Killifish tank

[Fdsh5]

Set up my killifish tank. Got a trio of orange australe killifish. The females are very shy and love to play hide and seek in the plants and mops. The male however swims right up to the glass to check you out when you come up to the tank. Now I wait for the breeding to begin

[siva]

It shouldn't take any time at all before they start spawning like crazy. Mine really go off right after a water change.

[danielj]

I'm interested in killifish. Is there a reason why everyone always seems to get a trio of a male and two females? Because they live short lives and you want eggs to replace them? Or is it impractical to keep 3 females or 3 males?

[Zagz]

Very nice, do you have a full tank shot?

[siva]

Unfortunately shops do often sell them in pairs only, but I think there should definitely be atleast 2 females per male, otherwise the females can't catch a break. I'm currently keeping six species of killifish and they all spawn around the clock. When I've kept pairs, the female just can't get a break from the male.

[danielj]

It's just that I only have a small, 10 gallon, tank. So I could probably only keep 3 killifish. If they spawned I would never really be able to do anything with the fry. So I don't know if that means I'm screwed. On top of which, no one sells locally so I'd have to buy from aquabid and they only seem to sell them in breeding trios.

[siva]

A lot of the killies you may be seeing aren't great candidates for a 10 gal tank. A trio would really be the only way to have 3, unless you had 3 females, which are the less attractive. Some may keep one male as a centerpeice fish, but I think a solo killie may turn into a terrorist. Maybe you could sell the young online yourself, or trade for supplies at a lfs? If the tank is not nicely planted they will eat most of the fry. Lampeye killies are great for a 10 gal tank, I think you could do 3-4 trios of those. Luciana goodei aka the bluefin is also a good candidate for 10 gals. You could keep 2-3 trios of those in there. Or you could probably even do a combo of the two, or do one mixed with least or pygmy killifish.

[danielj]

thanks for explaining why people go with trios. I didn't know about the male/female color difference, but I should have expected it since guppies do the same thing. And you're right, the one I wanted to get was a gardneri and they're looking for at least 20gallons. So I guess I'll have to look for another species for my 10 gallon. Thanks for the info and sorry if I hijacked the thread. It's just that I'd searched for killifish entries on the forum and found not much, then suddenly I had 2 killi people in the same post.

[siva]

No problem. Gardneris are absolutely gorgeous. I breed the Fundulopanchax gardneri nigerianus. If you do happen to go with these fish down the line, just know that they are not community friendly. They should be in a species tank or paired with short finned fast swimming schoolers.

[Fdsh5]

The place I got mine from only sells them in pairs. I sold the guy some assassin snails he was having trouble getting from other people so I asked him if he could do me a favor and sell me a trio. I will post a tank shot but it is an ugly tank. I got it from a fish store that was closing and he painted three out of four sides blue. The unpainted side is on of the sides so your field of view is skinny. I figure since I wanted it for a breeding tank that would be fine anyway.

[siva]

Oh that's awesome...so cool you got that extra female!

[LyndaB]

I got mine at auction and then directly from the breeder who sold them at auction (ends up he lives an hour away). I had a dozen of them in a 16 gallon. With the australes, you can have more, they need very little room.

I did not end up with any successful spawns though, mostly due to the fact that I'm a "let nature take its course" kind of fishkeeper when it comes to breeding.

[Fdsh5]

Me too. I am just going to do weekly water changes with cooler water at first. I am going to put shrimp in the tank as well. If I get no spawns, one of the members of the local fish club I belong to breeds them so I will pick his brain. Hopefully it happens on it's own. The male is already swimming around the females. They hang out in the mops all day.

[siva]

I also let nature take it's course, but in a nicely planted tank with little cleaning of the substrate, I end up with fry. They spread their eggs around the substrate as well as on the mops. They will eat the shrimp by the way.

[Fdsh5]

Yeah, I know they will eat the shrimp but I figured they would do population control for me

[siva]

Wait are you thinking the shrimp will do population control for the fish or the fish will do population control for the shrimp? I would expect the killies will wipe out all the shrimp. Even if they don't, the shrimp won't eat fry. Hope this helps..

[Fdsh5]

I was thinking the killifish would keep the shrimp under control. There's tons of hiding spots in the tank. If they eat them all my friend has an over run shrimp tank so it's all good