Killi fish set up

[Anaxus]

I was thinking about doing a small killi fish set up. It would be probably 10 gallon tank.
1)Would 10 gallon tank be suffiecent space for 1 pair, or maby 2 pair? Would I have enough room for maby a shrimp to help keep it clean?
2)Which type of killi fish would be recommended? I was thinking of lyretail.
3)Where is a good place to obtain these, I hear LFS usualy dont carry them.
4)For a filter I was thinking of using a small power head with a spong on the intake. Will this be suffiecent?
5) For substrate I was going to use aquarium peat, since this would be close to there natural enviroment. Would this be suffiecient? I am aware that the aquarium peat will make the water a brown hue.
6) For light I am not sure on the watts for the tank, I would have to check how big the bulbs are. What would be reccomended? I know they dont like too bright of lights, correct?
7) For decoration I was going to try and find a piece of cork bark. What type of plant would be tall and would provide alot of shade that doesn't require too much light incase my strip isnt that big? I got the idea for this set up from a book, in the book he uses red myriophyllum but tropica says it require high light so not sure if it will survive.
Any advice would be helpful

[OrionGirl]

I purchased eggs from aquabid, and can recommend the process if you're comfortable with buying online, and can provide the newly hatched fish with food immediately (ie, have cultures up before the eggs arrive). They have fish frequently as well.

My tank is a 5 gallon eclipse with sand and crypts, and a small rock. I have about 1 cup of peat on the substrate. Tank stays around 78 degrees. I use just a sponge in the filter (no carbon). I am not trying to raise lots of them, just keep the tank with fish in it, so this setup isn't ideal if you want to remove the eggs, etc. I feed micro worms and vinegar eels, plus some flake food and frozen brine. I do a water change about once a month. There are 8-9 fish in there right now, no adults, and I haven't seen any problems with aggression, but this will depend on species and age, I am sure. Mine are A. australe (and another species in the same family...Can't recal right now! Arrggghhh!).

[Anaxus]

Im not really sure if I want to have to deal with hacting them. What is involved with setting up a culture of food though?
I am not really that concerned about breeding them, I wouldn't have a place to put the fry. Would having a substrate of just peat be a problem? Will they accept just flakes and frozen brime shrimp, or will I have to have micro worms or vineger eels? Willl a power head with spong attached be suffiencient?

[OrionGirl]

If you get eggs, you will need some form of cultured food. The fry are VERY tiny--I initially used a hand magnifying glass just to locate the buggers. Imagine something that is mostly clear and about -- long, with a slight bulge to one end with two pin point dots for eyes and you have an idea what baby kill fish look like. Hatching is easy--my eggs were shipped in sloppy wet peat, which I floated to temp, added a bit of my water over the course of about 30 minutes, then I dumped the whole thing in. Put a sponge over the filter intake to prevent them being sucked up. Never saw the eggs. I fed vinegar eels first, becuase they can live in FW for a while, meaning I didn't have to know exactly when the eggs hatched. Totally easy. If you started with adult fish, find out what they are eating, and have that on hand so you can wean them onto new foods more easily.

Too bad you aren't close--I would give you mine just to clear up the tank.

[Anaxus]

After looking at the prices of some of the pairs of fish plus the shipping on aquabid I think if I do set up the tank I will just get eggs.
Where can I get info on vineger eels and microworms?

[OrionGirl]

Check http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/ under Feeding: Live Foods. I think I paid about $25 total for my eggs--got a total of 25 eggs. I lost some because, like an idiot, I expected to be able to see the fry, and wasn't aware they had hatched. I started feeding 'just in case', but was a little late. I recommend having the cultures going for at least a week before getting the eggs (and yes, the price is why I went with eggs as well--certainly can be a lot!).

[Anaxus]

So it would be best to get around 10 eggs?

[OrionGirl]

It depends on how many adults you want. I had two batches that hatched a week apart, and all of the second batch are still alive, and only 3 of the first batch. But, I am pretty sure this was my fault, because I wasn't feeding soon enough. If you get 10 eggs, plan on having 8-10 fish. The eggs are amazingly hardy and ship very well--mine came in January, when the average temp was somewhere around 32. If you only want 4-6 fish, talk to an LFS and see if they would be interested in you extra fish. I know my LFS will happily take my fish once they hit one inch.

[Anaxus]

I dont think I will set the tank up this month, maby next. Before I order eggs I will check with LFS maby I will get lucky and they will have some.
Any idea where I can get some cork bark?

[OrionGirl]

Not a gaurantee, and you'd want to boil it to clean, but I would check with a landscaping supply place. A good garden supply place should have some as well.

[superstein61]

Most LFS do not carry Killies because of their short life span. And because of that, plus that they really aren't suitable community fish and some other factors, they do cost more than a lot of fish you will find.

Even my favorite Oddball Fish breeder - www.alloddballaquatics.com has his Killies (and if you check, he has a large number of varieties) at an average price that exceeds what he sells everything else at.

FYI - here are a couple links to some decent articles for getting started with Killies:

http://shene.killi.net/gpasi/Newsletters/january2003finformation.pdf

http://shene.killi.net/gpasi/Newsletters/february2003finformation.pdf

Good luck

[Anaxus]

Thanks for those links. If I do set this up I might get a pair of Fundulopanchax fallax "Fifindia Yellow" from oddball aquatic. one of your links said the fundulopanchax are good beginner killies.
How hard are they to train to eat flake, frozen, or died food?

[OrionGirl]

Not all species of killies have short life spans. Many live in annual waters, and will live 2-5 years. It's a matter of knowing what you get.

[superstein61]

orionGirl - yes, I agree always exceptions to any rule. My point simply was that most LFS stores don't carry killies for a variety of reasons, one being the short life span of some of them, another being there unsuitability to a community tank, etc, etc


Anaxus - no problem, hope you enjoy them. Sorry, but I don't have much personal experience with them. I have talked a lot with Eric at AllOdball about them when I was planning to get some - but I ultimately changed my mind and didn't want the single species tank.

When you are ready to buy them - just email him, he will be happy to tell you about feeding regimen, etc