Obviously a fish tank! Your choice of tank will determine what fish you will keep. Big tanks are good for big fish and small tanks adequate for small fish (although small fish do much better in big tanks). Most killifish are reasonably small (about 6 cm) and a tank of about 40 L is acceptable to begin with. Such a tank will provide a comfortable home for a trio or small group of fish.
Your fish tank must have a tight fitting lid with no gaps nearly big enough for a killifish to fit through. This is very important as killifish have a wicked tendency to jump through narrow gaps, land on the floor and die. Such victims are almost always very rare and/or costly to replace.Aphyosemion australe
Decoration need not be extravagant with plastic model castles and neon coloured plastic plants. Keep the tank simple. For many species you may have to start collecting eggs and the more spawning substrates there are the more difficult it will become find the eggs.
I like a tank with a stand of Java fern and some Java moss. Some floating plants in the form of hornwort, Elodea or Riccia is also a good idea. This may provide cover for fry that hatch out in the parent tank. The substrate can be left as plain glass but a thin layer of fine sand or gravel looks better. Some people dispute the need for lighting but I find that fish seem more comfortable and relaxed in a well lit tank.
A good filter is not mandatory. lf the tank is lightly stocked partial water changes maybe all the filtration you need. That said, having a sponge or box tilter in the tank does not hurt the fish. Strong aeration is not needed, just enough to keep the filter ticking over. An under-gravel filter would be fine, as would be a small external (provided it cannot suck up the fish).
Water changes are essential to maintain good growth and health of the fish. Do not worry too much about pH and hardness. The pH can be prevented from dropping too low with water changes and fiddling with it if it is too high only creates problems for you and your fish. Try to keep the pH stable. This goes for water hardness too. Constant hard water is better than fluctuating hard/soft water. This can cause serious damage to the fish’s gills. Such damage is generally fatal to fry. Most killifish are quite adaptable in respect to water temperature. Most can tolerate temperatures between 19° and 26°C. Do not expect most to breed at 19°C and some may not like it as high as 26°C. I aim for 24°C for most of my fish. When changing water it is again important that temperature difference is not too large. While adult fish may not suffer much from such abuse young fish and fry can be killed.
As regards feeding, a varied diet is best. Most commonly available killifish will take flake and granulate food (such as sold by Tim Addis). Supplemental feeding with live or frozen foods (mosquito larvae, bloodworm, white/grindal worms etc … ) is a good idea. Daphnia is a firm favourite for most fish and serves as an excellent healthy treat. Remember the more fish, the more you feed, the more water changes you need to do!
Once you have a fish tank you will need fish! There are many killifish suitable for the beginner. Most do not require much more effort to maintain than other types of fish. You need to feed them correctly, change the water and so on. What follows are a small selection of fish I would give to a beginner to experiment with and gain experience.
Fundulopanchax gardneri
Fundulopanchax gardneri
This is one of the most splendid killifish there is. It is colourful, active, not fussy about its food, breeds willingly and can tolerate a wide array of water conditions. Males reach about 7 cm and can be a bit belligerent towards one another. They are not seriously aggressive but can nip and tear each other’s fins. Males can often harass the females but I have never had fatalities. They can be setup in a tank described earlier without any worries. You will not need to collect eggs as the parents will not molest their fry. Very quickly the tank will be full of fry if you take good care of the parents. The fry are also very easy to raise. They will take the same food as the parents.
Aphyosemion striatum
Aphyosemion striatum
Some people would recommend Aphyosemion australe to a beginner but there are some poor quality strains that produce fish that will not breed regardless how well you treat them. Aphyosemion striatum is a guaranteed breeder and like Fp. gardneri it will not molest its fry.They are very colourful with flanks of neon blue-green and crimson red. They are active fish that are not shy. These fish do prefer to not be kept too warm.They prefer to be kept at about 23°C. They can be a bit more picky in diet but soon come round to a high quality flake food. The most important thing to remember is to keep the tank covered as A. striatum like to jump!
Epiplatys dageti monroviae
Epiplatys dageti monroviae
This is one of those popular fish that every now and then floods the market and then vanishes for a time before again flooding the market. It breeds very easily. So easy it is prone to neglect. A pair will quickly fill a tank with fry.The young fish are brightly coloured with contrast black/blue-green bars.This contrast fades in adults while the fins remain a lovely yellow with blue edging. The throat is orange. They are active fish that cruise around beneath the surface of the tank. They do no pass up anything resembling food. They tolerate a wide range of temperatures but do best at 24°C and above. The most important thing with this fish is to keep the fry ticking over. Old fish loose fertility and after a time cease to produce eggs. Unless you have young fish available you will loose the strain.
Nematolebias whitei
Nematolebias whiteiThis is a what is termed an annual killifish. It will lay its eggs into the substrate (in fish tanks we use peat). In the wild the water will evaporate or drain away and the eggs will incubate over the course of several weeks until the rains come, the pool floods and then they will hatch and begin a new generation. While the previous three species came from Africa this is a South American fish (Brazil). It reachs 10 cm in size if fed well and given adequate water changes. It is chocolate brown with a myriad of blue-gold spots decorating its flanks and fins. Males will spar but not generally cause serious injury. Females are plain and inoffensive. Males will entice the female to the spawning receptacle wherein both will dive into the peat and spawn. Once every week or two the peat is collected, dried and stored till the incubation time has elapsed. On hatching the fry are large and enjoy copious feedings of baby brine shrimp. They will do equally well on crushed flake or powdered foods. The adults are equally unfussy about what they eat. They fare well on a diet of spirulina flake.
Nothobranchius foerschi/N.guentheri
Nothobranchius foerschiThis is another annual killifish, this time from East Africa (Tanzania). This fish sports a yellow body with blue iridescent scales decorating its flanks.The caudal fin is scarlet red and the anal and dorsal fins yellow with narrow red streaks. The males reach about 6 cm in total length. Females are smaller and plain olive in colour.
This fish is peaceful and undemanding to care for. It will take flake and temperatures down to as low as 16°C and still spawn. It is sensitive to velvet disease. Velvet can be warded off with the addition of one teaspoon of salt per four liters of water. This need not be added if an extra special effort is taken to keep the tank clean. Nothobranchius guentheri
These fish are spawned over peat and the damp peat incubated until the eggs are ready to hatch (eyed-up). The fry are smaller than those of Nematolebias whitei and will need feedings of newly hatched baby brine shrimp. Growth is rapid. NOTE: Since this article was written N.foerschi may prove difficult to get hold of (at least in the UK). Nothobranchius guentheri would perhaps be an equivalent.
These are the beginners fish chosen to get your started. Once you are done with Fundulopanchax gardneri you can try something more challenging such as Fundulopanchax spoorenbergi or Fundulopanchax marmoratus.
Fundulopanchax marmoratus
Aphyosemion australe or Chromaphyosemion bitaeniatum are a good next step up from Aphyosemion striatum which is already more challenging than Fundulopancahx gardneri.
There are many Epiplatys species but dageti was chosen because it teaches one that while a fish may be “easy” to care for and breed, effort is required to keep the colony ticking over. Nematolebias whitei and Nothobranchius foerschi are two of the most undemanding annual killifish. There are many many more and few are fundamentally more difficult to care for. In truth most killifish are suitable for the beginner.
Breeding Methods
I cannot think of any killifish that needs special encouragement to spawn. Most are very eager spawners once their needs are met. The only snag is finding their eggs, incubating their eggs and raising the fry.
For non-annual killifish three basic methods are used to breed killifish. Each method has its pros and cons; and may not be suitable for each and every species.
The permanent setup
In this method you place a pair or small group into a spacious well planted tank (i.e. wall to wall Java moss with some surface plants). You feed this group a varied diet including baby brine shrimp. After some time young fish will appear out from among the plants. You may be lucky to see fry scooting in and out among the surface plants.
Chromaphyosemion poliakiThese young fish can be caught out or left to grow and mature with the parents. Leaving the young fish with the parents is risky as most juveniles will prey on their younger brethren. In general the fish that grow up with their parents are stronger healthier fish. A self sustaining colony can be established of many different aged fish. This method has worked well for the author in respect of Chromaphyosemion poliaki. Two pairs rapidly reproduced (in a small tank) to produce many young fish of various ages. After a while production stopped. As the numbers of the group reduced new fry began to appear. Similar success was had with Epiplatys dageti and Fundulopanchax gardneri.
This method works well with many of the cameronense type fish of the genus Aphyosemion. Another good candidate is Pseudoepiplatys annulatus. The author has heard reports of success using this method for most of the Aphyosemion,Chromaphyosemion, Diapteron, Fundulopanchax and Rivulus species. In many cases this only works if the colony is begun with a single pair.
The temporary spawning setup method
In this method you select a pair or small group and set them up to spawn in a tank. You fill the tank with plants (Java moss) or include a thin layer of gravel or peat for a spawning substrate; allow the fish to spawn and then remove them after a week. Then you patiently wait for the fry to emerge. It often helps separating the genders for a while before putting them together to spawn. This way the females can be bursting with eggs.
pseudepiplatys annulatusThis method is often very effective in breeding fish such as Aphyosemion australe and Fundulopanchax gardneri. Spawns exceeding 200 fry are not unheard of. This method works well for “switch spawners” such as Fundulopanchax and Raddaella (the Aphyosemion batesii group). For strict plant spawners such as Epiplatys dageti the plants can simply be moved to a new tank and fish left where they are.
The hands on approach
In the two previous methods you never touched an egg and probably never saw any either. Sometimes you want to know if the fish are spawning and if the eggs are fertile. For this purpose you need to construct an artificial spawning structure for the fish to lay their eggs on. We call the structure a spawning mop (and it literally looks like a little mop).
Acrylic yarn is best. Obtain a book whose length is approximately the length of the mop you require. (See illustration) Wrap the medium around it about 50 to 100 times. Tie one end with another piece of medium and cut the other end so you have the threads of the medium tied together in the middle. Fold the threads so that the tied part (the top) is opposite to the loose ends (the bottom). Now take another thread and tie all the threads together about 2 cm from the top. Tie the threads together again about 1 cm lower than the second tying. Now you can attach the flotation device: a cork or piece of styrofoam. Take a piece of thread, attach it to the top of the mop and tie it to the cork etc…Or, you can just toss in the mop as it will sink to the bottom of the tank where some fish will spawn in it all the same. NOTE: Use cable ties when making mops, it creates a tighter fit around the cork/float/weight or just to hold the strands.
Before using the mop boil it with some bicarbonate of soda to get rid of the excess dye. This may not be necessary with today’s colour-fast dyes but it is better to be safe than sorry. Boiling also forces out the air between the fibres enabling it to sink.
When choosing the colour of the yarn you are going to use, get two colours rather then one. The author has observed that a combination of dark and light threads yields the best results. Dark blue or green wool in combination with tan or cream yarn works well.
Picking eggs is straight forward. Remove the mop (being careful not to remove any fish), give it a firm squeeze to shed any water and leave it to drip dry for about 10 to 15 minutes. Begin to examine the mop strand by strand. The eggs are plainly visible. Gently pick off the eggs using slant-tip precision eye-brow tweezers. You need a pair of tweezers that can come together behind the egg. The egg can then be gently rolled away from the mop. Some species prefer to spawn near the top of the mop (sometimes on the flotation device! ) while other will spawn near the bottom.
These eggs can be placed in shallow trays or tubs. The author likes to put the eggs on top of the Java moss or into shallow peat slurry and then float the small tray in the spawning tank to avoid any temperature fluctuations and a constant supply of fresy clean water of the same source. The addition of some methylene blue to stain dead eggs (for easy recognition and removal) as well as increase oxygen supply is helpful.
The rate of egg development will depend on temperature and the genetics of the fish. Fry that hatch in the tray can be removed with a spoon or other scooping device. The fry can be moved to another tub of same water quality and temperature for feeding and initial rearing.
The primary benefit of this method is that you can amass many eggs and so get many fry in a very short period of time. You do however require much more space and equipment.
Mops can also be used for the temporary spawning setup method whereby the mops with eggs are simply moved to a new tank or tub for hatching. The benefit of this is that you never handle and risk damaging the eggs.
Annual killifish
Ophthalmolebias constanciaeVery few annual killifish need to be spawned over an entire substrate of peat. The majority are happy with a tub of peat. Nothobranchius and Fundulosoma are satisfied with a shallow layer of peat in which to spawn. One to two cms is all that may be needed for adequate reproduction.
Many of the South American annuals (SA As) need deeper spawning vessels. Large SAAs like Gnatholebias zonatus are spawned in coke bottles filled with peat to a depth equal to the length of the fish. This is because while Nothos prefer to plough through the peat, SAAs prefer to dive into it (disappearing completely).
Spawning tubs
For most peat ploughers a shallow tub filled with peat and pebbles to weight it down will do. The author likes to use shallow (4 to 5 cm) but wide (15 cm) tubs with an entrance hole of about 12 cm. These tubs are excellent for training new fish to spawn. Fish unaccustomed to spawning in tubs will often not recognize it as a spawning site and will then spawn all over the tank. Once the fish accept the tub and the dark peat as the spawning site then the shallow training tub can be replaced with a smaller tub with smaller entrance hole so less peat will be strewn over the tank as they spawn.
This spawning tub should be positioned away from the area where the fish are fed. One of the main advantages of using the spawning tub over a complete peat substrate is that the tub and peat can be kept free of decaying food.
Deep jars and soda bottles weighted with pebbles work well for peat divers. For small SAAs such as Austrolebias nigripinnis, 5 cm of peat is adequate and the fish can be spawned in as small a jar as 6 cm wide and 7 cm deep. For larger SAAs such as Nematolebias whitei a jar of at least 12 to 15 cm deep is needed with a peat depth of about 5 to 8 cm. The fish will of course, while spawning, fling most of the peat out of the jar… The eggs sink faster than the peat so when the peat is down to about half the length of the fish it is a good idea to harvest it.
For monsters such as Megalebias wolterstorffi it may be best to use a goldfish bowl full of peat. Some breeders do not use bowls or jars at all but rather condition the genders separately and then put them together to spawn in a goldfish bowl (or similar receptacle) full of peat for spawning. This works as well for difficult to spawn SAAs and Nothos, especially so if they are aggressive.
Preparing peat
There is much debate as to what peat is best. The author prefers Canadian peat moss over all other brands but most other brands would probably suffice. Avoid peat with added fertilizer, peat with a composition of mainly sticks and palm peat fibre. Fine peat moss or long fibre peat is by far the best.
This peat must be prepared by boiling. The peat can either be boiled in glass jars in the microwave or simply put into a bucket and boiling water poured over it. The important thing is to repeat this several times and preferably with some alkali (such as baking soda, lime or slaked lime) to draw out as much acid as possible form the peat.
The eggs of many annuals are sensitive to the peat acids and can perish in the peat from acid burns. The peat can also cause the pH in fish tanks with soft water to plummet to as low as pH 4 over night! Some German breeders add some clay to the peat to obtain good spawns of some sensitive SAAs. The prepared peat can be rinsed clean of dust in a fine mesh net and then stored in plastic bags for later use after having the water squeezed from it. Storing it in the bottom of the fridge is a good idea (if you can convince your family).
Collecting peat and eggs
Nothobranchius guentheriTo use the peat, take the spawning tub and add several spoonfuls till you have about half the required depth in squeezed dry peat. Add water from the tank you wish to spawn the fish in to the tub and allow the peat to settle. It will now be about twice as deep as it was before. Gently pick up the tub and slowly sink it into the tank so as not to spray peat all over the tank. This creates a terrible mess.
A friend sinks the spawning tub along with a saucer on top to keep the peat from spreading all over the tank. With luck the fish will instantly see this as the site to spawn and will get to work. Peat strewn all around the tub is a good sign that the fish are spawning where they are supposed to.
After one or two weeks you can retrieve the spawning tub and wash the contents into a fine mesh net using tank water. Give this a gentle squeeze (not suggested for large eggs in course peat). Empty the contents of the net onto newspaper or roll in chamois leather to dry. Some breeders simply leave the peat exposed while others wrap the peat ball in newspaper for drying. Paper toweling would also work well but could be expensive.
Allow the peat to dry till it is wet to the touch but you have to squeeze hard to get any water from it. If water is still seeping from the peat it is too wet for all but a few Fundulopanchax and SAA species. The peat has to crumble freely. Once the peat has dried to an acceptable state it must be emptied into a plastic bag or tub and sealed away with the name of the species, its strain/population code and collection date clearly written onto it. The peat is then stored away in a location with temperature between 20 and 26°C. It is a good idea to examine the peat before storage to see if there are any eggs in the peat. Notho eggs are plainly visible as little amber balls in the peat. SAA eggs tend to be dark and adhere to the peat making them hard to see. With patience and practice they can also be seen with not too much difficulty.
How long to incubate?
Long lists of incubation times exist for a myriad of species under many conditions but these are only ever partly accurate under the conditions they were determined. The best course of action is to routinely examine the peat to check on the development of the eggs. When the eggs have eyed-up you can begin to think about wetting the eggs. Use a jewellers loupe to help you to see the eggs in the bag.
Eggs and Fry care
Eggs are no less fragile than new born babies. If you let them get too cold or warm, damage them in any way or allow them to become infected they will perish. Biological development is a stringently regulated process where small disturbances to homeostasis can have large negative repercussions. This part of the series will focus on providing an environment suitable to egg and fry development.
Caring for eggs
The eggs of many non-annuals do not tolerate massive changes in temperature nor poor water quality. Many do not tolerate being handled as they are fragile and sensitive to mechanical damage.
Obtaining viable eggs is the first step toward getting healthy fry. The eggs of some fish are sensitive to water chemistry. I have heard it alleged several times by several different people that the big Fundulopanchax and some Aphyosemion do not produce viable eggs in hard water. The chemistry whereby eggs harden to prevent bacteria penetrating them involves the element calcium. High calcium levels in the water can cause the egg to harden too fast, before the sperm can fertilize it. On the other hand, eggs that are not adapted for soft water devoid of calcium may harden too slow or not at all, allowing bacteria and fungus to penetrate the eggs and kill them.
These are some plausible explanations relating fish fertility to water parameters in addition to those above. One is that big fish produce more waste and ammonia is as (if not more) toxic to eggs as it is to fish. Also, with more waste there is more bacteria that can damage eggs. Water quality cannot be overlooked.
Water parameters are important for many fish breeding attempts. Those beginner fish mentioned in earlier are generally resistant to the above problems, hence their ease and popularity in the hobby.
The addition of tea has been proposed to solve many problems with fish infertility and non-viable eggs. This is hardly surprising. Tea is a hodgepodge of tannins, acids and polyphenol compounds with anti-bacterial/fungal and anti-oxidant properties. The tea from the Sea Almond Terminalia catappa has long been used in SE Asia in fishkeeping to prevent disease and increase the survivability of spawns. Oak leaves have also been used with success. Peat also contains such afore mentioned compounds and the success of Joegen Scheel and his contemporaries may be that they employed a substrate of peat in all their tanks.
Temperature cannot be ignored. For non-annuals the eggs are best kept at the temperature they were spawned. The author and his friends only had success in spawning Epiplatys bifasciatus when the eggs were left to develop in a small floating dish in the parent’s tank.
Dead eggs are best removed from the incubation container. These eggs will become a food source for bacteria and fungus that may damage healthy eggs. These dead eggs will also pollute the water in respect to ammonia and nitrite (never mind bacterial toxins). Dead eggs can be spotted with the aid of some methylene blue. Healthy eggs are able to pump the blue dye out, so will not turn blue, dead eggs turn blue with the dye. If too strong a dose is used the difference will not be evident. The water should just be slightly tinted by the dye. The late Ed Warner used 5 drops of methylene blue (presumably a 10% solution) per litre. The effectivity of dyes at killing bacteria and fungus at doses where it will not harm eggs is largely speculative. Methylene blue has been shown to act as an oxygen carrier in solution and may be of added benefit in this respect as eggs are very sensitive to oxygen deprivation.
Annual eggs are not as sensitive to temperature as non-annual eggs. Changes in temperature do seem to hasten development and as the old proverb goes “haste makes waste.” In diapause the eggs are very robust but once development begins they are as sensitive as non-annual eggs and losses can be large. This is speculated to be the reason for massive egg losses in shipping annual eggs over vast distances and differences in climate.
Hatching eggs
Non-annual eggs will normally hatch by themselves. On some occasions they may need some help. Eggs are ready to hatch not when you can see eyes but when you can see a gold or blue ring around the eyes. This is termed “eyed-up.” Eyed-up eggs have a limited shelf life. As the fry sits in the egg waiting to hatch, it is slowly burning away its fuel reserves. Once this reserve is used up it will have to burn its own tissues for fuel. At this point the fry may not have enough energy reserves to break free of the egg and if it does it will normally die from exhaustion or be deficient in some way (e.g. a belly-slider). Keeping the eggs in the dark will reduce the activity of the fry inside the eggs and may extend the shelf life of the eyed-up annual fish eggs.
Fry that need help can be stimulated to hatch by increasing the oxygen or carbon dioxide concentration in the water. Manual agitation also works. Some authors claim the addition of some peat extract/tea to work wonders not only in stimulating hatching but curing belly-sliders. One idea is to put the eggs into a glass jar and sink it into a deep tank to increase the pressure in the jar’s water that will force hatch the eggs. It is not suggested that one force hatch annual eggs unless they are water incubated (or suspected to be long overdue). Annual eggs will hatch when they are good and ready. It is important however to have a high oxygen content in the water to prevent belly-sliding. Cool water (“10-15°C) is important for many South American annuals.
Shallow trays are best used for hatching eggs. Once the fry have hatched they are best removed from the peat filled hatching tray and put into a new tray with water ofthe same parameters where feeding can begin. This is so that the peat can be redried-free of polluting fish food-and rewet later on (about four weeks). It is normally possible to pour the water (with fry) from the peat.
Non-annual fry can be handled in the same way. Fry should never be fed in the tray they were hatched in if it can at all be prevented. Decaying food will reduce the survival odds for the remaining eggs and quite likely kill the fry.
Care of fry
Fry need clean water and good food. Fry are also very sensitive to water changes in respect to temperature and hardness. Osmotic or temperature shock can kill.Good foods for newly hatched fry are infusoria (Java moss is teaming with it), microworms, fresh baby brine shrimp and various commercial dry or paste aquaculture microfoods (such as supplied by Tim Addis and Co.).
As fry grow and mature their diet needs to change. Infusoria is no longer adequate for two week old N. foerschi. These fish grow fast and need bigger richer food. Fresh brine shrimp, cyclops, Daphnia and various dried foods work well for young fish. Finely chopped frozen bloodworm is excellent for two week old Nothos if they are large enough to take it.
The fry need to be fed regularly and hence their tanks/tubs/trays need to be cleaned and the water changed regularly. This is very important. Sloppy maintenance is the leading cause of such disasters as Flexibacter columnaris (the cause of sliminess of the skin, finrot, clamped fins, shimmying, mouth fungus etc…) and velvet outbreaks. Undersuch stressful conditions any cure is likely to be ineffective.
Stocking density is also important. Fry compete with each other for food. To make sure each fry has enough food the fry generally need to be slightly over fed. This means the more fish the more waste. With severe overcrowding a daily 50% water change may not be enough. For this reason it is best keeping fry in small numbers. 20 fry per 2 L tub for the first week is generally a good standard. As they grow the numbers will need to be thinned. One 2 L tub is good for two 15 to 20 mm fry with a 25% water change per day.Water quality and nutrition are very important in keeping fish healthy and obtaining the best growth. The topics of health and disease will be the focus of the next instalment in the series.
Nutrition
At sea, malnourished sailors developed scurvy, got ill and died. Captain Cook’s answer to the problem was limes but our fish do not seem to enjoy citrus fruits.
The good food guide
Fish need a diet high in fats/oils and protein. In conjunction they also need vitamins like B, C, E etc … This is best obtained by feeding the fish a rich and varied diet.
In old literature it is stated that live foods are far superior to dry foods. This is not the case today where dry foods are every bit as good if not better. Because of intense aquaculture today’s dried foods are rich in protein, fats/oils and vitamins. Fish can thrive on these menus their entire lives.
Clean live and frozen foods are still very good and make a good treat and may be essential in catering to the needs of certain species (such as Diapteron that seem to do best on Cyclops). Many live/frozen foods, such as bloodworm, have very high protein contents making them excellent for conditioning breeders. White mosquito larvae are also excellent for this purpose. Experiments performed by the author with Aplocheilus lineatus suggested white mosquito larvae boosted egg production by as much as 25% compared to bloodworm.
Some foods are richer in certain kinds of fats and oils. Cyclops is one such food. Mach Fukada has observed that by feeding his fish Cyclops and/or Daphnia enriched with algae rectified the phenomenon of panic attacks in his fry that would often lead to massive casualties.Cyclops and Spirulina algae are two foods rich in the good-fats (highly unsaturated fatty acids) needed for proper nerve activity and are now considered vitamins in the aquaculture industry essential for proper growth and health. Another reason put forward for panic attacks is heavy metal poisoning. Lead and copper are particular problems in this regard. Lead weights can contaminate small tubs and tanks if the tank turns acidic. Lead concentrations need not be high to cause fatalities. Copper is a problem that comes with very new and very old pipes. Heavy metal toxicity is reduced by using harder water.
Spirulina is a God-send for the fishkeeper. It has a very favourable nutritional profile being rich in vitamin B, C, E etc .. .It is also rich in essential amino acids. Spirulina flake should be fed to all fish that will take it. As for fussy fish, there are ways of dealing with them.
Many home cultured foods such as microworms, grindals, whiteworms and crickets ( even earthworms) will feed on Spirulina. These organisms can be easily gut-loaded and fed to fish. These organisms will also feast on crushed peanuts ( another good-fat, protein and vitamin rich food). Brine shrimp (from the age of 48 hours) can also be fed on Spirulina powder and their nutritional profile can be enhanced tremendously in this way. Fresh brine shrimp nauplii are an excellent food in their own right for young fry. The good-fat profile of microworms can be enhanced by the simple addition of some olive oil to the culture container.
Food = health
The immune system runs on the food the organism eats. The good-fats are not just important for proper nerve function but also proper immune function. These fats are used to produce hormones that regulate inflammation and immune cell activity. The mechanisms that produce the hormones are not very choosy. They will prefer the good-fats but without them they will use whatever they can. This often means they produce hormones that are either less of very much more active than should be. As consequence the immune system will not function properly.
Vitamin C and E are also very important in proper immune function (and fertility). When white blood cells attack bacteria and viruses they generate hydrogen peroxide to kill them. Hydrogen peroxide is non-specific and will damage everything around it. Unless you have enough vitamin C and E this damage will be excessive and reduce the life expectancy of your fish. Vitamin C is also important for proper bone growth.
It is important to understand that in feeding your fish the high protein diet they need there will also be a lot of ammonia waste produced meaning you have to maintain good water quality as well as supply good food. Over feeding brine shimp nauplii goes hand in hand with velvet out breaks in fry tubs. Well fed fish living in a clean tank will be far less susceptible to attack by bacteria and parasites.
Disease
When your fish are under attack by bacteria or parasites do not reach for antibiotics. Unless you want to corrupt your local pharmacist and get the good stuff you are wasting your time with pet store antibiotics (such as Nitrofurazone which most aquarium bacteria are already resistant too). It is very difficult diagnosing fish diseases without a microscope and good textbook. Most take the form of clamped fins, listlessness, slimy skin or cottony like growth. Some diseases, like white spot, are more or less obvious. Velvet is more subtle but with indirect light you can see the gold haze on the fish’s body and fins. Most ailments can be treated with a small selections of chemicals.
These are the following: Malachite green; Acriflavine; MelaFix Metronidazole and salt.
Malachite green is the most powerful compound in the list. It is effective against bacteria, protozoans and fungus at a concentration as low as 0.5 mg/L and can be used at a dose as much as 5 mg/L for some species. Bare in mind many species (particularly catfish) will perish even at 0.5 mg/L. Killifish do not seem to tolerate a dose very much higher than this. Koi keepers suggest 0.1 to 0.25 mg/L. Malachite green should NEVER come into contact with galvanized metal or zinc lest you wish to kill your fish through zinc poisoning.
Acriflavine is a powerful antibacterial agent. It can be safely used for most species at a concentration of 0.02 mg/L. Water changes are essential. This compound will inhibit or kill most bacteria meaning your filters will be offline for a time. Acriflavine is listed as an irritant on some material safety and data sheets and will interfere with DNA and is a potential mutagen best handled carefully. Eggs and fry are best not exposed to it. Acriflavine works well against Flexibacter columnaris, velvet and Costias.
Both acriflavine and malachite green are effective against white spot. MelaFix is a product of the Tea Tree plant of Australia. It works very well against bacteria. It also seems to be without side effects if used as per the manufacturer’s instructions.
Metronidazole is a marvelous drug. It is also known as Flagyl. It is effective against bacteria, fungi, yeast and protozoans like white spot. It will cure hole-in-the-head and other flagellate infections (characterized by the fish not eating and wasting away). It is also free of side effects (except if you are a pregnant woman). The dosage is 5 mg/L with the dose repeated twice interspersed by three days ( so you have a 9 day treatment beginning with dosage and ending with a water change). Each dose is followed by a large water change. For more aggressive infections (such as bloat) the dosing cah be changed to 5 mg/L per day for three days with a 30% water change between dosing.
Methylene blue is of little use in treating fish diseases other than white spot, but has the benefit of being an oxygen carrier and so aiding in fish respiration. It is also an antidote to nitrite poisoning as is salt. Salt (NaCl) is very useful in many respects but first we have to handle some physiology. Freshwater fish retain a salt concentration within their bodies much higher than the surrounding water (marine fish do the opposite). (The physiological sodium concentration is 9 g/L.) As consequence they are constantly being flooded by water diffusing into them from the outside seeking to dilute the salt. This is osmosis. (Osmosis the movement of water from a low solute concentration to a high solute concentration.) At the same time they are also leaching salts into the environment. As consequence fish kidneys work very hard excreting water and storing salts as part of the process of osmoregulais tion.
Raising the concentration of salts in the surrounding water will reduce the osmotic stress allowing the kidneys to relax. But too much sodium is a bad thing. For the nerves and muscles to work they have to maintain a low sodium concentration inside their cells and a higher concentration in the blood and plasma. Too much sodium in the water and too much sodium in their body fluids will cause the fish to die. This is particularly problematic in soft water fish that are not equipped to deal with high salt concentrations. This problem is easily remedied by adding some other salts such as potassium, calcium and magnesium to the water to compensate for the increase in sodium. The goal is for the fish to keep the various salt concentrations in balance internally.
This is a difficult task if your kidneys are failing because of a bacterial or viral infection. The addition of some salt to the water (1 to 3 teaspoons per 4 L where one teaspoon is about 5 g) will ease the burden on the kidneys in allowing the external salt concentrations to approach physiological levels. This allows the fish to better regulate its salt balance so its tissues (read immune system) can function properly. Salt baths are also helpful (3-6 teaspoons per 4 L ). A 20 minute salt bath will knock velvet and white spot and most other ectoparasites right off the fish. The high salt concentration will dehydrate the small ectoparasites killing them. Most killifish are able to resist this for a short time. (Catfish and discus in addition to many other soft water fish will not tolerate this at all! ) Salt baths are also recommended for dropsy by some koi keepers.
Prevention is better than cure
Quarantine is a very good idea if you want to avoid having sick fish. Many diseases are able to piggy-back into your setup via other fish. The most dangerous is Glugea, which is very costly to eradicate. This parasite spreads easily via contaminated tanks, peat, buckets, nets etc .. .It lies dormant for many weeks before striking and by that time can be spread throughout your fishroom forcing you to cull all your fish and sterilise your tanks. Its main prey is Nothobranchius but can infect most fish.
Keeping new arrivals separate from the rest of your stock for a time ( as much as one generation) is an example of the very best of ideas. Having a dedicated tank and equipment is essential to this task.
Likewise, try to keep established tanks as independent from others as possible by always sterilizing nets and equipment between use in other tanks. Nets are easily sterilised of most freshwater pathogens by dipping in a saturated salts solution. Letting equipment soak in bleach, Condi’s Crystals (potassium permangemate) or a saturated salt solution is a valuable protocol to implement in your fishroom.
If you have healthy fish then they will certainly breed. And once you have a lot of healthy young fish you may think about trading them with other fishkeepers. This is the topic of the next part of Beginning with Killies.
