I am considering getting a few smaller cubes & trying to raise a few groups of killis, & hopefully get them to spawn. I have some questions in regards to doing this though. My knowledge is very limited, I have read a little bit about the species (enough to be interested in them) and I just want to ask some questions to the pro's here before I undertake the project. Though sometime off (I am piecing together the parts for my 90 gallon planted tank now) I just wanted to make sure I was thinking of the project in the right light.

So... From what I have read, Killies are best kept in pairs, in species tanks. My goal would be to get 3, 5 gallon cubes, dump in some substrate & plant lightly with java moss (on lava rocks) & some anubias or fern. I assume that the fish would enjoy their small lairs, since they are in pairs, & not more than them in it.

My questions are :

1) I have read how people let their killies mate, extract the eggs, keep the good eggs in shallow warm, water, etc, & then work voodoo to get them to hatch. It sounds like alot of trouble to me. To have to extract the eggs (sometimes daily from what I read) and seperate them, keep them at the right temp, etc. If left in this environment, would the eggs actually be able to hatch into fry, or are they pretty much guaranteed to be eaten by the big fish?

2) As far as rearing the fry, I was told that you could cultivate something (I cant remember & am half braindead) in the java moss that the fry could sustain themselves on. Can someone tell me what it is I am thinking of, or am I totally off base on this? Once the fry are to big for this food, what is the next thing they move onto?

3) What do the adults eat? Are they expensive to feed?

Farming masses of Killie eggs is not really a priority with me. Maybe trading them here or there would be fun. I dont know what the success rate is with breeding these guys, but it sounds like a cool aside, to just keeping pretty fish. Any opinions/advice is welcome!!!

Thanks,

Trav