently allowed.

Also, I would rather my fish live for more than a year. I would be devastated if anything happened to this lot. 

The colours on some of those annuals though, is absolutely amazing. Would look stunning in a dimly-lit blackwater setting.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Oh, I never thought about customs. Hmm. Either we aren't restricted or my LFS smuggled them in because they did have some gardneri killis a few months ago. And I do agree, less than a year is tough. Just when you get attached to them, poof.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Thought I would update this thread. 

I unfortunately lost all of my killifish (they either died or had to be euthanised) due to a bacterial infection that went through my whole stock (think it was in part due to the fluctuating temperature in my barracks). 

However, after cutting down the number of tanks and fish I own, I decided to get back into killifish. I now have three different species and am planning on setting up three more divided tanks this weekend. 

Had a massive delivery of plants yesterday so everyone has been busy exploring and spawning this morning. 

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Chromaphyosemion 'Ijebu ode' on left, Chromaphyosemion poliaki in the middle and Fp. gardneri gold on the right. Still highly recommend killifish to anyone who likes the personality of bettas, but also wants a more peaceful and unusual fish. The smaller species don't require any more than a 5 gallon tank to be happy and the colours on the males is absolutely stunning. 

Sadly I have now found about a dozen species I would kill to own that have either died out over here, or have never actually been imported in the first place. Just hoping one day the main wholesalers will decide to get them in for us Australian killie enthusiasts. So jealous of you overseas folks who have such easier access to fish species than we do down here.


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## kustomlarry (Nov 18, 2012)

Do you have a list of what species you would like or that are legal over there? I am a lifetime member of the American Killifish Association and have some stuff I have been breeding for a while, as well as friends with them also. I may be able to help you out. I moved a few years ago and went from 30 some tanks to about 7 so I only have a few types of gardneri right now, but I have access to many different species.

It may be cost prohibitive, but I am willing to see what I can get. I have had a ton of species over the years...


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

I believe it is only members from the Aphyosemion, Fundulopanchax and Epiplatys genus that we can import here. 

Eggs are a customs no no, and unless I was a large wholesaler I don't think it is cost viable to get fish shipped in from America. 

Too bad you were not in Thailand or one of those type countries. That way the fish would only have to get sent to Bangkok and could then go through the main transhipper here. This is what she had to say on the importation of fish from other countries. 



> It is almost impossible to get fish from the USA or Africa because of distance. Usually these fish are sent to Germany and are imported from Glaser.


It's sad as killifish are such beautiful fish and so underrated in the hobby.


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## kustomlarry (Nov 18, 2012)

That is too bad. They are great fish with amazing personalities. Super hardy and fun. I have been fortunate over the years with the ones I have had. I have seen fish bread in everything from jugs to tanks.

I had a rivulus set up that kept eating their eggs. Figured out to throw them in a 5 gallon bucket with mops and the lid on for complete darkness...After a week I pulled the mops and there were hundreds of eggs....


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## registereduser (Jul 30, 2010)

The only kind I have seen so far (at Petco) are the Golden Wonder, not too colorful but they have that cute face.


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## kustomlarry (Nov 18, 2012)

I would try joining the dkg, German Killifish Association. They have some great breeders and may be able to ship to you.


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## MaisyDawgThirteen (Dec 7, 2011)

What cool looking fish! Their colours are so vibrant! I would love some, but I don't think they would do well in any of my tank.


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