Killifish Breeding, Rearing, and General Keeping - American Killifish Association Forum

Water chemistry match

Adam Stuhr — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 03:45:18 +0000

How closely should I try to match my water chemistry to what I am reading is the ph and how hard or soft the water is for different species? I would ideally not like to mess with my water, but it doesn’t seem like too many killies match what I have. Will they not thrive, not breed, or not survive depending on the differences? Does anyone have any suggestions on species I should try without needing to alter my water?

My water:

7.8 PH

10 dKH

4.5dGH

Preparing peat moss

Bob Alston — Thu, 02 May 2024 22:03:58 +0000

Having problems spawning N. furzeri. I have two pair and initially tried a trio - MFF - over peat. I got 2 quarts of peatmost Duspro brand on amazon. Nice stuff - no sticks. Vietnam is source. Pored boiling water over the peat, let it cool, place in breeding container, filled to top with dechlorinated water and waited for peat to cool and settle. Left in tank for one week. Females were fat.
When I removed the peat I dumped it into a large net and squeezed our the water. Maybe I squeezed too hard. Spread peat over newspaper and looked for eggs. none found. I might have seen broken pieces of 2 eggs not sure.

Planning to go back to Jiffy pellets although I cannot find #703. A assuumee that all jiffy peat pellets have the same stuff. Do I need to put boiling water over the jiffy peat?

My current try #2 is with both pairs, same spawning setup. Plan to squeeze peat less hard and end of a week.

Other suggestions?
Bob

Hybrids from the past

Andy Jameson — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 12:16:50 +0000

When I was a wee lad (really a nerdy teenager) in the early 1970s, I was in the AKA for a couple of years. My recollection is that in each JAKA, there would be lists of member reported killifish hybrids they had produced.

I'm well aware that current thought is that such "experiments" are akin to a crime against nature and I'm not advocating deliberate hybridization. But, my assumption is that this was done back in the day based on the (now unaccepted) idea that distinct species do not produce fertile hybrids.

My reason for bringing this up, besides that it might be interesting club history to some, is that I wonder if those lists are still extant and could be shared with the club. While they might be verboten now, those crosses were made and I, for one, would find it very interesting to see what crosses were possible. Maybe there are even photos of these mixed parentage fish in the archives?

Does anyone have any more info on this?

where to get Jiffy 703 peat pellets?

Tyrone Genade — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 19:08:32 +0000

I get my Jiffy peat from Grower's Solution in Cookeville TN but they ship anywhere: https://growerssolution.com/products/jif42mm?_pos=1&_sid=6401c5dc1&_ss=r

For the love of peat! Need some help or advice

Morgun Werling — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 00:24:48 +0000

Hello again,
As an update to my beginner fish (Gardneri) they are happy, healthy, and breeding like rabbits.
Problem is that I haven't had good luck with raising fry, or getting decent hatch rates.
(The fry that hatched and died are my fault, as I kept them in a tank with rice fish of the same age--turns out rice fish have much larger mouths and grow much faster)
Methylene blue (all kinds of different strengths) has not treated me well with the Fp Gardneri, and neither has putting the eggs in an established planted tank(bare bottom, gravel bottom, or gravel topped peat/dirt) .

I tried incubating on moist peat, but the "pure, unfertilized peat" that I picked up from my local nursery ended up having small amounts of mulch and other misc in it. Im not sure if this could contribute to unsuccessful incubation, but I'm willing to give it another shot with a peat that is known to work.
Maybe I'm grasping at straws here, but can someone point me to the peat or other medium that they use to incubate? Links appreciated.

Also, is there a way to tell if an egg is fertilized or not? Or is it just a matter of incubating them and seeing if they develop?

Methylene Blue egg incubation

Morgun Werling — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 09:17:07 +0000

While I'm waiting on my starter Gardneri to reach sexual maturity, I decided to pull some platinum ricefish from their 110 tub to collect some eggs to practice manual incubation and growing.
I pulled the eggs from the mop, and placed then into a 4x4 or 5x5 Tupperware (1.5" of water with an airline and a tint of meth blue).
The "fungus" covered eggs are easy to identify and pull, but what about the eggs that absorb methylene blue but don't turn opaque?
In my first container I have 3 eggs due to hatch in the next day or so. One is still clear, and I can easily see the development of the fry. The other two seemed to have absorbed some of meth blue, and seem to have some development (dark spot and a slightly blurry spot around it) but seem to be slightly cloudy on the inside. Are these two not viable?

I guess my questions are:
other than "fungus" how can I distinguish between the viable and non-viable eggs when incubated in methylene blue? Should they be crystal clear the entire time? Is it ok if they absorb the meth blue? What about eggs that are slightly yellow tinted?
I'm guessing that even though these are ricefish eggs (I've heard the ricefish referred to as Killifish-lite) are these questions/experiences still applicable with other non-anual killi's like Fundulopanchax or Fundulus?

I have a second container with around 20-30 eggs that should be ready to hatch next week. Any info, or tips are appreciated.

Xtreme NANO fry formula pellet from Jehmco

Tyrone Genade — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 14:49:50 +0000

Hi,

I got some of the Xtreme NANO fry formula pellet from Jehmco (https://www.jehmco.com/html/xtreme.html) a while back to try with my fish.

I am very impressed. Even the Austrolebias nigripinnis take it and I have had no success getting them to take any dry food before. I only wish they made a smaller granulate for the fry. My Aphyosemion fry go for the "nano" pellets but most bits are too large for them.

Hatching Problems

James Langan — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 04:13:41 +0000

Hello Everyone,

I have numerous species, great egg production, definitive development and when I place them in water fungus & no hatch. I am certain the eggs are not over incubated, I incubate on coir (coconut media). This happens with almost all of my species except A. striatum. I do get a few eggs to hatch maybe 2/10 at the most. I have tried different hardness's of water. Out of the tap is between 190 - 210 TDH, I have a well no chlorine or fluoride additives. I have attempted as low as 15 TDH pur RO from my RO unit.

I am seeking any and all suggestions.

Jim Langan, AKA Webmaster

Long eyelash yarn

Tyrone Genade — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 20:07:35 +0000

Hello,

I have some Pseudomugil cyanodorsalis in my office aquarium. Lovely fish but they don't spawn where they are supposed to: the mop. They would spawn in the fine Chaeto and other algae making egg picking a challenge. So I got some of this:

https://www.kikamoracrafts.com/ourshop/prod_6063332-Long-eyelash-yarn-green-1-skein-E50026.html

I made some mops and let them sink into the aquarium and fantastic mop full of eggs a few hours later.

Has anyone else tried this type of yarn for spawning mops? Has anyone observed a preference for these finer threads over the thicker yarn threads?

I am going to try this yarn with my Riv. cylindraceus and Fp. scheeli and see what happens. Sadly, no Aphyosemions to experiment with.

Everything Aquatic Food Question

Dylan Neff — Sat, 17 Oct 2020 17:53:12 +0000

I'm curious whether anybody has ever used Everything Aquatic's Killifish Color Micro Feast granules. I'm not super experienced with killies (only working with 1 species currently), so I'm not sure whether something in the ingredients list or granule form specifically works well for killies or whether the name is just a marketing tactic. What do you all feed besides live brine and other live foods?