Killies With...mice?!?

[eschaton]

I thought my rodent days were done, but last weekend I found a pair of African Pygmy Mice. For the time being I'm setting them up in a 5.5 gallon tank, but as my other tanks get set up I'd like a more elaborate vivarium.

They range across all of sub-Saharan Africa, leaving lots of plant and animal choices. Since I eventually want to do a Dart Frog tank, I don't want to have them in a jungle tank. So I was a bit stumped.

Then it hit me - a grassland biotope. My LFS has a pretty sweet 30 breeder. I could have 1/2 of it land with a gradual slope down to the water (slow enough the mice wouldn't fall in and drown). Using grass also helps as they won't climb over top and drown. And then in the water, have stands of emergent hairgrass and the like.

This could closely mirror the habitat of many species of annual Killifish I believe, and there should be space for at least 5 gallons of water in such a wide, short setup. Are there any Killies which would be useful for this endeavor?

 

[BigC]

Strange setup,
Anyway I se no reason not to go with this unusual pairing providing that the tank is kept clean and no mice feces polute the water.
Try the usual suspects, either one from the following, Aph. australe, Fp. gardneri or Aph. striatum. and see how you go.
Interesting....
You mention the African annuals ie. Nothobranchius sp.
Yes you could also have them too but you would have to take into consideration if you wished to breed the fish or are they just for show. Either way if you wished to persue the annual route then a bottom layer of well soaked peat moss is ideal, making it possible to collect eggs and keep the strain going if you so wish, or sell the eggs toward the dartfrog venture.
Lets know how you get on and maybe post some pics.
Regards
BigC

 

[eschaton]

Thanks BigC.

These mice are the smallest of all rodent species, and unlike common mice are good in planted vivaria.

I've kept A. striatum killies before (briefly, they were badly-behaved in my community tank), and enjoyed them greatly. I was worried they and other cogenerics would need closer to 10 gallons water space than 5 gallons however.

The other positive of annual killies in this setup I saw is I could approximate the periodic dry season, allowing something closer to the killies natural life cycle. I'd possibly be able to keep the eggs in the tank all the way through the dry spell, provided I found some way to shield them from the foraging of the mice.