AGUIDE TO KEEPING KILLIFISH by Tyrone Genade [email protected] 1 1 Contents 2 1 Forward iv 3 Acknowledgements v 4 I Biology, Maintenance & Breeding 1 5 2 Introduction to killifish 2 6 2.1 What is a killifish? ...................... 3 7 2.2 Killifish biology, ecology and survival in the wild ...... 4 8 2.3 Basic physiology: a response to the environment ...... 8 9 3 Killifish in the aquarium 15 10 3.1 Killifish in the community .................. 15 11 3.2 Water quality ......................... 17 12 3.2.1 Water parameters ................... 17 13 3.2.2 Temperature ..................... 18 14 3.3 Tank setup ........................... 19 15 3.4 Maintenance .......................... 21 16 4 Foods, feeding & disease 25 17 4.1 Feeding ............................ 25 18 4.2 Culturing your own fish food ................. 28 19 4.2.1 Worms ........................ 28 20 4.2.2 Insect larvae ..................... 30 21 4.2.3 Crustaceans ...................... 30 22 4.2.4 Fruit flies ....................... 31 23 4.2.5 Culturing Infusoria .................. 32 24 4.2.6 Artificial food mixes ................. 33 i CONTENTS ii 25 4.3 Disease: prevention and cure ................. 34 26 5 Breeding killifish 38 27 5.1 Non-annuals .......................... 38 28 5.1.1 Constructing a spawning mop ............ 39 29 5.1.2 Tackling spawning problems ............. 39 30 5.1.3 Collecting and incubating eggs ............ 41 31 5.2 Annuals ............................ 43 32 5.2.1 Peat preparation ................... 43 33 5.3 Hatching hints ......................... 45 34 5.4 Rearing fry .......................... 47 35 5.5 Skewed sex ratios ....................... 48 36 II Killifish Review 51 37 6 Non-annuals 52 38 6.1 Aphyosemion and allies .................... 52 39 6.1.1 Aphyosemion ..................... 53 40 6.1.2 Fundulopanchax ................... 57 41 6.1.3 The fish that were Roloffia .............. 59 42 6.2 Aplocheilus and allies ..................... 61 43 6.3 Rivulus ............................ 63 44 6.4 North American native killifish ................ 64 45 6.5 Aphanius and related species ................. 66 46 6.6 Lamp-eyes ........................... 67 47 7 Annual Killifish 69 48 7.1 African Annuals ........................ 69 49 7.1.1 Fundulosoma ..................... 70 50 7.1.2 Nothobranchius .................... 70 51 7.2 South American Annuals ................... 73 52 III Where to Find Killifish 77 53 8 Collecting 78 54 8.1 Pet stores ........................... 78 55 8.2 Local Clubs .......................... 79 56 8.3 Collecting your own fish ................... 79 CONTENTS iii 57 9 Killifish by post 82 58 10 List of Killifish Societies 84 59 IV Appendices 85 60 A Conversion factors 86 61 A.1 Temperature .......................... 86 62 A.2 Mass and volume ....................... 86 63 B How to build your own tanks 88 64 C Suggested Reading 91 65 Index 93 66 Chapter 1 67 Forward 68 Why have I written this book? 69 This book developed in the time between handing in my M.Sc. thesis, 70 and receiving it back for revision. I was in a writing mood, and taking a 71 former English teacher’s advice, I wrote about something I knew—which 72 just so happens to be something about killifish. 73 I still consider myself a beginner in the killifish hobby, and have a lot of 74 correspondence with other beginners. There is a vast store of knowledge con- 75 cerning the keeping and breeding of killifish that is scattered over numerous 76 websites, books and articles. Seemingly, an even greater store of knowledge 77 is reserved as experience and recollection, and passed down mainly by word 78 of mouth (or email). Spending a lot of time waiting for the lab centrifuge to 79 stop spinning, allowed me lots of time to search out many of these scattered 80 bits of information. 81 So it was, that I decided to try and bring all this information together, 82 into one volume, that could serve as a comprehensive guide to starting in the 83 killifish hobby. My many correspondences with other beginners and experts, 84 had the advantage of filling my mind with the important questions that begin- 85 ners need answered. So, armed with the questions and answers, I decided I 86 would not only bring together all the various lore and ritual, but also discuss 87 the reasoning and logic. 88 Since, I began work on this book, I have revised it innumerable times, 89 particularly after giving the manuscript to others for evaluation. I made many 90 modifications to various parts, and added various factoids and hypotheses. I 91 suspect this book will never be complete, as each year some new discoveries 92 are made, many old discoveries rediscovered, and some old ideas shown to 93 be wholly false. The marvelous variability in behavior and physiology that iv CHAPTER 1. FORWARD v 94 exists in all living organisms, gives rise to the realization that there are many 95 ways to arrive at the same end. More disturbing, is that the means often 96 employed in one instance, will not yield the desired result—even if for all 97 pretense and purposes, the instances are identical. This makes any store of 98 knowledge about any group of living organisms impossible to incomplete. 99 It is perhaps, this that makes the keeping of live animals so exciting a past 100 time. 101 Many a killifish “expert” has struggled with a particular fish, only to have 102 a total novice have unbridled success with that same fish. In most cases, the 103 reason for this success is totally unknown. Was it just pot-luck with the 104 genetics? Was it the way the fish was raised? Did he or she add a little 105 something to the water? Many of these mysteries remain mysteries as very 106 few hobbyists keep detailed records. For this reason alone, fishkeeping in 107 general, cannot be called a science. 108 Science is doubting what man-supplied knowledge has come before you. 109 In doubting, you must devise a test else you cannot rely on what you think 110 you know. But if you have not kept records, by which you can generate an 111 hypothesis, what do you really know? And if you do not know anything, 112 there is nothing to test and hence no science. While many of the ideas in this 113 book draw on scientifically tested or derived theories and observation, these 114 ideas are hardly scientific. They only become scientific if you, the hobbyist, 115 tests them. 116 As you read this book I would like for you to undertake to do two things. 117 Firstly, take nothing in this book as certain; do not believe any theories as 118 fact. There is no guarantee any of it will work for you. You have to take 119 what knowledge is here, and test its applicability in your setup. Secondly, I 120 would like for you get a note book, and make detailed records of just what 121 you are doing. Only by doing so, can we really learn anything. I encourage 122 you to publish your observations! 123 You are not just keeping fish. You are managing an experiment. All you 124 need do to become the scientist, is take notes about what you do, and test 125 your findings, or share your information so others can test your findings. No 126 one needs a fancy degree to be able to learn something about the world, and 127 share it with others. 128 The secret to success with killifish is careful observation. 129 Acknowledgements 130 The author wishes to thank Wright Huntley for critical appraisal of this book. 131 While the author does not wish to accuse Mr. Huntley of any responsibility CHAPTER 1. FORWARD vi 132 in the production of this book, he was very kind enough to point out errors, 133 supply further insight into some issues and suggest changes. 134 I must also thank the members of the Killies.com Forum (www.killies. 135 com/forum) who were often the guinea pigs to test some of the ideas in this 136 book. The members also (unwittingly) contributed many of the ideas through 137 their rich exchange of ideas. They were also supremely tolerant of daft ideas. 138 The South American Annual, British Killifish Association and American 139 Killifish Association Killietalk email lists were also very fruitful in bringing 140 to light many useful killi-keeping pieces of information. 141 Also, a debt of gratitude is owed to Jui-Pin Paul Wu of Taiwan, who 142 encouraged me to publish the book in print rather than simply dumping it on 143 the internet. (This book developed between submitting my M.Sc thesis for 144 revision and receiving it back as a collection of Q&As to be placed on my 145 website: http://tgenade.freeshell.org) 146 The text will be sparingly adorned with individual references to those 147 who have given us some bit of useful information through their dedicated 148 observation and experiment. For the most part however, much of the content 149 is unreferenced and has been transferred by word of mouth from killiphile 150 to killiphile, and today by means of the internet and email. To those people 151 who have given us this vast mass of information a great debt is owed. 152 Finally, to GOD must go the glory for these splendid fish that seem made 153 almost totally to ensnare man with their beauty. It is an unimaginable priv- 154 ilege to discover these fish at this point in their many splendid evolution of 155 color and biology. Part I BIOLOGY,MAINTENANCE AND BREEDING OF 156 KILLIFISH 1 157 Chapter 2 158 Introduction to killifish 159 A Killiphile is someone who keeps killifish and collects killifish to the point 160 where he has a killifish in every room in the house or is threatening to do 161 so.