Talk to me about Clown Killifish

[KentFishFanUK]

Me again, asking for more opinions regarding 7.5G tanks (I have four of them waiting to be set up).

The next one I was hoping to do was some clown killies, again I'm not sure of the right number. How many could I have? Would a male/female pair work? Or one male two females? Or do they need a bigger group therefore 7.5G would be too small? Or would a single fish be ok even? (pretty sure that's a no right). Would be a planted and species only tank. 

Thanks for the pointers everyone! 

[Fish Folk]

On 7/4/2021 at 8:26 PM, KentFishFanUK said:

Me again, asking for more opinions regarding 7.5G tanks (I have four of them waiting to be set up).

The next one I was hoping to do was some clown killies, again I'm not sure of the right number. How many could I have? Would a male/female pair work? Or one male two females? Or do they need a bigger group therefore 7.5G would be too small? Or would a single fish be ok even? (pretty sure that's a no right). Would be a planted and species only tank. 

Thanks for the pointers everyone! 

I definitely think you’d be good to go with a trio: 1x male / 2x females. Might be able to shoehorn more in...

[lefty o]

i agree, a trio. they are pretty small, and 1 small fish in even a small tank is, well boring.

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

If I had to order online and not select them in person I'd be the shoehorn guy 🙂. Id try a group of 6 to assure a few males and females and hopefully wind up with around 2 males and 4 females. Adults are fairly small. 

[KentFishFanUK]

On 7/5/2021 at 4:25 AM, mountaintoppufferkeeper said:

If I had to order online and not select them in person I'd be the shoehorn guy 🙂. Id try a group of 6 to assure a few males and females and hopefully wind up with around 2 males and 4 females. Adults are fairly small. 

Wow 6 adults in just 7.5 gallons? 

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

On 7/5/2021 at 2:43 AM, KentFishFanUK said:

Wow 6 adults in just 7.5 gallons? 

A trio will work excellent and is probably the perfect amount of adults.

Depending on the ordering situation, tank dimensions, and cover plants I also think 6 is feasible if you had to do it. That is primarily because I normally have to buy online which is 6 minimum for clown killies when they are available. 6 delivered next day to the door is usually my first choice vs driving a round trip of 260 miles and 6 hours to the LFS that would probably have them and back. 

I am currently working with a pair from a group of 6 I had shipped to me in 2019 to try and bring the numbers back up to a few colonys. Their current set up is in a 18"x12"×8" ( +/- 7.68 gallon tank). I did quarentine and raise up the original group of 6 clown killies in the same size tank before moving the group into a  25gallon with a corydoras colony. 

I used pogostemon octopus planted down low and floating plants to break sight lines, hide fry, and provide spawning areas.  Photos are this morning of adult female against airline and adult male a little more active above a blurry adult cherry shrimp and in front of coop nano sponge filter.

[KentFishFanUK]

On 7/5/2021 at 4:09 PM, mountaintoppufferkeeper said:

A trio will work excellent and is probably the perfect amount of adults.

Thanks then that's what I will go with! Is it easy to sex them when young? Otherwise might have to get 5 or something then keep 1 male and 2 females when they are big enough to sex and return the others. 

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

On 7/5/2021 at 9:32 AM, KentFishFanUK said:

Thanks then that's what I will go with! Is it easy to sex them when young? Otherwise might have to get 5 or something then keep 1 male and 2 females when they are big enough to sex and return the others. 

 For me they were pretty easy to sex out once the males started to show the rocket tail. Not sure when that occured but a young fish who shows an outline of that marking on the tailfin is a developing male in my opinion. 

 If I were picking from an unsexed group where I couldnt see any tail differences I would pick 2 of the smallest in the batch and 2 of the largest and expect that I would probably end up with a trio out of the 4.