Breeding Aphyosemion Striatum “Red Striped Killifish”

[Slick_Nick]

I finally decided to start a breeding thread on my red striped killis. I ordered 2 pairs from the wet spot tropical fish about 2 months ago now and fell in love with them instantly! They look even better in person. Here’s a few pics for example 

At the moment I’ve only been able to get 3 fry from them by pulling the mop and placing it in a small tank. The 3 fry are all different sizes but born basically around the same time. They are about 3 weeks old now. Starting to look more like a fish! The one I get the best pics of is the medium sized one of the 3. The largest one is a wimp and hides at the back when I come up to the tank. Here’s a couple pics of the medium sized guy he comes right to the front to say hi every time! 

I am planning on trying a different technique by pulling a male and female to a separate tank with the mop letting them spawn for a few days and then putting the adults back in the main tank to see if I can get more fry that way. Not sure if I just got lucky with the first 3 or what but I haven’t had any success since just glad I at least have few fry to grow out in the meantime.

[Cmike15]

Congrats on getting a few fry. Thanks for sharing the nice pictures. If you have the space it's worth a try to try again in another tank. 

What are you going to feed them? i'm interested in the fry raising foods. There are live foods live daphnia and baby brine shrimp. You seem to be getting them some foods. I've been interested in Killis but i haven't raised any yet. 

I'm going to do an internet search on your red striped killis. 🙂

[Slick_Nick]

On 3/18/2023 at 12:01 PM, Cmike15 said:

Congrats on getting a few fry. Thanks for sharing the nice pictures. If you have the space it's worth a try to try again in another tank. 

What are you going to feed them? i'm interested in the fry raising foods. There are live foods live daphnia and baby brine shrimp. You seem to be getting them some foods. I've been interested in Killis but i haven't raised any yet. 

I'm going to do an internet search on your red striped killis. 🙂

Thank you! I started out by feeding them hikari first bites and have fed live bbs this past week. I need to make up some more. I just get a clear glass bowl add about 4 cups of water and a 1/2 tbsp of salt. Over time I’ve figured out how much brine shrimp eggs to put in so I get about 3 days of feeding from them still alive. It’s more than enough to feed the fry and the adults. I’ll start them tonight Saturday night and with the temp in my house they’ll be ready to feed first thing Monday morning. Super easy to do I don’t use an air stone or heater just let it sit! Then because I use a clear glass bowl I turn my phone light on and rest it against the bowl to attract them to the light and use a pipette to suck them out and squirt it through a fine net I have to collect the live bbs. I bought live bbs eggs from aquarium co op at least a couple years ago now I just keep them in the fridge and take them out when I need some. The hatching rates are still super good! Sometimes I get carried away and add too many eggs so I’ll have tons and tons of live bbs to feed 1 time but they won’t survive through the day because too many will make the water gross and kill them off quick or they starve of oxygen. Sorry for the long response hope that helps though if you’re interested in live bbs 

[Slick_Nick]

This morning I was doing some maintenance getting this 3.5g tank ready to move a pair into so they can spawn for a few days before I remove them. I found 1 fry in the tank so I added him in with the other 3. He is much smaller but I figured his odds are better with other fry than the adults I was about to put in. I moved the largest female and the male with perfect stripes over to the 3.5g now 

I absolutely hate the lighting on this little tank but it’s just to make babies! I fed some frozen brine shrimp until the live bbs are ready to feed tomorrow morning and the pair are already getting to work spawning!! Hoping to increase my population of fry.

[Slick_Nick]

I sat in front of the tank for a while watching the pair in the 3.5g I saw lots of breeding taking place. They really seemed to like to breed in the moss more than the spawning mop! I didn’t get a clear photo thanks to the goofy color lighting and then not wanting to interrupt their business. Fingers crossed with everything I see going on in there I should end up with a decent number of fry 🤞🏻

[Slick_Nick]

I was recording one of the fry the other day and I caught him yawning/burping lol. I’ve seen the adults do it but it was funny to see a little fry do it 

 

[Slick_Nick]

I also got some pics of the males displaying to each other. The tank has got quite a bit of algae I’ve been busy and kind of just letting it go but the fish are doing great! 

[Cmike15]

On 3/25/2023 at 4:09 PM, Slick_Nick said:

I also got some pics of the males displaying to each other. The tank has got quite a bit of algae I’ve been busy and kind of just letting it go but the fish are doing great! 

Beautiful fish! The spawning mop, is it one of those green wool ones, bought or did you make it? i'm curious since i'm looking into getting one. 

[Slick_Nick]

On 3/25/2023 at 8:59 PM, Cmike15 said:

Beautiful fish! The spawning mop, is it one of those green wool ones, bought or did you make it? i'm curious since i'm looking into getting one. 

thank you! I just bought mine off of etsy. There’s different colors to choose from depending on the seller but I went for the typical green. 

[Slick_Nick]

Did some maintenance on all my tanks this morning. I still have the 4 fry in the first little tank and then in the 3.5g I removed the spawning mop and moss today for a water change and I counted 3 new fry in there. Could me more but they are very small and difficult to see. I’ve been having to check the bucket I syphon the water into and save a couple fry who took a ride through the hose because I can’t hardly see them. I’ll be able to get some pics as soon as they get bigger. My largest fry is 1 month old but hides when the phone comes out. The 2nd biggest is the one I take the photos and video of he doesn’t care at all about the phone up close to him.