Help a gal brand new to Killifish out!

[newmag1659]

Hi!

I have a currently empty 10 gallon tank, but I'm seriously considering adding killifish, but I clearly need to do research, but I wanted to ask around here first!

I have extremely soft water, so I've been told that's a good thing for killifish. Additionally, the tank will be heavily planted with a whole bunch of different stuff, so far only hornwort, amazon swords, and wisteria but I have more arriving in the mail soon.

Looking around briefly online, it appears killifish live quite a short time, google's first hit says 3-9 months. If I'm wanting fish that live at least a year, should I look elsewhere?

There seems to be many species of killifish - which are beginner friendly? The more colorful, the better, because I like shiny things, but I don't want to jump right into the deep end if I'm not ready.

Are killifish friendly to snails and shrimp? What about other fish, primarily pygmy corycats?

If I don't end up liking the answers, I'll probably go with some rasboras or ember tetras

 

[Salty&Onion]

Are killifish friendly to snails and shrimp? What about other fish, primarily pygmy corycats?

Male killifish are aggresive from what I have heard, over all they can be kept with snails, but shrimp will be hunted.
They should be alright with pygmy cories, cories need sand substrate.

 

[newmag1659]

Male killifish are aggresive from what I have heard, over all they can be kept with snails, but shrimp will be hunted.
They should be alright with pygmy cories, cories need sand substrate.

Ok! Would cories be okay with fluval stratum? It's bigger than sand but smaller than regular gravel.

 

[Salty&Onion]

Ok! Would cories be okay with fluval stratum? It's bigger than sand but smaller than regular gravel.

They need sand, killifish will be fine with sand as they don't care what substrate they have or plants
Cories need sand as any other gravel will hurt their barbels as they like to sift through sand their natural habitat substrate is sand.
How much of them would you like to put in the 10 gallon?
I would do 8-9 of them, maybe 10. @NCaquatics and @Byron can help out with the numbers.

 

[newmag1659]

They need sand, killifish will be fine with sand as they don't care what substrate they have or plants
Cories need sand as any other gravel will hurt their barbels as they like to sift through sand their natural habitat substrate is sand.
How much of them would you like to put in the 10 gallon?
I would do 8-9 of them, maybe 10. @NCaquatics and @Byron can help out with the numbers.

I'm not willing to change to sand, plants need the fluval to grow the way I want. I'll not get corys then. Any other fish that go well with killifish, or should I stick with just a few snails? I was thinking 9-10 killifish in a tank. Currently looking at Golden Wonder since my local fish store has them.

 

[Salty&Onion]

9-10 killifish is too much for a 10 gallon I believe. Plant substrates are basically useless as they use up the "nutrients" in the soil and sometimes the soil can be harmful to fish from what I've heard and the plants don't "need" the soil substrate. They need liquid fertilisers and root tabs deoending on what plants you have. For example amazon swords are heavy root feeders and they require root tabs for complete nutrition.

 

[newmag1659]

9-10 killifish is too much for a 10 gallon I believe. Plant substrates are basically useless as they use up the "nutrients" in the soil and sometimes the soil can be harmful to fish from what I've heard and the plants don't "need" the soil substrate. They need liquid fertilisers and root tabs deoending on what plants you have. For example amazon swords are heavy root feeders and they require root tabs for complete nutrition.

How many should I do then - 6-7? Also I don't think they are useless, I've had success with them so far in addition to ferts and root tabs.

 

[dmpfishlover]

I have extremely soft water, so I've been told that's a good thing for killifish.

Do you know the actual hardness of your water in numbers/units? Just hearing that your water is extremely soft doesn't really give you all of the information that you need. Water hardness/softness according to water providers and water hardness/softness according to fish keepers in the hobby may be two very different things... A water provider may claim that the water is hard, when in fact it might be somewhat soft when it relates to the fish keeping hobby (or vise versa). What you really need to know is the actual hardness value of your water in numbers/units. Water hardness can be expressed in terms of degrees (dGH) or in parts per million (ppm GH). Do you know what your water's numbers/units are? Also do you know what the pH of your Tap water is? This is also important and will determine what kinds of fish you can keep. I would first make sure you know these values, before considering what types of fish to keep.

 

[newmag1659]

Do you know the actual hardness of your water in numbers/units? Just hearing that your water is extremely soft doesn't really give you all of the information that you need. Water hardness/softness according to water providers and water hardness/softness according to fish keepers in the hobby may be two very different things... A water provider may claim that the water is hard, when in fact it might be somewhat soft when it relates to the fish keeping hobby. What you really need to know is the actual hardness value of your water in numbers/units. Water hardness can be expressed in terms of degrees (dGH) or in parts per million (ppm GH). Do you know what your water's numbers/units are? Also do you know what the pH of your Tap water is? This is also important and will determine what kinds of fish you can keep. I would first make sure you know these values, before considering what types of fish to keep.

I actually asked the exact same question in another thread - I was told by some experts on here that it’s extremely soft. Local tap is ~50 ppm, but I’m moving in the beginning of August to an area with ~10ppm. Local pH is around 6.6, but pH in the new place I’m moving to is around 8.5.

 

[dmpfishlover]

Ok, well it sounds like you have the information you need to make an informed decision! That is good. Definitely keep these numbers in mind when selecting fish... As well as the size of your tank and other tank mates...

 

[dmpfishlover]

I know that some species of Killifish are more aggressive than others, so I wouldn't want to recommend amounts for them as I don't have experience with them... I believe there is a Killifish section on this Forum, so you might have some luck posting a thread in that section.

 

[newmag1659]

I know that some species of Killifish are more aggressive than others, so I wouldn't want to recommend amounts for them as I don't have experience with them... I believe there is a Killifish section on this Forum, so you might have some luck posting a thread in that section.

Gotcha - I thought this was the killifish section of the forums. If this isn’t, where is it?

 

[dmpfishlover]

Gotcha - I thought this was the killifish section of the forums. If this isn’t, where is it?

That's odd???, it is in that section... But when I first saw the post, it looked like it was under general Tropical Fish Discussion?? My mistake!!! ... I am sure someone in this section can provide specific advice on species/numbers of Killifish for you!

 

[Essjay]

There is another thread in New to the Hobby which ended discussing killifish, then this killi-specific thread was started here

 

[newmag1659]

There is another thread in New to the Hobby which ended discussing killifish, then this killi-specific thread was started here

Do you know anyone in particular who could help me figure out numbers and also life span?