Wild Nut Posted July 1, 2013 Report Share Posted July 1, 2013 Thought I might as well chronicle my killifish journey here. I haven't had killies for ages since my last few pairs died/got sold. I really didn't have the money for this pair, but they are just so much fun to watch and are one of my favourite species. Male Female Single poliaki female This pair is really prolific at the moment. The male divides his time between eating and spawning. I have six fry that have hatched out with a couple of eyed up eggs in one container, and I just picked around a dozen more eggs out of the spawn mop and have them bubbling away in another container. It's nice to have a tank that is so easy. I just do a couple small water changes a week and they are absolutely thriving. Will have to see if I can do a good job raising the fry as that has also been my problem area! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
les Posted July 1, 2013 Report Share Posted July 1, 2013 Hi Ashlea They look great. Are you feeding like food or processed? the colour on the male is so intence. Cheers Les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wild Nut Posted July 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2013 Thanks Les. I think the lighting in that shot made him look a bit more orange than usual, but their current diet is grindal worms, white worms, live blackworms, frozen brine shrimp/bloodworms and small fish formula NLS pellets. They are pigs and eat anything which is nice for a change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melbournebetta Posted July 2, 2013 Report Share Posted July 2, 2013 I just LOVE these guys Ash - more photos of mister boy man! he's a spunk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zui Posted July 2, 2013 Report Share Posted July 2, 2013 Great photos Ash. Lovely looking fish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wild Nut Posted July 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2013 Mister boy man never gets off the darn bottom of the tank or sits still long enough for me to get a good photo of him. He is either in his spawning mop, eating or chasing the female around. I have this one other photo of him after I made him go nuts with a mirror. I love killies. I was browsing killifish sites the other day and wishing there were more species available here. A. ogoense is so stunning and the Chromaphyosemion species are also spectacular. http://www.aka.org/wak/Ref_Library/Aphyosemion/A.ogoense.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wild Nut Posted July 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 Well fry are doing really well. Looks like I have seven of them. They are still floating around in their take-out container. I do a small water change using water from the main tank every two to three days and they seem to be eating the MWs I put in. Anyone know roughly how long it takes the fry of this species to grow out to at least 1/2 the size of the adults? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
les Posted July 4, 2013 Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 hey Ashlea It is almost the same as with Betta and guppy, It depends on the water changes. I have had some gardneri mature realy quick when I did every second day water changes and others that didn't budge becouse they got next to none. I use every second day water changes for all off my Killi as I am using a high protien food and get good results. Cheers Les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wild Nut Posted July 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 I thought as much. I think I killed my last lot of killifish fry when I went all gung-ho with the water changes (this was before I realised you aren't meant to just dump new water into fry tanks ) so I am being a bit more conservative with this lot as I would hate to lose them. There are some slightly bigger ones, which I think are the ones that hatched out first and I can see them eating the MWs and other microscopic organisms in there so for now things seem to be going okay. Checked on my other eggs and can't see any real signs of fungus. I think there are around a dozen or so eggs in there. I should really check the mop again as I am sure there are more eggs in there as this pair are always courting and chasing each other around. Part of me wants to get into keeping killies exclusively. After all the hassle with my wild bettas lately they are a nice change of pace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wild Nut Posted July 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2013 Just did all my water changes, and I finally got some better shots of the male. Also got a couple of the fry. (I had turned the light on in this shot) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wild Nut Posted July 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2013 Spamming my own thread Also, if anyone has a spare poliaki male that they are able to sell me, I would be eternally grateful. I have a single female and would really like to find her a partner. She was the type/locality that came in before the most recent batch of poliaki (Bolifamba) I am pretty certain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan_97 Posted July 7, 2013 Report Share Posted July 7, 2013 Beautiful killies!! I actually have a pair but haven`t had any luck breeding them (had a whole heap of problems and haven`t really concentrated on breeding them-I really should) best of luck with raising the fry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wild Nut Posted July 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2013 Thanks. I've only ever had sporadic luck with raising killifish fry in the past so hoping I can turn that around as I would like to branch out into more species if I am successful here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forever_and_a_day Posted July 8, 2013 Report Share Posted July 8, 2013 spam away, your pics are always a treat kudos to the quality of your fry pics! i can only ever manage a white blur or a high quality macro shot of the java moss in the background :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wild Nut Posted July 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 *lol* That's what a majority of the photos from that shoot turned out like. All these fry are still alive and doing well. They had a water change yesterday and all of them have stomachs full of MWs. I need to locate some BBS eggs as I know MWs aren't very nutritious. This pair are so cheeky though. I had the male 'flaring' at his reflection yesterday, and whenever I am doing something near their tank, they always hang around watching me. I like that they take pellets. So nice to have fish that aren't particularly fussy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 Catching up after a few days. Agree about OGO. Not sure if they've ever been in Australia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wild Nut Posted July 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 It's annoying that so many beautiful species just aren't available here. I have quite a big killie wish list, and I think I might have to move overseas to fulfil it! I would love to win the lotto and just give a heap of money to someone and tell them to source me these fish In good news, the eggs I collected and have in a spare container are eyeing up so may have more killifish fry on the way. Think I might need a bigger tupperware container for them soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wild Nut Posted July 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 My other eggs have started hatching! There is one fry that I can see so I put some microworms in for it to eat. If I can manage to grow these all out to adulthood I will have a tribe of australe in no time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stew822 Posted July 12, 2013 Report Share Posted July 12, 2013 That's so cool. I love Australe killifish. Good luck with raising them :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wild Nut Posted July 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2013 Well I have four fry it looks like in my other egg container. Just going to check on them now and chuck in some microworms. I really need to find some BBS eggs. I know someone sells them but I don't know what the minimum purchase amount is for her to ship. Already got my killifish dream tank rack planned out. Only thing standing in my way is my severe lack of funds I'm still wondering if I could rope my dad into building me a nice rack with flaps to conceal the lights and cords so the only thing you can see are the tanks themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wild Nut Posted July 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2013 Got a dozen or so more eggs from my spawning mop the other day. Have around 15 or so fry currently. Neither the parents nor the poliaki female pick at the eggs in the spawning mop very much. Probably because they are getting fed a couple times a day. I can leave it in there for a little while and still end up with a decent number of eggs. Be interesting to see whether I get more of one sex as they mature. The water temperature is fairly high, but the pH and hardness would be around 6 or so, so I hopefully can raise these fry up and get some adults. Would definitely love to have striatum, chocolate australe and ijebu ode again. I want to focus on Aphyosemion/Chromaphyosemion species, with maybe a couple from the Fundulopanchax genus. This lot of fry and eggs is practice. If I can get them reared to maturity with no issues I may start looking at sourcing some eggs if anyone has any available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wild Nut Posted July 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2013 Picture spam! Set-up a better egg/fry system for my killifish. It needs bigger tupperware containers, but for now the fry seem content with their new home. I was just concerned those ones in the main tank were going to tip out and be eaten if I left them floating any longer. She spars all the time with my poliaki female, and has won my mum over with her piggy nature Male got worked up because I put his spawning mop in a different way Picked a few eggs off the mop yesterday during the water change and added them to my egg container. Will have to see how they go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wild Nut Posted July 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2013 More pictures of the parents. Female is a more obliging subject than the male. Picking up some BBS for their fry tonight, and going to run down to the shops this morning and pick up some larger food safe containers for the fry to go into. Eggs seem alright in the other container. No sign of fungus that I can see. I think at this point I am going to have my smaller tank (the one pictured above) used to hatch the eggs out in, and then have the fry grow-out containers in my slightly bigger 2ft tank. If anyone has any pictures or comments on how they raise their killifish fry away from the parents I want to hear it. That has always been my stumbling block when it comes to breeding killifish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wild Nut Posted July 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2013 All fry had their first meal of BBS today thanks to the wonderfully generous Adam. Stomachs are nice and orange and now they have been moved into slightly bigger accommodation hopefully I will see them start to develop further. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wild Nut Posted July 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2013 Fry are still doing great. I am going to put them all in together now since there is not a massive size difference between them all. Had one fry hatch in my egg container. Not sure how many eggs there are, or how close to hatching they are because they got covered with peat moss. Guess I will just have to wait and see on that front. Got some quick snaps of my killifish together this morning. They were enjoying blackworms for breakfast. I want to buy another anubias or large java fern to go in their tank and give them some more places to explore as their tank is quite bare at the moment. I found a nifty rectangular 'spawning cave' on ebay I am going to get for them as they seem to like hiding in their broken up pot I have in there. Definitely want to get a pair of striatum next. Got lots of 30cm cubes spare so I would love to have two or three killifish tanks going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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