Experience with Killifish(Epiplatys annulatus)

[SomethingsFishy24]

Hello! I am looking for any and all advise, experience, ect with this particular species, or killifish sp. in general. I am toying with the idea of setting up a 20 gallon with these little fish, however I have not kept these little guys before. Advise on how to keep them happy, how many to keep in a school, tank mates. I plan on having it planted(moderate to heavy), hard scaped with driftwood/dragon stone? and using a sponge filter, but that's as far as I have gotten. Thank you in advance!

 

[Colin_T]

I wouldn't put big rocks in the tank. Killifish prefer to hang out in or under plants. Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta) is a good floating plant for them. It can also be planted in the gravel and grows into a nice light green shrub. Java Moss is good for them to breed in.

The E. annulatus are a very small fish that do best in a single species tank or in a tank with some small peaceful bottom dwellng fish like pymgy Corydoras or Khuli loaches. However, Khuli loaches hide all the time so pygmy Cories are better.

They sometimes take small dry fish foods but normally prefer frozen or live foods. Any food should be small enough for them to eat. They need variety in their diet too so feed them a number of different foods. Try dry food first and then offer some prawn/ shrimp or finely chopped fish or squid. Frozen brineshrimp, daphnia, mysis shrimp and bloodworms can be offered to them. Live brineshrimp, daphnia and mozzie larvae can be fed to them along with newly hatched brineshrimp and micro or grindal worms.

Keep the water temperature around 24C and breed them because they only live for about 12-18 months. They live longer in cooler water and age quickly in warm water (28C+).

The water should be soft (GH below 150ppm) and have a pH around 7.0.

Have a coverglass on the tank and put some sponge in the corners of the coverglass to stop the fish jumping out.

An air operated sponge filter is fine.

 

[SomethingsFishy24]

I wouldn't put big rocks in the tank. Killifish prefer to hang out in or under plants. Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta) is a good floating plant for them. It can also be planted in the gravel and grows into a nice light green shrub. Java Moss is good for them to breed in.

The E. annulatus are a very small fish that do best in a single species tank or in a tank with some small peaceful bottom dwellng fish like pymgy Corydoras or Khuli loaches. However, Khuli loaches hide all the time so pygmy Cories are better.

They sometimes take small dry fish foods but normally prefer frozen or live foods. Any food should be small enough for them to eat. They need variety in their diet too so feed them a number of different foods. Try dry food first and then offer some prawn/ shrimp or finely chopped fish or squid. Frozen brineshrimp, daphnia, mysis shrimp and bloodworms can be offered to them. Live brineshrimp, daphnia and mozzie larvae can be fed to them along with newly hatched brineshrimp and micro or grindal worms.

Keep the water temperature around 24C and breed them because they only live for about 12-18 months. They live longer in cooler water and age quickly in warm water (28C+).

The water should be soft (GH below 150ppm) and have a pH around 7.0.

Have a coverglass on the tank and put some sponge in the corners of the coverglass to stop the fish jumping out.

An air operated sponge filter is fine.

Thank you for your insight! I have several floating plant species as well as other rhizome and mosses I will pull from to plant this tank. I also have plenty of frozen foods that my other fish get. I will nix the rock and stick with a couple nice pieces of drift.

Can I establish a population of daphnia in the 20 gallon or do you believe the Killies would eat them faster than the daphnia can reproduce? I usually do not feed live but it would seem beneficial to make an exception if I want to keep these guys. With that said, my husband thinks I should put Dwarf shrimp in with them since they also have fry like crazy. My concern with that would be the softer water and if it would affect the shrimp's shells too much.

I didn't realize they were jumpers XD I have a glass top for the tank, but to be safe I will drop the water level an inch or two as well. It will help keep the floating plants from being too close to the lighting as well.

 

[Colin_T]

All killifish are acrobatic and jump

If you start a colony of Daphnia a month or more before adding the fish, the Daphnia might establish. Then the fish can eat the baby Daphnia but the adult Daphnia should be too big for the fish to eat.

Shrimp will eat the fish eggs.

Most shrimp reabsorb the calcium from their shells before moulting so don't lose much when kept in soft water. But I would keep shrimp and snails out of the tank so the fish can breed. They are really short lived fish and only breed for about 6 months before they stop. So having them in a single species tank and breeding them would be the main goal. If you get too many you can put them in other tanks with shrimp but the first tank should be primarily based around the fish.

 

[SomethingsFishy24]

All killifish are acrobatic and jump

If you start a colony of Daphnia a month or more before adding the fish, the Daphnia might establish. Then the fish can eat the baby Daphnia but the adult Daphnia should be too big for the fish to eat.

Shrimp will eat the fish eggs.

Most shrimp reabsorb the calcium from their shells before moulting so don't lose much when kept in soft water. But I would keep shrimp and snails out of the tank so the fish can breed. They are really short lived fish and only breed for about 6 months before they stop. So having them in a single species tank and breeding them would be the main goal. If you get too many you can put them in other tanks with shrimp but the first tank should be primarily based around the fish.

Awesome, thank you so much for your advice. I will see what I can do about getting a daphnia colony going, plus a back up supply just in case. These killies are pretty cute, so I don't think there will be much gruff given if I just keep them in their own dedicated tank.

 

[GaryE]

I bred them for years, in a set up that sounds like yours. If you are tall you will want the tank higher up than usual. They are surface oriented, and if you look down at a tank with a cover, you won't see them a lot. They cruise right under the surface, waiting for bugs to land and try to lay eggs. If your house is infested with mosquitoes, get some!
Mine ate crushed flake (no pellets - they are small fish), decapsulated artemia cysts and various freeze dried foods, as well as the live foods I use (but that most fishkeepers don't want). A good rotation of high quality protein flake brands (they did really well with bug bites flakes - closer to their natural diet) will do. I never use one brand, one type. Always at least 3.
I would try to get 6 to start, but the more the merrier.
I thought I had a dozen when a friend asked for some, and discovered I had more than 50. They are funny, because I rarely saw fry or juvies, but I knew they were there.They like magically appear as they've grown. It's like pigeons.
As Colin says, they jump. It's how they evade predators. They are slow runners, but acrobats. If there is an opening, they will find it.
I do put rocks to scape the tank, but the fish never go low in the water. They don't care.
Not too hot - 22-23. They'll live anywhere from 1.5 to 3 years unless you accelerate their cycle with heat.

 

[SomethingsFishy24]

I bred them for years, in a set up that sounds like yours. If you are tall you will want the tank higher up than usual. They are surface oriented, and if you look down at a tank with a cover, you won't see them a lot. They cruise right under the surface, waiting for bugs to land and try to lay eggs. If your house is infested with mosquitoes, get some!
Mine ate crushed flake (no pellets - they are small fish), decapsulated artemia cysts and various freeze dried foods, as well as the live foods I use (but that most fishkeepers don't want). A good rotation of high quality protein flake brands (they did really well with bug bites flakes - closer to their natural diet) will do. I never use one brand, one type. Always at least 3.
I would try to get 6 to start, but the more the merrier.
I thought I had a dozen when a friend asked for some, and discovered I had more than 50. They are funny, because I rarely saw fry or juvies, but I knew they were there.They like magically appear as they've grown. It's like pigeons.
As Colin says, they jump. It's how they evade predators. They are slow runners, but acrobats. If there is an opening, they will find it.
I do put rocks to scape the tank, but the fish never go low in the water. They don't care.
Not too hot - 22-23. They'll live anywhere from 1.5 to 3 years unless you accelerate their cycle with heat.

I have a ridiculous amount of fish food of all sorts, but then again I have a ridiculous amount of tanks and fish. I do have the tiny tropical bug bites for my Emperor, Phantom and neon tetras, if the Killies like them, I am sure the tetras won't mind sharing .

I am tall, this tank is going to be up higher on an old hardwood dresser that I store all my animal related things in. It is rock solid and should not have trouble supporting a 20g long easy, or so I am reassured by the Mister. I also questioned the stand we bought from the LFS we got for the 150 gallon, it looked pretty suspect but engineers seemed to have gotten it right.

Luckily we do not have a mosquito issue in the house, I wouldn't have any blood, they love me, lol.

When/if you thinned any floating plants, did you have trouble accidentally removing eggs? I have several variety, and they grow like weeds and I have to thin them weekly. Is there any way to make one spot more appealing to the Killies or is it kinda proceed with caution cause you never know where they might be?

 

[GaryE]

It's proceed with caution, more for the tiny fry who will charge into roots than for eggs.

 

[Colin_T]

I used to gravel clean my tanks into white buckets and let the water settle for a few minutes. Then use a torch (flashlight for the US people) to look for eggs in the bucket. Some fish will lay eggs on the substrate or the eggs don't attach to plants and fall to the bottom.