Breeding Clown Killifish

[connorlindeman]

Any secrets you have come across to encourage clown killifish to breed?
Mine have been exhibiting(is that the right word) breeding behavior for the last month but there's no fry.

Side question:
@Back in the fold said that you can float some java moss with a cork to encourage them to breed. The problem is I don't have a cork. I don't want to buy 50 of them on amazon either. Any ideas where I can get just one for cheap?

 

[Back in the fold]

Anything that floats will work. A one or two inch loop of airline tubing joined with a connector would work great.

 

[connorlindeman]

Anything that floats will work. A one or two inch loop of airline tubing joined with a connector would work great.

Oh yeah good idea. I'll try that. Thanks!

 

[GaryE]

You need a single species tank, heavily planted. Live food goes a long way - if I fed freshly hatched artemia, I found freshly hatched annulatus. Breeding fish on flake or pellet, unless they are easy Cichlids, is difficult.

 

[connorlindeman]

You need a single species tank, heavily planted. Live food goes a long way - if I fed freshly hatched artemia, I found freshly hatched annulatus. Breeding fish on flake or pellet, unless they are easy Cichlids, is difficult.

its heavily planted with floating plants. Single species. feeding live mosquito larvae and frozen daphnia and brine shrimp.

 

[connorlindeman]

its heavily planted with floating plants. Single species. feeding live mosquito larvae and frozen daphnia and brine shrimp.

Maybe I should try feeding live brine shrimp...

 

[Back in the fold]

A guy would think that newly hatched brine shrimp is just for fry but all small fish go nuts for them. Good stuff !

 

[GaryE]

There are 2 approaches. The quick result one is a bare tank with acrylic mops, and collecting the eggs to incubate. You need 2 tanks to do it, so you may lack the resources.
Freshly hatched brine shrimp daily may take 3 months. You aren't just feeding the adults. You feed the tank. The tiny, cautious fry may not appear, but they will usually be there. You feed them, sight unseen, til they decide it's safe to appear. The last time I did this with annulatus, about 50 appeared from a trio... after 3 to 4 months.

 

[Colin_T]

You need a tank full (and I mean full) of plants. My tanks were 18-24 inches long and were 3/4 full of Java Moss, with Water Sprite all across the top. I would scoop the fry out of the floating plants with a plastic icecream container and move them to a rearing tank.

Java Moss doesn't have to float. Just have a huge clump of it so the fish can go into it to spawn.

Feed 3-5 times a day, include dry foods first, then frozen, then live for each meal. You can use newly hatched brineshrimp and don't need adult brineshrimp. Get some microworms and grindal worms too.

Do big regular water changes and gravel clean the substrate into a white bucket. Look for eggs at bottom of bucket. Move eggs into a separate hatching container.

 

[itiwhetu]

The trigger for Clown Killis and lots of other fish is a natural atmospheric pressure rise, and early morning sun strike on the tank.

 

[connorlindeman]

There are 2 approaches. The quick result one is a bare tank with acrylic mops, and collecting the eggs to incubate. You need 2 tanks to do it, so you may lack the resources.
Freshly hatched brine shrimp daily may take 3 months. You aren't just feeding the adults. You feed the tank. The tiny, cautious fry may not appear, but they will usually be there. You feed them, sight unseen, til they decide it's safe to appear. The last time I did this with annulatus, about 50 appeared from a trio... after 3 to 4 months.

I could try to persuade my mom to let me buy another 10g... What's an acrylic mop?

 

[connorlindeman]

Feed 3-5 times a day, include dry foods first, then frozen, then live for each meal. You can use newly hatched brineshrimp and don't need adult brineshrimp. Get some microworms and grindal worms too.

A three course meal? They will be living a life of luxury.

Do big regular water changes and gravel clean the substrate into a white bucket. Look for eggs at bottom of bucket. Move eggs into a separate hatching container.

Ive heard that the eggs are practical invisible.

 

[connorlindeman]

The trigger for Clown Killis and lots of other fish is a natural atmospheric pressure rise, and early morning sun strike on the tank.

Ive heard that adding some distilled water will make them think its the rainy season which will also trigger them... Do you think that would work?

 

[GaryE]

Using triggering techniques is for fish that lay tons of eggs in one batch. Killies are slow and steady spawners, with several eggs a day. So radical water changes, etc, miss the mark on replicating the environment that formed all these behaviours. You have to think of fish in very shallow water, staying far from predators and breeding in a slow but very steady manner. There is no broodcare, but if the tank is big enough there isn't cannibalism either.

This Aphyosemion elberti is in front of a mop. It's acrylic yarn used as a fake plant. The killies spawn in it, and you can remove the eggs to incubate them away from the parents (14-21 days in most cases). If you are inclined to study things, the eggs are transparent and a daily check under a microscope will let you watch the development of the embryo. At our school, we were able to film red corpuscles moving through the heart of one of the embryos. When it hatched, it was a serious pet for the students in that class.

 

[connorlindeman]

If you are inclined to study things, the eggs are transparent and a daily check under a microscope will let you watch the development of the embryo. At our school, we were able to film red corpuscles moving through the heart of one of the embryos. When it hatched, it was a serious pet for the students in that class.

That must have been really cool!