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hatching killifish eggs

samc

Member
Joined
28 Oct 2008
Messages
1,378
hi all
as most of you know killifish very attractive fish. i was looking on ebay and saw that you can buy killi eggs of lots of species cheap and hatch them yourself, which i would like to have a go at. i just woundered if any of you guys have ever done this? and have you any tips?

i know you need to keep them in a tub with peat at room temperature and when they hatch ill need micro worms and powders to feed them but still not 100% confident enough to try any yet
 
I found that Nothobranchius are easy.

"Just add water" and half an hour later you have fry.
 
Sorry I was just refering to the hatch process.

Depending on who you get the eggs from, some will give you a batch that is almost ready to hatch where others I have to wait a couple of months for the hatch date.
 
I looked into this previously has I like the killies too and wanted to setup a Killie only tank, but found that process a little tricky so gave up on the idea, a local LFS (Wholesale Tropicals) sell a lot of killie fish species.
 
Nothos generally need salt in the water to prevent them from getting velvet, certainly as you raise them. When adults I've found my N.korthausae Red are a bit tougher and can manage without the salt and I've slowly dropped the amount in there until they're now in fresh water. But I'm waiting to see how well they do longer term. As they are over 6 months old some of them are starting to look a bit elderly too! Nice fish though.

However they're not the best community fish as they do squabble a lot so i'm not sure I'd even want to keep them in a slightly salty set up.

As fry you need to keep them in small containers and give them lots of feeds of live foods and change the water daily. As they grow increase the size of the containers and add a sponge filter as soon as there's room.

If you want killies for a planted tank then look at the non-annuals such as Aphyosemion, Chromaphyosemion and Fundulopanchax, not annuals IMO.
 
Which species because not all Fundulopanchax will be small enough for a nano - they're generally bigger than Aphyosemion and Chromaphyosemion?

Either way I'd hatch them in small tub on top of the tank or somewhere warm as you can feed them the baby brine shrimp and/or microworms they will need to do well in a small space and change the water and keep the tub clean more easily. After 2-4 weeks (depending on species and how well they grow) they will be big enough to go in the nano where they will do excellently and will probably spawn and hatch in the tank without you having to any extra work. If it were me I'd go with a Chromaphyosemion spp. as they are smaller, beautiful and don't eat their own fry.
 
These are Fundulopanchax nigerianus Misaje. Misaje is there collection location, or somewhere nearby there anyway.

It should be a good choice depending on aggression levels. I have kept Fp.gardneri 'Nsukka Gold' and if there similar to those they should be a good choice. The fry are nice and large on hatching and pretty tough and will grow quickly. Bear in mind many people keep killies in small tanks anyway for breeding so a nano will be perfect for keeping and breeding most species.

For more information check out the pages on Tim Addis's excellent site.
This is the page on Fundulopanchax nigerianus
And this is the page specifically on the Misaje location
 
i am getting the eggs from ebay. the person selling them does if for a hobby and has a photo on the ad of one of the adults. they are about £5 with postage for 10 eggs which they said will hatch in about a week. not a bad deal i think

i would put a link but i think its agenst the rules
 
samc said:
i would put a link but i think its agenst the rules

Well not as far as I'm aware! :lol:

I'm only asking as there are good number of forms of gardneri/nigerianus around (especially Gold forms) that are very poorly identified and really hybrids between species and/or populations and you can end up with some fish that don't really look like what they're supposed to. I tried searching Ebay but couldn't find any Fundulopanchax for sale!!!!
 
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