Banded Killifish Care

[BettaNation]

Hi, my question is what's the best conditions for banded Killifish in captivity? I recently acquired a nicely sized male and two other fish that may be juveniles of the same species or a different coexistant species. I caught them in a river that is brackish but on the low end of the spectrum of salinity. I cannot say the definite salinity though. I do believe I read these fish can survive many ranges of salinity. I do realize since they are wild caught, they will not be accustomed to flaked food so I have bought blood worms and other food mixes for fish and I will try to get them eating the fish food I have ( it's already high in protein and it's the best you can get at a petstore) but I was wondering about tank size and decorations as these fish come from a river so they would not encounter a SpongeBob decoration lol. I'm thinking about driftwood but it releases tannins and I don't know how the tannins would be with the killifish. And I'm wondering about substrate as well.
As of right now I have them in a ten gallon with some marine salt but not too crazy just a little. Yes I know that's extremely small tank size but that's only for now and i have a filter and a air pump that's aerating the water as well as giving it movement. Once I have saved up, I'm planning to get a 55 gallon and I'm thinking of a sand substrate with some driftwood and some soft fake plants or maybe live if they are tolerant of brackish and don't require special lighting etc. And maybe I could get some rocks too as the habitiat they were in before did have rocks that they'd hide in. I would like to know if there is anything more I should add or anything else to enchance it the future tank. I'll be going back at some point for some more ( if I can catch them haha)
Thanks

 

[DanniD]

Pretty cool project you got going on there. I'd aim to make it as close to where you got them from as possible. Sand substrate with smooth river rocks are probably a good idea. I'd definitely go for the driftwood. You can boil it before if you don't want tannins but the fish won't/shouldn't mind. It's actually good for the water. Get live plants if possible, maybe java ferns will be ok? I'm not too sure. You won't need anything special to keep java ferns alive.

 

[chromedome52]

Well, as I said in the ID thread just a short time ago, your killifish is a Mummichog, not a Banded Killifish. So it is essentially a brackish water fish. Considering the size they can reach, a 55 is probably a good target size for their tank. I think your ideas on substrate and decorations are good. The tannins from driftwood are not going to have a significant effect in very hard or slightly brackish water, so it will be safe to use.

Make sure all tanks are well covered. These fish do like to jump.

 

[BettaNation]

Well, as I said in the ID thread just a short time ago, your killifish is a Mummichog, not a Banded Killifish. So it is essentially a brackish water fish. Considering the size they can reach, a 55 is probably a good target size for their tank. I think your ideas on substrate and decorations are good. The tannins from driftwood are not going to have a significant effect in very hard or slightly brackish water, so it will be safe to use.

Make sure all tanks are well covered. These fish do like to jump.

Oh yes that's why I have to go get a cover because the tank I have them in was set up last minute and the tank did not have any lid and I do not have a spare one but I will asap. For a 55, how much salt in tbs would you recommend as I've only ever had freshwater?

 

[chromedome52]

I've never measured salt to put in tanks, so I couldn't tell you. I always had a barrel of saltwater mixed up for my brine shrimp hatchers, so I just put about 30-50% of the volume of the tank from the SW barrel.

However, a lot depends on the salinity of the water they came from. You would want to check that before deciding how much salt to put in the tank.

 

[BettaNation]

I've never measured salt to put in tanks, so I couldn't tell you. I always had a barrel of saltwater mixed up for my brine shrimp hatchers, so I just put about 30-50% of the volume of the tank from the SW barrel.

However, a lot depends on the salinity of the water they came from. You would want to check that before deciding how much salt to put in the tank.

Do you know the temperature tolerance for these fish?