help with my australe gold

[tukituki]

hi,

i just got my first 6 fish killifish yesterday, a trio of australe golds and a trio of gardneri nigeriatum. They came via overnight courier and were all fine when they arrived in the morning. i let the bags float in the tank for an hour, added a cup of water to each and waited a further hour. i released them all in my community tank that has several plants and rocks/caves etc. The other fish are a pair of dwarf gouramis, five young bristlenose catfish, 4 zebra danios and several guppies. I went out for a few hours and when i got back i couldn't find the male australe gold. I found him in the end hiding under a piece of wood, he didn't eat (i had no live food and am waiting on my microworms to appear and the brineshrimp should be around in 24hours), i figured he was shy.

This morning he seemed a little bolder and was in a more open place, still under a piece of bog wood. I thought things were looking up. I couldn't see him for an hour or two later then saw him (the tank is a metre long) buried in the gravel. I thought he was dead and dug him out and he swam away. Worried i put him in a sick/breeding net that attaches to the inside of my tank. He moves very little, just watches, i've added meth blue and tried to tempt him with what live foods i have (worms from the garden, woodlouse, flake food and dried shrimp), i have only seen him nibble the end of the worm but it was too big for him really.

Has anyone got any advice on what I should do with him? He is at the top of the tank now and swimming around a bit, seeing his girls through the net...

Thanks.

[timebomb]

This post is probably too late to be of any use to you but I think it's really a bad idea to introduce Killifish into a community tank. If the Killies were the first ones in the tank, it wouldn't have been so bad. But what you have done, putting your Killies into a tank which already holds several other species of fish would only cause them unnecessary stress.

I don't have the evidence to prove it but my experiences tell me that the main cause of fish deaths is stress. Remove the stress factor and the fish become a lot more healthier.

Loh K L

[tukituki]

thanks for your reply to my message. i was advised by the person that i bought the killifish from that they'd do well in a community tank. i read up too before purchasing these fish and there was no comment in books that they must be in a species tank.

my australe seems to be ok now, he's eating, swimming around with the others so hopefully he is going to be fine.

[whuntley]

Hi ??????

[A real name would be appreciated]

Learn to distrust the person you bought them from. The only killies that can stand a community tank are a few of the Lampeyes. Otherwise it is species tank only for most of them.

I suspect the books you are reading are not the best sources for a beginner killifish keeper, too. Advanced texts may assume you know they don't mix with other fish. Beginner books should spell that out load and clear.

Wright

[tukituki]

thanks for the message Wright. why would the australe golds and g.nigeriatum not mix with other species of the same size that are non-agressive?

it seems like my male australe gold was stressed after travelling but now he's part of my community tank which is a good size and has many plants and hiding places. its anything but crowded too.

i look forward to finding out more information about killies, i have not yet seen a specialist book on them, not so easy when you live in a small town!

cheers,

L.

[stormhawk]

Australes can do well in community tanks too, but most of the time they won't keep their long tail streamers for long.

To L.,

There's a number of books on killies that should help a beginner go along. Try doing a search on Amazon.com or any of the online bookseller sites. Most of the time these books will be out of print by now but they're worth buying if you really want decent info on them.

Of course, Wright here is also a good person to ask regarding killies.

[tukituki]

Cheers Jianyang,

nice to hear that my australe gold's should be ok, the male has come out of his shell (so to speak) but often seems a little slow, just hovers around... is this normal? The other 2 females do not display this tendancy and neither do my 3 g.nigeriatum.

i've seen the book killifish: a complete pet owners manual at a reasonable price, any good? would anybody be able to recommend a tropical fish book that has a good section on killifish as well as other species?

thanks.

[whuntley]

The Barrons book you cite is very good, but the names are way out of date, now.

I like the killifish sections of the Baensch Atlas series, at least through Vol. 3.

The AKA beginner's book is excellent. Free with membership, I think most of it is on the AKA web site <www.aka.org>

For the pros, the Wildekamp series from the AKA is a must have. Vol. 5 should be out soon, but I think Vol. 2 is out of print, right now.

The official nomenclature guide for the American hobbyist is Ken Lazara's Killifish Master Index. I prefer Jean Huber's Killidata books for more widely-accepted names. I think Killidata 2007 is out (not sure). The KMI names are on line at the Arizona Rivulin Keepers site. Use the link to ARK on the AKA site.

Find Tim Addis's West African Killies site. It is a wealth of good information.

HTH

Wright