killifish

[austinroberts23]

Still looking for something colorful for my moms 29g. How difficult are killi to hatch and start breeding. anyone got more info on this? Ive been doing some reading but want to get Korea opinions

[lohachata]

please explain "Korea opinions" ??????????

i first bred killies back in 1974....not any different today...my fiance and i are currently keeping about 15 or so species....not always best for a community tank...most species prefer slightly cooler water (low 70's)..some are too small or timid..otheras can be of good size but can also be predatory...
most breed readily...some are pretty difficult...egg incubation periods range from 10 days to 1 year....
some fish are ready to breed at the age of 4 weeks...some 6 months....lifespans are from 4 or 5 months to 2 or 3 years...with maybe one or two exceptions...tanganyika killies can live a bit longer than others...and they get pretty big...6-7 inches...eggs can be gotten from all over the world..
most hardcore killie breeders keep pairs and trios in plastic shoeboxes..hatch eggs in petri dishes...
there are "mop spawners" and "peat spawners or mud divers"....moppers eggs usually take about 14 days to hatch..eggs are collected from the mop and put in a petri dish with water treated with an antifungal med...
mudders eggs will take from 6 weeks to a year...peat is collected arery 1-3 weeks...excess water is squeezed out and the damp peat is placed in a plastic bag and stored in a cool , dry , dark place until they are ready to hatch...at that point the eggs can be picked out of the peat and put in petri dishes to hatch or the peat can be put in a tank for hatching....hatching can begin in as little as 2 hours and it is a matter of minutes til the fry are free swimming...you will need very small , very high grade foods for them...infusoria and live brine are good...some killies can be very picky about food....

hope this helped...i am by no means any sort of expert in this area.....this is based solely on my own personal experiences...

[Fishpunk]

I concur. Killies are great fish but not really for community tanks. the only real exception I can think of are Florida flagfish. They will nip fins and tear up plants though.

[bveister]

Are there any killifish that can be put in with shell-dwelling cichlids like multis? Preferbly top dwelling ones and obviously they gotta be used to hard water as well?

[emc7]

There is a killi from the lake, Lamprichthys Tanganicanus. However I usually keep multies in species tank to maximize fry survival. There is enough demand around that I can sell as many as I can produce, unlike Mbuna.

[bveister]

Yeah I don't have that kind of access to selling my potential fry so I'd rather have the natural circle of life going on in my tank but thanks emc7!