6 replies to this topic

[Sean Phillips]

I've had a group of 6 (what now appears to be either 3M:3F or possibly 2M:4F) Banded Killifish since October and until about a week or so ago, they've been some of the most peaceful fish I've owned. Because I've been busy lately, I haven't had as much time to watch all my tanks for a while but the other day when I sat down to watch the fish in that tank for a few minutes, I noticed that almost all the darters were hiding. I also noticed that the female killies were hiding while the males were colored up with vivid vertical bars and the dominant male was actually a silvery grey as opposed to their usual tan and the males were sparring with each other, nipping at any darters that get to close to the spars. The total stock is 6 banded killifish, 5 emerald shiners, 1 Bluntnose Minnow (the "boss" of the tank), 2 rainbow darters(1M:1F), 2 Greenside darters (1M:1F), 2 Variegate darters (1M:1F), and 1 banded darter (1F) all in a 36"x12"x16" 30 gallon long with a powerhead for flow and a large sponge attached for filtration.

I'm 99.99999999% sure that I'm going to be seeing some spawning action soon after the males work out a spawning hierarchy and that they'll most likely calm down afterwards. But until then, what can I do to make sure they don't seriously harm any of the darters (the rest of the fish can hold their own)?

[littlen]

Might be some useful KF info here: http://forum.nanfa.o...ow/#entry127035

[NotCousteau]

Are the killifish really harassing the darters that much? That surprises me. I don't have any breeding banded killifish (I only have one in my tank), but my rainbow and fantail darters are not shy at all. The rainbows regularly hunted and ate small minnows, and they also killed my Iowa darters.

 

 

Just based on my experience with that, I'd be afraid of losing killifish spawn to the darters.

Edited by NotCousteau, 13 March 2015 - 09:59 AM.

[Sean Phillips]

My darters are a bit skittish. I almost never can get close up to the vairegates without them either running to hide or spazzing out and running. The rainbows are somewhat as well but of I am still they normally come beg for food. The greensides and banded are always following me around as long as I don't move fast. I don't know why either as I unnecessarily do 17% water changes every other day and the nitrates stay at 0ppm at all times.

[FirstChAoS]

In my experience bandeds are very aggressive. Mine constantly nipped at the fins of other fish until stress kills them then ate the dead. It got so bad I got to assume they adapted this as a hunting strategy.

 

If you have anything resembling vegetation bandeds are easy to breed. I find it helps if they can see you and get excited over feeding but you do not approach the tank room to feed them. They seem to convert this excitement into breeding

[Sean Phillips]

There's no live vegetation in the tank but there is a large, green, floating spawning mop in the area if the tank with the most gentle water flow. Do their eggs sink or float?

[zeelandtrop]

Also try putting a spawning mop on the bottom of the tank. Worked well for me.