Breeding Golden Wonder Killifish, Where to Start? ANYTHING HELPS

[Carter6262]

i have 2 females and one male (most likely) and ive been wanting to breed them for a while. ive had the male for around 4 days and he still needs to aclimate to the tank before i start breeding them. yet, im having some troubles confirming he is a male since he came from Petco and is a little roughed up from his tank mates so they could have nipped his fins a bit. i will post pictures when i get home as i and currently in school. personally i think its a male since its anal fin is much pointier then the females but still slightly rounded so im not 100 % sure an would rather make sure hes a male before continuing my breeding ventures .i have them in a 35 gallon with 4 guppies and 5 long finned zebra Danio with no problems. ( the Guppies and Danios are just space fillers for the tank to look more lively) i also have an African Butterfly fish and a Crayfish in it and there has been no losses besides my Kuhli Loaches to the crayfish a month back. i also have 3 tiger barbs and 3 albino tiger barbs im currently going to buy a 40 gallon tank/ have it given to me that doesnt have any problems and currently has fish in it. what i was thinking was to keep the 3 Killifish in the 35 gallon and take the rest out and use the 35 as a breeder. now thats my plan for the breeding tank, but i still need to make sure my parameters are perfect for breeding and that i use the right size mops as to not waste eggs. then what shall i do with the fry when theyve hatched. should i leave them in a breeder box while they grow or put the parents in the 40 and the fry in the 35. i have alot of questions and wanna make sure my first spawn wont be wasted. any info on them will help as ive been taking notes on breeding for a few days now and want to make sure those are correct and get stuff i missed.


(Update later in the day) I decided to get a temporary holding tank and float it in my normal tank with all the fish in it to act as a breeder tank for a cheaper price since this will be my first spawn. I bought some polyester yarn to make a mop and had to burn the tips so that it will not leave polyester bits in the tank. I also got some small hides for the fry and stored them for when I eventually do have fry I also bought a floating log decoration but it broke and seemed to leak something into the tank within 20 sec of me putting it in tank and I didn’t even damage it a peice just flaked off I had to toss it and put a small hide for the female if the male is being to aggressive with the mating attempts.The fish are in the temporary holding tank as we speak and seem to show some signs of starting but not really how would I make sure my water conditions are perfect for breeding the golden wonder Killis? That’s my main concern atm

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Give the fish a few weeks to recover from the stress of going to the shop then to your house.

Feed them 3-5 times a day with a variety of dry, frozen and live foods.

Do big regular water changes and gravel clean the substrate to keep the tank clean.

Have lots of plants in the tank, especially Java Moss and Water Sprite.

Have a coverglass on the tank because they jump.

Look for baby fish swimming just under the surface, but among the floating plant leaves.

 

[Carter6262]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Give the fish a few weeks to recover from the stress of going to the shop then to your house.

Feed them 3-5 times a day with a variety of dry, frozen and live foods.

Do big regular water changes and gravel clean the substrate to keep the tank clean.

Have lots of plants in the tank, especially Java Moss and Water Sprite.

Have a coverglass on the tank because they jump.

Look for baby fish swimming just under the surface, but among the floating plant leaves.

im gonna do it in a temporary tank thats gonna be floated so what should i do with the eggs once i get them?

 

[Colin_T]

You need a tank that is at least 18 inches long for breeding them.

Eggs can be picked out and put into hatching containers (2-5 litre buckets) with tank water and an airstone bubbling away gently, or just a big rearing tank. When the fry hatch they can be put into a rearing tank or large plastic storage container.

 

[GaryE]

If you can catch them some bugs, they will gift you eggs.

I bred mine by conditioning males and females apart, putting them in a large tank for a week with really good food and no pond snails, and then putting the adults back in the community. A week or so later, fry appeared. Older fry will eat their siblings - that's my least favourite killie because they'd eat the cat if they could catch it.

Quality food. They'll eat flakes, pellets and other prepared food, but if you want eggs you are best to go with frozen or live food.

You could use an acrylic mop, remove the eggs via wet fingers. Or remove the mop. Put them in a container at the right temp with air, do water changes on the eggs every few days and they'll hatch. Use a turkey baster to put them in their growout tank.

 

[Back in the fold]

I could not believe how easy these were to breed. Easy as guppies. You will know your male by his color. The females can be slightly golden but the male is really golden. I put a spawning mop into the tank floated by a cork and took it out and put it in a smaller tank a week later. About two weeks later fry began to appear. Aplocheilus lineatus Golden Wonder Killifish , like all plant spawning killifish, lay a few eggs every day rather than a bunch all at once so you will have new fry appearing every day. Some will come later and their older siblings will devour them. Leave the mop in as a hiding place. Look up the American Killifish Association website and look at the free Beginners Guide they have. That will be a big help to you. I started out with one store bought pair and I have 90 to 100 adults now after giving 25 away. The fry grow fast. Those plastic critter cage things you can buy for lizards work great for fry raising and hatch out tanks.

 

[Back in the fold]

I'm a really crummy picture taker. The picture with the fish is 11 of them in a 5 gallon.

 

[Back in the fold]

All these fish were once smaller than a grain of rice. These are fun fish to raise.

 

[Back in the fold]

This is a picture of a mop in a tank with 25 adults. You can see one egg. I leave a mop in there so they can do what comes naturally. Seems to calm them. But, if I were wanting fry I would have a trio of one male and two females in there with three or four nice big bushy mops. You can actually remove the mop from the water and look for eggs. Won't hurt a thing. Swirl the mop in the water a little to scare the fish out of it. Sometimes a fish stays in the mop when you take it out. You will probably have a few setbacks on your Golden Wonder breeding program at first. Maybe you won't raise the fry to maturity or they will get eaten or you won't get many eggs. Don't get discouraged. This is a fish that spawns regularly and often. You'll have plenty of chances to get what you want. Good luck !

 

[Carter6262]

I'm a really crummy picture taker. The picture with the fish is 11 of them in a 5

This is a picture of a mop in a tank with 25 adults. You can see one egg. I leave a mop in there so they can do what comes naturally. Seems to calm them. But, if I were wanting fry I would have a trio of one male and two females in there with three or four nice big bushy mops. You can actually remove the mop from the water and look for eggs. Won't hurt a thing. Swirl the mop in the water a little to scare the fish out of it. Sometimes a fish stays in the mop when you take it out. You will probably have a few setbacks on your Golden Wonder breeding program at first. Maybe you won't raise the fry to maturity or they will get eaten or you won't get many eggs. Don't get discouraged. This is a fish that spawns regularly and often. You'll have plenty of chances to get what you want. Good luck !

thank you im gonna continue to try to breed em since killis are my favorite out of most aquarium fish, whenever i feed them they will jump up and hit my finger like the would do in the wild with branches its pretty cool to watch, i just drop in a few crickets and they go insane i have 3 killis 1 male two females but thw two females are a little bit nippy towards eachother but nothing to concerning

 

[Back in the fold]

@Carter6262 You will have plenty of chances to breed your Golden Wonders. They live a long time. I have several that are over two years old and they look great. I saw a video somewhere where a guy had some in a terrarium / aquarium set up with branches about a foot overhead and he fed them crickets. They got most of the crickets but the ones they couldn't snag they jumped against the branch and knocked them off and into the water. I feed mine fruit flies and have to be very careful to watch for jumpers. They're quick ! I also had another Killie female (Pachypanchax playfairii ) die at about an inch and a half and before I could get my net to scoop out the corpse a 4 inch female GW snapped it up and swallowed it. That was kinda weird. She swam around with it half out of her mouth for about a half hour like a cigar but she eventually got it down. Golden Wonders are pretty voracious and predatory.