Killifish that shoal and undergo diapause

Hi everyone! I'm new to fish and this amazing community I'm fascinated by schooling and shoaling fish and was planning to rear them in huge tanks for my Uni project this summer. My Uni wants me to establish a large schooling populations that other students can also observe. I was to use fish that can tolerate other species well in tanks and are not too aggressive.
One of my professors recently talked about the incredible diapause stage that many killifsh eggs undergo. Now I'm wondering if I can combine my new fascination with my summer project and rear and observe fish that shoal/school but also have eggs that undergo diapause.
My Uni is happy to help me aquire and setup everything I need but I don't know if any such fish exist and whether this idea is feasible at all.
This quest brings me to FishLore and any comments/ pointers/suggestions would be very much appreciated!
Thank you for your help!

 

Hi killifishmum.
Can you please give a short explanation of your experience in the hobby.
How many years.?
How many tanks and species have you had and breed successfully?

If you are a complete novice that’s fine we all started with nothing at some stage.

I have a killifish aficionado in my local club but have had only limited success breeding.

Can you also pick an approximate size for this Uni tank project because a big ( Huge ) tank in Australia is not necessarily a big tank in other countries.

I have a couple of ideas but will await your reply.

 

Hi killifishmum.
Can you please give a short explanation of your experience in the hobby.
How many years.?
How many tanks and species have you had and breed successfully?

If you are a complete novice that’s fine we all started with nothing at some stage.

I have a killifish aficionado in my local club but have had only limited success breeding.

Can you also pick an approximate size for this Uni tank project because a big ( Huge ) tank in Australia is not necessarily a big tank in other countries.

I have a couple of ideas but will await your reply.

Hi Flyfisha,

Thank you for responding to my query!
I'm indeed a complete novice, barring keeping a small tank (~5 gallon) with guppies & shrimp that I maintained with my friends in high school. We kept these going for 1.5 years before passing them onto the next badge.

I've never bred killifish before but will be working with experts at the limnological institute at my university.
My project this summer is to start a population of schooling fish that the undergraduates can continue rearing and observing for a few years. When I spoke with the technician they said I must do some research and decide the species that I'd like to work with.

They will help me acquire it and set things up but I, of course, need to do my homework about the kind of fish and best ways to maintain them. The limnological institute has a big variety of tank sizes and even a pond setup so I have a lot of freedom. They said they house anything from 40 to 300 gallon setups for researchers and we can think about what we'd like to do that will work.

Hope this wasn't too vague and gives you some more information! Sorry, I'm still starting out the planning so don't have a lot of details yet.
I heard about the diapause stage just yesterday during our end of term lecture and can't stop thinking about the idea of using such species for my shoaling fish setup!

 

Sorry, but none of the species that practice diapause are shoalers. Until you asked the question I had never thought about it, but as soon as I did, I realized that the two conditions simply do not co-exist in any species. I think this is because the practice of shoaling necessitates a great deal of volume, or perhaps is a response to living in such a space. Fish that bury their eggs tend to live in quite shallow, often stagnant waters, where the space is all taken up by territorial males looking to mate. Even at the height of the rainy periods these waters tend to be backwater areas, and temporary pools. The species have evolved without having to deal with currents.

If you are looking to display killifish, possibly in a "community" setting, I suggest looking at the various lampeyes. They come in sizes from an inch to 8 inches. Not my favorite group personally, but they can be quite interesting.

 

Sorry, but none of the species that practice diapause are shoalers. Until you asked the question I had never thought about it, but as soon as I did, I realized that the two conditions simply do not co-exist in any species. I think this is because the practice of shoaling necessitates a great deal of volume, or perhaps is a response to living in such a space. Fish that bury their eggs tend to live in quite shallow, often stagnant waters, where the space is all taken up by territorial males looking to mate. Even at the height of the rainy periods these waters tend to be backwater areas, and temporary pools. The species have evolved without having to deal with currents.

If you are looking to display killifish, possibly in a "community" setting, I suggest looking at the various lampeyes. They come in sizes from an inch to 8 inches. Not my favorite group personally, but they can be quite interesting.

Thanks a lot for answering my question!

I came across something about the Argentine Pearl Killifish while researching my query: Austrolebias nigripinnis (Argentine Pearl Killifish) – Care and Stats "Killifishes are usually school fish when in the wild, which means they need to be kept in groups for their optimum health and well-being. They can quickly get stressed when left alone."

Would it be possible for you to comment on the veracity of this statement?
There's a lot of conflicting information out there and it's be huge help to have this verified.

 

Thanks a lot for answering my question!

I came across something about the Argentine Pearl Killifish while researching my query: Austrolebias nigripinnis (Argentine Pearl Killifish) – Care and Stats "Killifishes are usually school fish when in the wild, which means they need to be kept in groups for their optimum health and well-being. They can quickly get stressed when left alone."

Would it be possible for you to comment on the veracity of this statement?
There's a lot of conflicting information out there and it's be huge help to have this verified.

I may be wrong about this, but most schooling or shoaling fish do it as a defense mechanism. in a tank where there are no predators and they feel safe, they will not school even if they do in the wild. There are some ‘true’ schooling fish that will school in a tank environment but I can’t recall them at the moment.

 

Thanks a lot for answering my question!

I came across something about the Argentine Pearl Killifish while researching my query: Austrolebias nigripinnis (Argentine Pearl Killifish) – Care and Stats "Killifishes are usually school fish when in the wild, which means they need to be kept in groups for their optimum health and well-being. They can quickly get stressed when left alone."

Would it be possible for you to comment on the veracity of this statement?
There's a lot of conflicting information out there and it's be huge help to have this verified.

I'm not a big fan of peat spawners, as they are generally called. They can start breeding by the time they are three months of age, sometimes sooner. However, I have bred several species, including this one. The peat is not kept in water during storage as they suggest, but you do want it to stay damp. They also are ambiguous about the storage time, which is normally about 90 days for these relatively easy Austrolebias. They also are pushing very low temperatures for breeding and maintenance, but nigripinnis are more adaptable than they seem to think. I simply kept them at room temperatures, and the bagged peat with eggs in it was stored in a dark, warm place.

They do not school, but rather live in colonies, where males hold territory and breed with any females that are interested. Some might mistake this group living as shoaling, but it's not. In aquaria they are best kept as pairs or trios. Despite being called "annuals", some of these species actually live a couple of years so long as they are well cared for.

Badman's is generally not a bad source, but Killifish are not well known outside of specialist circles. They are not a place I would go for information about these fish. American Killifish Association, British Killifish Association, and many local Killifish groups are out there. If you are seriously interested in Killies, you have to find one of these groups and make contact with experienced breeders.

 

I may be wrong about this, but most schooling or shoaling fish do it as a defense mechanism. in a tank where there are no predators and they feel safe, they will not school even if they do in the wild. There are some ‘true’ schooling fish that will school in a tank environment but I can’t recall them at the moment.

Thanks Cue! That makes a lot of sense. Please, could you let me know if you think of any?

 

The best schooling species I have ever seen is the rummy nose tetra . A fast and constant swimmer that in my opinion needs more than four feet of tank. A school of more than 15 fish is preferable. Many tetra shoal when a predator/ human is looking down on them but nothing I have seen compares to the 70 mm rummy nose tetra. There are at least 3 species sold under that name but it is the common rummy nose I am referring to.