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.

[Slick_Nick]

I’m pretty bummed right now! The 4 oldest fry I had that were a month old now have sadly passed away. I saw one of them floating at the surface yesterday morning before work so I scooped him out and then I looked in the tank this morning and the other 3 were floating. I did a water test and unfortunately had an ammonia spike. It’s a little 2.5g and I’ve been feeding live bbs quite frequently. I’m assuming I was feeding too much and the ones they didn’t eat fouled the water. I still have the 2nd group of fry which is maybe 2 or 3 in the other small aquarium. Really frustrating though they were starting to look like lil killis. Nothing to do but keep trying!

[Slick_Nick]

It’s been a while so here’s an update. Lost the other few babies shortly after ended up tearing down the tiny tanks. Working 2 jobs and keeping up with the water quality on them was too much. Ended up getting a 9g only to notice a week after setting it up with soil and plants that there’s a good size crack in the side of the tank. Today after work I’m going to exchange the tank for a new one and re start again. My plan is to try and raise the fry in a bigger tank where I’m not having to change water everyday after coming home from working 14hrs. The adults are still doing great I know it sounds like I’m making excuses but I’m just trying to figure out what works best for me to raise these babies!

[Schuyler]

On 4/1/2023 at 7:25 AM, Slick_Nick said:

It’s a little 2.5g and I’ve been feeding live bbs quite frequently

Do you rinse the BBS? Maybe the salt levels were too much after a while and messed with stuff?

Hopefully you have better luck with the bigger tank. You could try a grow out tray in the new tank so that they get the larger water volume but the food stays close

[Slick_Nick]

On 5/15/2023 at 10:50 PM, Schuyler said:

Do you rinse the BBS? Maybe the salt levels were too much after a while and messed with stuff?

Hopefully you have better luck with the bigger tank. You could try a grow out tray in the new tank so that they get the larger water volume but the food stays close

I don’t rinse the bbs. I think I may have been putting too much in for the small amount of fry I had. I moved all 4 adults from their 15g to a 9g the other day and I’ve already seen fry popping up in the 15g. I’m planning on moving the adults back to the 15g in a few days and then raising the babies in the 9g. @Schuyler do you have any tips or ideas for grow out trays? Something easy. I’m going to try without first but that may be a good idea if they are struggling to get to the food. 

[Schuyler]

There's an ACO video if dean's grow out system. It's DIY but fairly involved.

I've done a Tupperware container with an air uplift tube to pump water into it and a hole (with filter material covering it) in the side for water to drain out.

You could also just do a little container outside of the tank and do tiny water changes from the main tank daily. At least until they are starting to look like little fish rather than fry

[Slick_Nick]

On 5/16/2023 at 8:07 AM, Schuyler said:

There's an ACO video if dean's grow out system. It's DIY but fairly involved.

I've done a Tupperware container with an air uplift tube to pump water into it and a hole (with filter material covering it) in the side for water to drain out.

You could also just do a little container outside of the tank and do tiny water changes from the main tank daily. At least until they are starting to look like little fish rather than fry

I’ll have to look into it thank you! The reason I went with a larger volume of water is to avoid daily water changes. I work 2 jobs so I am gone from morning until night all week. I’m determined to raise some of these babies to adults lol. I’ll keep updated on here once I start getting some fry again!

[Slick_Nick]

Here’s a pic of the 15g the adults live in. I added some wood and moss a while back. The moss is really happy I’ve been trimming it weekly. 

The fish are still looking great as well I got a pic of one of the males and females the other day 

Hoping I can keep some babies alive 🤞🏻

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Killis are really rewarding. @Fish Folkhas generated some great killi content on the forum. Thanks for a great read and best of luck with your group! 

[Slick_Nick]

On 5/20/2023 at 9:34 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

Killis are really rewarding. @Fish Folkhas generated some great killi content on the forum. Thanks for a great read and best of luck with your group! 

I have definitely seen some of their work on here really impressive! Thank you I appreciate it hoping I can raise some fry!

[Fish Folk]

@Slick_Nick those striatum are top shelf! Best looking Aphyosemion of them all. IF you get enough extras that you start wanting to trade, I'd love to arrange some Killi swapping. I've got F. scheeli and F. sjostedti on deck. N. guentheri and N rachovii too, if you like annuals. I'm leaving photos here...

Fundulopanchax sjostedti (Loé)

Fundulopanchax scheeli

 

Nothobranchius rachovii (biera 98)

[Slick_Nick]

On 5/20/2023 at 9:52 PM, Fish Folk said:

@Slick_Nick those striatum are top shelf! Best looking Aphyosemion of them all. IF you get enough extras that you start wanting to trade, I'd love to arrange some Killi swapping. I've got F. scheeli and F. sjostedti on deck. N. guentheri and N rachovii too, if you like annuals. I'm leaving photos here...

Fundulopanchax sjostedti (Loé)

Fundulopanchax scheeli

 

Nothobranchius rachovii (biera 98)

@Fish Folk Thank you! I want all of those they are such beautiful fish 😍 my plan is to make more because I would like to share them. I kept a few alive for about a month, pretty sure I was feeding too much bbs and not enough water changes in a small amount of water. Now I’m trying a bigger tank with much better filtration. I seriously can’t get over all your killis! Looking forward to having my own killi collection one day

[Slick_Nick]

@Schuyler the other day we were talking about breeding trays well I saw a really great video on one from @Lowells Fish Lab He’s quite impressive! He just posted it on YouTube. I know there’s a million ways to make one but I’m not the best diy person if I have the money I’d rather buy something that I know works.

[Schuyler]

On 5/20/2023 at 10:25 PM, Slick_Nick said:

@Schuyler the other day we were talking about breeding trays well I saw a really great video on one from @Lowells Fish Lab He’s quite impressive! He just posted it on YouTube. I know there’s a million ways to make one but I’m not the best diy person if I have the money I’d rather buy something that I know works.

I actually have an older version of his tray and it seem to work pretty well

[Slick_Nick]

I’ve got some good news. I moved the 4 adults over to the 9g with a spawning mop and several days later babies were popping up in the 15g where the adults normally live. I caught the couple fry I could see and then attempted to move the adults back to the 15g. Turns out the adults had other plans! I have Myriophyllum in that tank and it took over the entire tank so they just poke in and out of it. I moved the mop to the 15g which is a Fluval flex. I didn’t have any filter blocking off the area to get to the back compartment and I ended up with a collection of fry back there. I added some sponge when doing maintenance today to keep them from getting back there and then I used my hose to syphon the water from back there. I got 13 fry from back there that’s not including however many could be in the main part of the tank already. The only thing that sucks is having fry in a 15g I don’t see much of them! Maybe I will now that they aren’t in the back compartment lol. The tank is well established though so I’m hoping I can raise some up to adults! I’ll do my best to try and get some pics when I can

[Slick_Nick]

Update. Raising fry in a 15g is not very fun lol. I occasionally see 1 or 2 fry swimming around. I can’t get pictures of them because they are tiny and it focuses on everything but them. I have no idea how many I still have! Sorry it’s a boring update here’s a pic of the tank though moss needs a trim! Helanthium tenellum struggling now in the sand. My seachem root tabs are too thick and my sand isn’t deep enough to use them. Adding more liquid fertz just causes algae on everything else.Hopefully I can get some pics once the fry  grow some more!