Okay, so I was on Aquabids the other day and I saw these Killifish eggs....

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:43:27 +0100

Okay.

I love to browse Aquabids (It's like eBay, but for fish) and I ran across several listings for Killifish eggs. I've always been fascinated with Killifish, but never really had the opportunity to keep any. I started looking around online and found out that some people sell the eggs. I read a lot about people needing to beware, because sometimes people can cheat you, or the eggs won't hatch for whatever reason. This guy that I bought them from is out of Thailand, and according to his feedback, is a great seller of Killi Eggs that successfully hatch and grow. I am confident that any failure will most likely be due to my own pilot error. I'm not experienced with Killifish, but I've had decades of experience with other types. I won't claim to know exactly what to expect, but I've got a pretty good track record with general aquaria.

I won the auction on June 7th (After I had gone to bed) and paid my .99 cents plus shipping on June 9th, 2010 (After a few emails discussing the shipping arrangements. I found out that the eggs are packed in peat to keep them dormant.) The estimated shipping time is 7-21 days, give or take. Sounds about right for shipping from Asia. I've bought a lot of jewelry from overseas. Along with my 100 Killifish Eggs, I'm also getting 20,000 brine shrimp eggs and a hatching tool. This is good, because that means I have good food for the fry. They don't have yolk sacs like a lot of other fish species, so they're going to need a LOT of food ready for them.

So I've been reading up more about Killies lately. Apparently, they're like plants. There are Annuals, Semi-Annuals, and Non-Annual types. Annual eggs (Like some plant bulbs) have to be dried for awhile before they can be hatched. Semi-Annuals can be dried for awhile, or they can be left in the aquarium to hatch on their own. Non-Annuals just hatch on out in the water. See, in the wild, some of these fish (Annuals) are in water that dries up during the year. These fish generally live for almost a year depending on water temperature. They lay eggs in the substrate so that after the dry season ends and the rains bring more water, there will be more of their kind. The Semi-Annuals are fish in areas that may or may not dry up. They live for 2-3 years depending on how cool they are kept. Warmer water increases their metabolism and shortens their lifespan, just like with Non-Annuals. Non-Annuals also live for around 2-3 years, and come from areas that generally don't dry up.

I'm supposed to get hatching instructions with my eggs. From what I've read online, the basic gist goes a little bit like this.... Look at the eggs. When they start looking back at me, I put them in water with some food in it and babies come out within a few hours. Seems simple enough when you look at it like that. When the eggs come in, I'll update my progress as I go along to show how it works. My hope is to get most of the eggs to hatch, grow, and breed so that I can come full-circle and have a new supply for the next season.

The three species included in this order are not specified, but there were pictures of 3 types of adults in the listing. I THINK I have Killifish Nothobranchius Eggersi (Red), Killifish Nothobranchius Eggersi (Blue), and Nothobranchius rachovii Beira 98. I don't know this for sure, but that's what I'm leaning towards. I'll know more when I see the little ones mature.

It's generally recommended that a novice Killifish keeper begin with adults and work their way toward eggs. I hope this works out!

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Okay, so I was on Aquabids the other day and I saw these Killifish eggs....