First Killifish Tank!

[Kirsten]

So my 15g is super planted and well-established:

And the time was up (I think?) on my killifish eggs, bought from Thailand:

On the 12th, I gave it a whirl, and after a few hours of waiting:

We got 4 to 6 teeny tiny ickle bickle babies!

After a few hours so they could fill their swim bladders and get their bearings, I gently poured their water into the main tank, since there are no other fish in there, just some bored blue rilli shrimp and some ramshorn snails. Of course, I haven't seen them since.

I assume they're somewhere up here, near the surface, amongst the duckweed, resting on plants and eating infusoria and the odd fairy shrimp, whose eggs I've been judiciously apportioning every couple days:

But if I still can't see them after a couple weeks, I'm calling it a wash. Fingers crossed for the babies!

And in the meantime, I'm keeping my peat moss wet in case I get some more.

Edited May 16, 2021 by Kirsten

[CalmedByFish]

It's possible to buy fish eggs?!

[Kirsten]

39 minutes ago, CalmedByFish said:

It's possible to buy fish eggs?!

Yes! Especially killifish eggs, which can incubate in peat moss for several weeks, which is conveniently about as much time as a package takes to get from Thailand to the eastern US.

[MAC]

I've always wanted to try ordering eggs like this online. Wasn't sure how many hoops there were to jump through getting them from overseas or if it was pretty straight forward. 

Hope they do well for ya!

 

[Kirsten]

3 hours ago, MAC said:

I've always wanted to try ordering eggs like this online. Wasn't sure how many hoops there were to jump through getting them from overseas or if it was pretty straight forward. 

Hope they do well for ya!

 

My process was very straightforward. Just got it in the mail like a letter! 🙂 But possibly because the seller fibbed on the customs slip and said it contained "samples" and only valued at $1. I didn't ask them to do that and that's pretty dangerous for them in the long run, but hey, got my eggs right quick.

[lefty o]

thats a nice looking jungle in that tank. 

[Kirsten]

1 hour ago, lefty o said:

thats a nice looking jungle in that tank. 

Thanks! It was almost all scavenged from other tanks: Jungle val, duckweed, hornwort that had grown out of control in other tanks, hardscape that didn't jive with the rest of the decor, a few loose java ferns, moss, and anubias, some cardinalis and some scarlet temple (I think?) that was otherwise languishing in taller tanks, and the moss ball. Only new things are the substrate (obv), the sword and the little patch of baby tears.

Fingers crossed these babies survive to enjoy it!

[lefty o]

i hope they survive, as it will be neat to see fish hatched from an envelope.

[CalmedByFish]

This had me researching killifish last night. 😂

It reminds me of these little packets of pill-shaped sponges we'd buy when I was a kid. You drop them in water, and over a few minutes, they turn into a sponge in some fun shape - usually a dinosaur. Except your egg packet makes *real* things. Oooh.

[Patrick_G]

@Kirsten, nice looking tank!