Killifish

[kennyman]

Killifish

As my recently setup 55gal settles in, I have been thinking more about stocking. I had envisioned a school of 10-15 marbled hatchet fish. But when I showed the boss lady a picture of them she said, "why cant we pick something colorful? This got me thinking of the amazing photos of Killifish I see in books. Is totally uncharted waters for me and I have no idea how hard they are to get, to keep, and god forbid to get rid of if they start breeding. But they sure are pretty looking! After I finished reading killi.net I have even more questions than when I started. Like; How long do they live? Where do you find good ones? How much do they cost? Can they school? What will they get along with? There are so many different types it seems confusing.

I have a planted 55gal with a BN pleco and hopefully some coollie loaches coming to frolic around the bottom of the tank. I need a colorful feature species of surface dwellers. Are there killi  that can fill that role?

[mseguin]

If you're looking for surface dwellers, ur best option is Asian killies, the most common of which are the Golden Wonder killies, Aplocheilus lineatus. Many of the African killies dont always make great community fish but are ver yeasy to take care of. There are a few kinds I can order for my suppliers, and they are extremely colourful. Right now I have Golden Wonders and Golden lyretails Aphyosemion australe.

[beowulf]

Get your marble hatchet, add a large school of cardinals and then some rams or apistos and voila a nice black water setup with color etc!!! 

Then again you are right most of those killies are very nice.

[PaleoFishGirl]

The Golden Wonder killies in Matty's store are gorgeous! They're almost fluorescent yellow!

[Laura]

I like golden wonders, but they're tough little guys aren't they?  Not suggesting that they won't fit in, but you may want to do some research on appropriate tankmates.

[kennyman]

OK I think a found a good picture of the Golden wonder Is that what they look like? That is very sleek and shinny looking, quite nice!

I have also looked at Aphyosemion cognatum which is available locally. Tough choice!

Can fish like this coexist in one tank? Perhaps 5 or one type and 3 of the other?
Since they are different genus does that mean I wont have to worry about mutant hybrids, or are most killi hybrids anyway?

Are there any risks of aggression towards a cleanup crew consisting of a BN pleco, Coolie Loaches and Ottos?

Also temperature wise I would like to keep the tank warm enough to promote plantgrowth so around 78. Will this effect the killi longterm as I have read that many of the do better in the 70-74 range?

Sorry for all the questions as these are very intersting fish but there are so many types species with such different needs lumped under the name of killi  

[beowulf]

Anybody got a good site on these little guys?  Where are they from?

[mseguin]

You can't really mix killies that well, the males tend to fight. Golden wonders can be aggressive, but tend to stick around the top so should be fine with mid and bottom fish

[kennyman]

Anybody got a good site on these little guys?  Where are they from?

Killi live on every continent except Antarctica and Australia if you go by the book I'm trying to use. And there are a whole bunch of divisions each conting multiple species. Thats why I am asking so many questions. The name Killi sux. I think its a Dutch word that means muddy puddle fish or something 

[mseguin]

check out aka.org

[beowulf]

Thanks for the info.  I checked out what they had on aquahobby.com and they are indeed colorful little guys but they do seem to have one hell of an attitude 

[zapisto]

like matt said , killi is pretty difficult to mix.

one things you want to make sure , is cover well your tank.
thoose are a real pain founding the only little all in your cover and jump from thee

i will not mix lineatus gold and cognetum.