Killifish!

[Justikanz]

I went and bought 2 killies... Just for fun... And boy are they expensive for such a small fish!











And I got a Flag from Wackytpt. It too is a killie. It looks similar to this:

[Cacatuoides]

wow! nice to see killies again these days.....hardly get to see these cute, colorful fellows nowadays....now tempted to go buy liao!!!

[Cacatuoides]

BTW Justikan, how much did u bought them for? dun wana get "chop" by e lfs....

[stormhawk]

Thomas, you bought a male Nothobranchius patrizii and Aphyosemion australe. The patrizii should be of unknown origin and the australe.. I doubt its the orange form even though it may look orange.

The next time you go looking for killies, let me know.

Caca, killies are not the easiest fish to keep and breed. They can prove to be challenging specimens for breeding purposes. So if you find them at a high price, please understand that such prices are justified, especially for home-bred fishes. Farm-bred killies from Malaysia will cost $8 per fish at most LFS that sells them in those small sealed plastic packets but do not expect to find pairs for sale. Females are rarely sold and if any, are almost always the wrong species for the males.

[XnSdVd]

And for the love of fish, try not to buy those fish in the packets, it's cruel and buying them will only promote such things.

[Thezone]

hi, like to know which LFS u got the killies from. thks

[benny]

Excellent pose!!

Cheers,

[Justikanz]

Benny, I waited for some time for him to settle down, show his colours and start flashing!... Then took like 20-30 pics just to get this, which is not great cos of the fish position...

But it was fun to begin with.

XnSdVd, the LFS really have no choice cos the males flare and fight like the bettas. At least we know C328, where I bought them from, change the water in the bags... Err... I think so!

JY, I just bought suddenly decide to get them... And there are only 3 left, I picked these 2 only cos too expensive to get all 3... But I will let you know when I wanna get more...

[valice]

Seems like today you spent quite some time travelling to a few LFS...
You got anything from Biotope?

[Justikanz]

Seems like today you spent quite some time travelling to a few LFS...
You got anything from Biotope?

Nope, had not been to Biotope for some time liao...

Yes, it's fun to go shopping at good LFS...

[stormhawk]

C328 doesn't change the water in the bags at all since they're fully heat-sealed. They're left in the bags for the entire day until someone buys them. I think they're released into the tanks only if they're the leftovers after one whole day floating about in the bags they come in. Its not a very good practice because they're swimming about in their crap the whole day long and with multiple folks lifting the bags up to inspect, the stress levels will increase tremendously.

Now back to the killies, the patrizii male will definitely require live foods, or at the very least, frozen bloodworms. If it doesn't get this diet, the bugger will just start to have a sunken belly and waste away.

The australe male however, can be "trained" to accept flake foods but it will be happier being fed live foods.

[XnSdVd]

Justikanz: The idea just doesn't sit with me... BTW if you require live food I'll give you some pods along with the newts =)

[Justikanz]

JY: I'd seen the australe (the red tailed one, right?) trying the dried food I feed the others... It played with the dried bloodworm for a long time... But spat it out after playing... Hopefully, they will be happy with live food every 2-4 days! I buy tubifex/bloodworms/brine shrimp regularly cos I have newts but only every 2-4 days!

Shannan, if they are not agressive as JY mentioned previously, I dun mind... But think they will disappear in my tank as fast as you placed them in! My black skirts are forever trying to eat anything you introduce into the tank, even if they are as big as them!

[stormhawk]

Thomas, every 2-4 days feeding with live foods will suffice. Yes, the australe is the one that's orange-like in colour and has a lyretail. The Notho. patrizii is the fella with the grey body and red tail. Guess what?.. the patrizii hails from Somalia and neighbouring Kenya I think.

[XnSdVd]

Actually they'll breed extremely fast in a small tau huay cup with a clump of moss in it. just leave where it can get some sun. You should be able to harvest 20 - 30 a day without putting a dent in the population.

[stormhawk]

Thomas, thought I'd post this pic up to lure you in a little more.



Plus this..



Not a very clear image but you get the idea.

Want somemore ??

[Justikanz]

The patrizii fella died this morning...

Couldn't find the australe and the FFF... They better be just hiding...

The killies are beautiful but it would be a shame to have them keep on dying in my tank...

[stormhawk]

Ahh.. that must have sucked. Anyway the patrizii is pretty common so getting a replacement male isn't too difficult.

BTW, what's FFF?

[Justikanz]

FFF = Florida Flag Fish, the other killi that I have in the tank.

[stormhawk]

Haha, okay I missed that bit. Thanks for the reminder. If you need some pointers on basic killie care, visit timebomb's site at www.killies.com There's enough info there to help you along for first-timers. Start with the easy species first before plunging into others.

Aphyosemion australe is by far one of the easiest species for any novice killie-keeper. Why? Because for most folks, they breed like rabbits, have good appetites, nice colours, nice finnage and do well in planted tanks.