Breeding killies

[Joey Wang]

I'm new to this forum and I'm lovin' it already. Anyways I was wondering if you could incubate all species of killie eggs out of water in the sort of "dry" manner, or do some need to be kept in mositure or totally submerged?

[stormhawk]

Joey, there's more than just one way to incubate a killie egg. Of course some species require the drying-out period and others only need incubation for several days in water.

If you look through this website you can see several different ways of incubating eggs. The possibilities are endless. Its all up to you to experiment. :wink:

[Joey Wang]

Thanks for the info stormhawk

[timebomb]

Joey,

I think almost all killifish eggs can be incubated outside water but they have to be kept moist. Most of us here incubate the eggs of the annuals (Nothobranchius, Simpsonichthys etc) in peat moss. For the non-annuals (Aphyosemions, Fundulopanchax etc ) whose eggs usually hatch in about 10 days in our local temperatures, there are many forms of incubating media you can use. I've described how one can use various media in detail in one of my webpages. Take a look at:

http://www.killies.com/Breedinglyretails.htm

Recently, Ronnie incubated the eggs of the Aphyosemion australes with great success using thin pieces of sponge.

I've also described how one can use an algae-eating shrimp to keep fungus at bay when the eggs are incubated in water. Take a look at:

http://www.killies.com/Incubating2.htm

I used to pick non-annual eggs and incubate them in small containers but now I let the fish breed naturally. With Fundulopanchax, this method has a high rate of success. But I rarely see Aphyosemion fry when I try the same method. I think this is because Aphyosemion fry, unlike Fundulopanchax fry which swims on the surface, tend to swim at the bottom of the tanks when they hatch. There are less hiding places in the bottom of the tank so the fry probably got eaten.

As Jianyang said, there are many methods to incubate and hatch killlifish eggs. What I wrote on my web pages are from my own experiences. I hope hobbyists will experiment and come up with new and better methods. Ronnie, Au and Sia Meng are 3 persons I know who are very gung-ho about trying new methods. I've learn a lot from them from their posts in this forum.

We hope all beginners who come in here will read up as much as they can before they ask questions. This is not to say we don't welcome questions but it can be very tiring for the regulars here to answer the same old questions over and over again. So browse around and read up on the old posts. There's a wealth of information there :wink:

Loh K L