paul_r

I guess you have to have some hobbies. Fish breeding is relativly new to me but i am very close to hatching my first killie eggs. It keeps me busy and im learning alot, and is also lots of fun Fish seem to be a better place to spend my money than a box of beer or a new performance part for my car. And Breeding fish (in general)wont get me any fines or thrown in jail etc etc

1. Dont let flatmates feed fish, one night had a flatmate almost in tears because she fed one of my community tanks and had "accidently" poured in half a small container of tetra crisps. Was not kool seeing the fish swimming around while it was snowing food. Had to immediatly take out fish, clean all stones and get rid of all the food, and basically replace all of the water. 2. When buying a used tank from trademe/other people always give a good clean with salt, who knows how long it has been sitting around for and where, lost 8 nothobranchious korthause killies due to poisoning when i set up a tank i got off a friend. 3. When breeding killies and you are checking the mops, check there are no fish inside before taking out of tank, learnt that the hard way when i was checking a mop, put it up to the light and a killie dropped about 2 meters and broke her back. I think those are all the mishaps ive had so far, good things to learn from though.

I have quite a few different fish, have only just got into breeding killies, my first lot of eggs should be ready to hatch in 2 days. Have got 2 species breeding at the moment. I have some Neons and glowlight tetras, a few male and female guppies, a siamese fighter (a beautiful red one) a few bristlenose, a common pleco who is getting quite large, 2 pairs of dwarf gouramis, a few plattys, a largeish angel fish, a couple bronze coryhydras Then the killifish 2 trios of striatum 2 trios p8s's 1 m 3 f australe golds 2 female australe chocs 1 trio of albino gardneri (just getting started on the killies, will be getting more in a few weeks) All killifish except the chocs are in their own species tanks, am in the process of building a large bookshelf to store 9 fish tanks for breeding killis. Have got 5 tanks at the moment. What fish do you have at the moment?

Im not sure on the type of guppies, Alan gave me them when i was haveing troublesetting up a tank i bought off a friend - lost 8 nothobranchious korthauses that i was going to breed due to the tank being poisoned. The guppies were test dummies when i set the tank up again and all survived and for my luck, one of the guppies is a male (with 5 females), he is still quite young and only just starting to colour up, but has a bit of orange on its tail and what looks like a metalic bluey/greenish body. Alan may have a special name for what he has bred, but i can tell they look amazing, and a few of the females are pregnant.

My guppys and striatum get along great in their tank, it is 450x250x250 and has 6 striatum and 6 guppies. A few leaves - java fern i think. If you got a drak blue strain of guppy it would look neat with the striatum aswell (yours must be really colourful by now), my striatum males are just starting to get their colour and already look amazing. Maybe some platys would liven the tank up, i have a few good looking ones which i will eventually try to breed, very lively and friendly, always playing with each other.

Hey there welcome to the site. Im from Whakatane also. This site is very easy to get around, many many many hours can be spent on this site. As for membership, why not join the NZKA (New Zealand Killifish Association), there are a handful of members in Whakatane who are very informative and also very helpful, and if you arnt into killifish there is a 99.9% chance you will be after going to see some of the members tanks. Very small joining fee and well worth it. Paul

Ive had two males from LFS for about 4 months now, all seem to be really happy and neat to watch, added 2 small females and bubble nests appeared overnight. Even then had no worries about them being agressive, maybe a bit of tension between the males but nothing major and have never seen any wounds, scars, ulcers S Shapes etc. In my opinion are really neat fish and really easy to look after, and im no fish expert (at all)

I would have to agree as when ive had my killies in community tanks they are generally quite fish that dont seem to have much personality so to speak. Basically hideing around plants and not really doing much. They were only in with guppies and neons. Now i have most of my killies in seperate species tanks they all seem to be lazing around, except for my P82's come feeding time. In another tank i have guppies with 2 trios of striatum and they all seem curious and its as if the males all want to show off their awesome colours, their tank has a stronger filter and causes a small current, maybe this causes them to be more active.....it is what i have noticed anyway

Thats not what Christeena says........ I understand what you mean as it seems there is no logic to where i have placed the braces.....BUT beleive me there is a reason behind the placeing, as you will see as i progress. There are a few small parts of my design that i havent told anyone. But it will all work out fine in the end.

No it isnt permanent, however i moved the front piece of 4x2 inwards 30mm to allow for doors on the front and 150 from the back to allow for the heat to dispurse between levels. If the rear piece was moved right to the back then it would almost totally restrict airflow, as the pencilled mark on one of the above pics is 150x700, which is going to be cut out today. I was thinking of you Alan at the time i put it together, was wondering what your response would be......... But the result, although not being as strong as it could be, is still very solid and can take all my weight without even moving at all. And allows me to tidily (not sure if that is a word) put doors on the front and still be able to effectivly transfer heat between levels.

I checked everywhere in whakatane and only bunnings stocked polystyrene, but the thinnest was 20mm and it was 17.50 a 2400x1200x20 sheet. As desperate as i was i bought two sheets and the guys even cut it up into 1200x600 sheets. Could only just fit into the starlet with the back seats down. Started making the cuts and putting everything together. Used the floor and a sharp knife to cut the poly, made a lot of mess and the cut edges were untidy, but i will try make it so that the cut edges are hidden. This is where everything is being built...flat mates dont seem to mind This is basically what the top part is going to look like (lying on its roof) will get rid of the raggity looking edge This is the base of the cupboard with the 4x2 braceing, looking from the front The base looking from the rear - note the brace is moved foreward 150mm, this is to allow for the hole in the level to allow heat to go between levels (pic 2) Also thought id show where my eggs are being stored - in the hot water cupboard, conveniently stays at around 23 degrees The left and middle have approx 20 australe gold eggs, some will be hatching in the next couple days, the ones on the right are from the albinos, which just started laying today Let me know what you think Cheers, Paul

yes every killi that i have have all came from the same person also. My australe golds and albinos have started breeding, collecting a few eggs each day, 10 on a good day with 1 trio, still waiting on a few other species to "get busy" though. In the future i would like to pass fish on to friends to get them into killies yet since all mine come from the same source they would all be related, as would be the fish that i pass on. Is this just something that we have to live with or has anyone got any ideas on how to get around the inbreeding problem?

Well the idea of 20mm poly was because i was orioginally going to use poly boxes from new world and they were all 20mm. I will check the price of 10mm tommorrow. I went to mitre 10 a couple days ago to price some 20mm sheets - 600x1800 i think and they were around $20 a sheet, would have worked out very expensive at that rate But i will look around for 10mm, if its as cheap as you say it is then awesome i will get everything together in the next day or 2. Was planning on giving cupboard a couple of coats of polyurethane this weekend, but was a bit slack will definatly get on to it tommorrow night

I was just having a think about this as i was having dinner and became curious. Since killies are relativly rare here in NZ and only a few people breeding them etc, does that leave anyone with their Killies having any problems? such as deformed bodies & infertile etc The reason i ask is i am almost geared up to start breeding (well mine are spawning already, im just not quite set up for it yet) and where possible i want to plan in advance to avoid as many problems as possible I havnt heard anybody having troubles but then again i have never asked. If so are there any ways around the problem - i thought of a few off the top of my head - tradeing fish between keepers to get different bloodlines - purchasing a new male occasionally from a LFS (if available - have never seen any females) - getting together with other killi keepers and importing a whole bunch and divideing (no idea what is involved in doing this...)

Sorry guys i just figured out that i hadnt noted that.... MDF for all of the cupboard is 18mm thick Except the back which is 4.75mm And the cupboards dimensions are 1200wx1256hx600d Each shelf has an area of 1200lx600hx600d - will be slightly less as i will be useing 20mm polystyrene as insulation Alan came around today to check out my progress so far. Ive lost count of the ammount of times that he has helped me out and today he added to the total again. I know very little about woodwork (a total overstatement ), Alan pointed me in the right direction as to what would be needed to brace the cupboard - my idea would have worked, but would have been total overkill and unnessecary waste of space, time money etc. Basically 2 bits of wood will be enough to stabilise the middle shelf. Since i have no Jigsaw (or other tool used for cutting) i will see if placemakers or bunnings can cut the hole in middle shelf to allow the heat to dispurse between levels. Hopefully they will do it for free if i buy a couple sheets of polystyrene for the insulation. Was thinking of chopping up some of the poly boxes that new world etc have - which i could get for free, however will be quite messy. So i have decided on useing 20mm sheets of polystyrene. The sheets are fairly expensive however i will only need to cut to size and glue on. As for an article, i am definatly writing something for the NZKA (will see where it goes from there) join up now if you havnt already (still cant believe i am writing something and its not for school or work, never thought that would happen......runs off to check for any symptoms other than punishment for the night before ). Paul

Could anyone tell me if there are any major size differences of Killie eggs between the different species. Just checked my mops at lunch today - like i do every day. Found a couple australe gold eggs - as usual. Checked my P82 mops and to date havnt found any eggs, however today it looks like there could be eggs, but they are very tiny. Possibly less than a third the size of my australe eggs... My eyesight is pretty good but i have to really struggle to see them Could anyone confirm or deny that killie eggs sizes differ between the species? I feed my killies flake and micro worms and it doesnt look like the eggs are waste food. Thanks heaps

Ive only used photobucket a couple times but when im copying photos i take the image code (which photobucket automatically copies) then paste on the forum. To check whether or not it will show up properly i always preview the post before posting if that makes sense. It has to be something so simple.

Ther ya go Not sure what was wrong, just copied the link from photobucket again

here is a basic draft of what i think the brace should look like, will fit inside the bottom shelf to support the bottom of second level. Not sure what to make it out of - 2x2 maybe? .....Also drawing doesnt indicate where joins in wood etc will go, just done a quick sketch

Yea it should be fully up and running in 3 weeks (hopefully). Am just sorting out the bracing right now. Me knowing almost nothing about wood, just looking at the cupboard and feeling the MDF made me realise bracing is going to be almost the most important part of the cupboard. Because of the size there is going to be a massive sag and eventual collapse if i just added tanks and water right now. But im going to try and do everything right first time so i have no hassles in the future. Im not sure if youve seen another post of mine with my temporary killi tanks, but jees they are small and covered in tea towels for the lids etc. Not very attractive looking but do the job, have got approx 15 eggs from my australe golds yesterday

Thanks for the advice, what does the "POLYURETHANE" do? Ive had a quick look around the net and it seems to me as though it protects the wood from water damage..... Please correct me if i am wrong. Is it okay to paint over the top of?

Thanks very much for all the advice, it is very much appreciated. If it wasnt for the forum and everyone involved id probably have no idea where to start/what to do etc and just be in one big mess

Hey guys just been playing around with the digital camera tonight and was bored so thought id post some pics of my temporary killi housing while their cupboard is being built. May be of some use to people who are thinking of getting into breeding killies but after seeing other breeders setups such as Alan, Aquanut, Barrie, EJ etc(these are the ones ive visited or seen photos of) feel as though you may need an entire room devoted to killies with lots of money spent on tanks, heaters etc etc. I can proove otherwise, my killi setup (at the moment) is temporary and was very cheap to setup and run Here are some pics of the tanks which currently have: This tank is one which i have 2 trios of striatum and 2 trios of guppies, the guppies were used as testers (from alan) to make sure the tank wasnt toxic as i lost 8 nothobranchious korthause yellows when i first bought the tank, and to date the guppies havnt moved. Note the tea towel on top, looks kind of silly but the tank wasnt quite "killiproof" and a tea towel does the job fine....basically killiproof means every single gap between tank and lid is covered with something, to stop them jumping out. The tank on the left has 2 trios of p82's and 2 trios of australe golds (well 1 trio, 1 pair, one of the ladies jumped out and i didnt notice as i was checking the mops ) tank is split diagonally with the lid and has tea towel on top to stop any jumpers. Doesnt look the greatest but does the job just fine. Tank on right has a trio of Albinos. As you can see the tanks are nothing fancy, they have basically the cheapest heaters, box filters etc that i could find. - each tank probably owes we $40.00 not including fish, maybe $50 including fish if your a NZKA mamber. hell ive spent more on alcohol in a night and only left with a sore head. I would definatly recomend getting into killies as they are some of the neatest looking fish and the thrill of checking the mops day in day out and getting nothing then one day getting 10 in a day is an awesome buzz (happened today :bounce: ) Also as i have mentioned before joining the NZKA has many benefits, everyone is so helpful, and with the mishaps that ive had ive been set right in no time. I started a few weeks ago having no idea what a killifish was and am now getting my fish to breed - havnt had eggs hatch yet as besides today have only had 1 other egg, but the future looks hopeful Have also got a killi cupboard being built - here is a pic of what it looks like at the moment. it is 1200wide x1256high x600deep. will hold 4x 450*250*250 tanks down bottom and 5 300*200*200 tanks up top plus a few other bits and bobs.

funny you should say that, it is exactly what i will be doing. As someone mentioned earlier computer fans may be a bit noisy. I may just buy a cheap desktop fan and play round with the wireing so it runs when the lightbulb is on. Has turned out to be reasonably cheap to build. Has cost me around $100.00 for all the wood cut to size and the bits and pieces to make the light bulb setup as well as all the wireing,screws, glue etc

Hey guys im not sure if you can remember my draft plans but here is what i have done so far on my killi cupboard. Dimensions are 1200 wide and 1256 high draft plan: Wood has arrived and being put to place, i have no workshop, shed etc, the rumbus room is as good a place as any. And here is what the basic shell looks like This is what will be heating everything still need to do some more work on the bracing, give it some waterproof paint, insulate it with polystyrene, add "doors" on the front, put in thermostat & lightbulbs for heating and intall a fan to circulate heat - add tanks and air pump(s), air lineing and sponge filters and it will be all up and running. Will be able to fit 4x 450x250x250 tanks on bottom layer used for fry grow out, top shelf will be able to fit 5 300x200x200 tanks and will have room for a brine shrimp hatchery and for storing eggs and raising fry. Let me know what you all think.