Feeding killifish

I couldn't find a fish I wanted for my 10 gallon. I kept shopping and hit up all 3 lfs in a loop. I figured I'd just get guppies but then I realized I hated the way they ate. Id drop food and they'd let most of it fall to the substrate looking for it. At petco one of the aquarium experts who usually has really good information recommended a kilifish. I looked into them and it says the golden kilI needs to be fed 3 times a day, grows to 4 inches and is quite the carnivore. This makes it seem like a fun beginner nano fish except it gets too big, and 3 feedings a day increases the chances of overfeeding everything in my tank. I've got tons of hiding spaces so I'm not too worried about my rcs or my nerites, but is this fish actually too big to have a pair in? And do they really require 3 meals a day?

 

Pair probable. But possible. Male will terrorize things. I've kept in a 10 well but species tank only. Feedings are similar to all fish. I fed mines every three days alternating food type

 

They would have the tank to themselves aside from the rcs and nerites. I'm not into a ton of fish being in a tank... yet.

Good to know on the feeding. Maybe this actually could work out. My only remaining concern would be 8 inches of fish. How fast do they grow? If I get the wife attached to aquariums I'm sure I could have a 100 gal this time next year.

 

If I get the wife attached to aquariums I'm sure I could have a 100 gal this time next year.

Lol! I wish I could say the same for my husband. He doesn't want any more tanks unless it is a piranha tank ....

 

I wanted them as a kid, but I like the more natural thing now. Lol. I just have the one right now.

 

Fast grower but this species will take a long time. Typically 2 years+ after purchase.

 

Ok. I think I'll go with them then.

At first I didn't like them but the second time I actually saw the males. They are pretty fish. They'll probably look good with my red and blue lights.

 

They're really pretty

 

Thanks for the help Teishokue I'll pick them up tomorrow!

 

They will eat the Cherry shrimp. I would pass on the Golden Wonder Killies, Aplocheilus lineatus. Given enough food, they will grow fast. You might look online for a different species, such as the Clown Killie, Epiplatys annulatus. Only gets about an inch and a half, would go great with the shrimp. Body shape is similar to the Aplocheilus, which gets big and fairly predatory.

 

I can't really explain my situation but it's a mad rush right now. I don't have time to order fish either online or through the lfs, if I did I'd have a few cpd's or a pair of sparkling gourami.

Right now I'll pick up the pair of kilifish, and if they eat the expensive food then I guess they do. I think my daughter will really appreciate the color of the male. If it doesn't work out my wife can just decorate it and add a betta if she wants or guppies, or pretty bubble wand leds.

 

So at the store I picked out the brightest male and the female that looked the best. They are the same length and we're both energetically swimming at the top of the tank. Got them home and they seemed situated really quickly. The female did a few exploratory laps and then just kept to the surface. Little worried about the male. He moves around but he likes to hover just over the bottom and hide. He can't decide between under my filter intake, in my slate cave, between my anacharis and sword, or next to my castle. Nobody seems interested in the rcs yet. I usually don't feed on the first day but I decided to thaw a tiny piece of blood worm. It was stuck to the knife so I just dangled the knife in the water waiting for the worms to fall off to get their attention. Nope! The female ate almost all the worms that would fall and then came eating the worms still on the knife. No fear at all on that one. The male patrolled the bottom and just got the scraps. I can already tell he'd better get his act together or he will starve and the female will be huge. I dropped a chunk of algae wafer down for the snails and the shrimp after that. The female tried for a good 3 minutes to eat it. She snagged it as soon as it broke the surface and kept carrying it around and spitting it out. I got worried she'd get it stuck but she eventually dropped it and it hit the surface and she left it there.

Should I be worried the male doesn't seem to want to patrol the top?

 

Oh man this female I can already tell may cause some problems. No fear whatsoever. Had to top off a little water and she just stayed barely out of the flow. I saw a wisteria leaf floating on the surface and she almost got into the net when I scooped it up.

The male, while I was doing this was patrolling. From what I just saw my rcs should be just fine. He went to investigate one that was moving to another part of the tank. All I saw was a red blur as the rcs left the area. I'm kinda glad I got these two. They are pretty fun to watch. Like tiny barracuda guppies in a tank.

 

When they get close to full size they will be able to catch and eat the shrimp. I know the folks on this forum always say plan for the adult size of the fish, not the current size. I suppose that if you want to learn the hard way, no one can stop you.

 

I don't doubt they will eat the shrimp given their already predatory nature. I'm just saying for now they seem fine, and if they eat them I won't be surprised or upset. I like the rcs and all but I'm starting to like these kilis more.

 

They are natural predators to guppies

 

Lol the guppy is gone.