hello,
I was lucky enough to find a trio of bluefin killies in the feeder tank at a local fish shop. (the guy said they were minnows. ) I would like to take the best possible care of them, so I cleared out an already cycled 3 gallon tank with a super slow filter and they seem to like it. however, I was wondering what I should feed to fatten them up. They are a little bit skinny, and live adult brine shrimp seem to scare them. will those always be too big for them? They are all just about one inch long. I offered them flakes but they seemed too shy to come get them before they fall to the bottom, and then they ignored them. I will try frozen brine tomorrow and see if they find that more appetizing. Any other suggestions?

I also wanted to ask, can I hatch their eggs in soft, low ph water? I have a fry/egg tank for my danios, and it would be extremely handy if I could hatch out baby bluefins in there as well. I may be getting ahead of myself here, but theyre so darn cute and I want some little ones.

oh, and they have a bunch of fake plants to hide in, and I will be adding a bunch of java moss, is there anything else I should add? The tank is unlit and by a window.

I love feeder tank finds

Bluefins I have obtained from LFS are usually shy for the first day or so, but have always taken well to frozen blooworms. This is what I fed most of the time, as I never got them converted to flake. Although one did begin eating flakes when moved to different tank. Sorry I can help with the eggs question. Congrats on the new fish.

Mine never did well in very soft water or low pH. They'll do better with some Ca/Mg hardness, at least 2GH (35 mg/l CaCO3) or higher and pH 6.0 to 7.5. Mosquito larvae are the absolute best food, and if you cant find those, fresh-hatched brineshrimp are great for getting starved killies back to health.