Beastly Golden Killi Fish

[jonny5]

i didnt realize exactly how big these guys get, till i saw a full grown one at the LFS the other day. First off, gorgeous. Not many brackish water fish are what you would call pretty and colorful fish, but these are lookers.

He is 5 inches long but thich as can be, and even my archers learned that he cant be pushed around easy, yet he does not attack any tankmates for aggression or predation. (just a squable with an archer) So if your thinking about getting one but fear it may be eatin, grow em up in a freshwater tank then pop em in the brack when they get big enough, they add a nice feel to the tank.

 

[Assaye]

i didnt realize exactly how big these guys get, till i saw a full grown one at the LFS the other day. First off, gorgeous. Not many brackish water fish are what you would call pretty and colorful fish, but these are lookers.

He is 5 inches long but thich as can be, and even my archers learned that he cant be pushed around easy, yet he does not attack any tankmates for aggression or predation. (just a squable with an archer) So if your thinking about getting one but fear it may be eatin, grow em up in a freshwater tank then pop em in the brack when they get big enough, they add a nice feel to the tank.

Do you mean golden wonder panchax? I didn't realise they were brackish fish.

 

[Carlovel1]

 

[nmonks]

Yes, Aplocheilus lineatus is found in brackish water. It'll do just fine in a low salinity system up to around SG 1.005 at 25 C.

Cheers, Neale

Do you mean golden wonder panchax? I didn't realise they were brackish fish.

 

[Assaye]

Yes, Aplocheilus lineatus is found in brackish water. It'll do just fine in a low salinity system up to around SG 1.005 at 25 C.

Cheers, Neale

Do you mean golden wonder panchax? I didn't realise they were brackish fish.

Wicked, thanks for the info. I have one in a totally freshwater system - worth changing to brackish or will she be OK? She's seemed fine for the last year and I've never read that they are brackish fish. My water is pretty hard.

 

[nmonks]

Oh, they're mostly freshwater fish, soft to moderately hard, around neutral water is perfect, especially for breeding. But in the wild they do also occur in slightly brackish habitats, as do a great many other fish we don't normally think of as brackish water fish, ticto barbs for example. In the weedy coastal streams you'll find an interesting mix of freshwater and brackish water fish. At a low salinity, say SG 1.002 or 1.003, this would be a cracking habitat to model.

Cheers, Neale

Wicked, thanks for the info. I have one in a totally freshwater system - worth changing to brackish or will she be OK? She's seemed fine for the last year and I've never read that they are brackish fish. My water is pretty hard.

 

[jonny5]

ya i have him in a SG of 1.004 right now. He is doing fine, although it was a huge ph change from 7.5 to 8.1. Acclimated him for about an hour and he ended up fine. Ya a few other killies can go in brackish too but golden panchex is the only one that gets sizable so as to be possibly kept with bigger fish. The other killifish i have in there are florida flagfish, awsome little guys who are just round and look like they are obese, but they like cooler waters, like 73ish. I have them in 78degree right now and any fish store will have them in that too, so you just gotta hope for the best or have a slightly cooler water tank. One of mine died, but the other two survived a heat spike to 90 degrees in Los Angeles last week and are doing fine now.


ill put a picture up of both when i have time tomorrow during daylight.

 

[nmonks]

Hmm… this isn't strictly true. There are in fact a LOT of killifish that live in brackish and marine environments. But because they aren't traded much, aquarists are often unaware of them. In terms of ecology, killifish tend to be adapted to extremes, but those extremes may be freshwater ones (like temporary pools) or saltwater ones (like hypersaline lagoons). To think of killifish are freshwater fish is actually rather misleading.

North America is particularly well served with estuarine and marine killifish, including numerous species of Cyprinodon and Fundulus, among others. Some of these are quite sizeable, feisty fish that tend to be aggressive in aquaria, but they are very widely used as laboratory animals, as is the case with Cyprinodon variegatus and Fundulus heteroclitus. The latter species is famous as the first fish ever taken into space. Rivulus marmoratus is another estuarine species that was recently discovered to spend part of its life cycle out of water, "hibernating" for a period of weeks in hollows in trees.

Europe also has quite a few brackish water killifish, but sadly many of these are endangered now for one reason or another. Aphanius mento is quite widely traded though, and being quite aggressive this species may be kept in a large fish community provided its tankmates aren't actually predatory.

Cheers, Neale

Ya a few other killies can go in brackish too but golden panchex is the only one that gets sizable so as to be possibly kept with bigger fish.

 

[jonny5]

Hmm… this isn't strictly true. There are in fact a LOT of killifish that live in brackish and marine environments. But because they aren't traded much, aquarists are often unaware of them. In terms of ecology, killifish tend to be adapted to extremes, but those extremes may be freshwater ones (like temporary pools) or saltwater ones (like hypersaline lagoons). To think of killifish are freshwater fish is actually rather misleading.

North America is particularly well served with estuarine and marine killifish, including numerous species of Cyprinodon and Fundulus, among others. Some of these are quite sizeable, feisty fish that tend to be aggressive in aquaria, but they are very widely used as laboratory animals, as is the case with Cyprinodon variegatus and Fundulus heteroclitus. The latter species is famous as the first fish ever taken into space. Rivulus marmoratus is another estuarine species that was recently discovered to spend part of its life cycle out of water, "hibernating" for a period of weeks in hollows in trees.

Europe also has quite a few brackish water killifish, but sadly many of these are endangered now for one reason or another. Aphanius mento is quite widely traded though, and being quite aggressive this species may be kept in a large fish community provided its tankmates aren't actually predatory.

Cheers, Neale

Ya a few other killies can go in brackish too but golden panchex is the only one that gets sizable so as to be possibly kept with bigger fish.

i never realized the mummichog was first fish into space, that is cool. I guess there are alot of killies that can go into brackish, and i heard about those wood hibernating killies (how strange yet interesting). I have not seen alot in store for sale though. Golden killies are quite abundant in the trade in southern california but ive been lucky to find the florida flagfish at one shop and a Aplocheilus panchax (i think) at one shop. I would love to be able to run into more species in the stores but they just dont seem to be out there for sale. However, i know from NANFA forums that alot of southerners/east coast people will go and get wild specimens themselves (especially the mummichog).

 

[nmonks]

If you live in the US, it's actually not too hard to get native killifish. Sheepshead minnows and mummichogs, among others, are standard items in the biological supply industry. They're used in labs and universities. Look at companies such as Sachs Aquaculture, this latter not being a company I've used but one I happen to have bookmarked! I'm sure there are many others, just as good if not better. My point is that you can order these fish online and have them delivered to your door.

Elsewhere in the world they may or may not be available via similar suppliers, but that may depend on their legality in your area, some of these fish being potential pest species.

Cheers, Neale