Nothobranchius guentheri Killi

stephanieleah

anyone had these before?

(natalie? i know you had a killi tank...)

are killies usually in species-only tanks?

i know nothing about them so, really, any info appreciated : )

Angel079

Killi I'm here


Guentheri come in different colorations being the golden one, a bluish version and a red one.
Any tank size 5-15g nicely heavily planted will do for them. Ideally a sponge filter and of cause don't miss out on the heat (set to 75-78F)
Best is really with Killi (not just that particular species) that you built the substrate to double as something they can use as a 'nest' for their eggs for that I always used cocnut fibers and peat mix they seem to really like that. Because of that its rather ideal if you have some hardness in your tap water ( anything 5-10 degrees really) because the peat will automatically lower that (so if you already had super soft water and then add the peat you'd be up for a environment that's not good for them). That ideally combined with a pH that's neutral to slightly alkaline.
So in the fully cycled new set up you'd wanna wind up with readings close to pH 7 and GH1 then. And they really need a super good regular maintenance, smallest thing in the tank being 'off' a lil and you'll see that right away on their behavior and also often on the discoloration.


Alternatively you can set up a 'normal' tank as you know it if you have soft water and try trick them with fake nesting places most commonly constructed from 100% cotton. But then you'd still need to find a alternative to stain your water dark - The more you'll make it look like coffee the more brilliant their colors come into play; with just plain water that's what the fish look like- plain.

With them you'll often see they won't touch flakes nor pellet foods, so a verity of frozen foods is a must have in the house with them guys; mine pref Daphnia over anything out there really.

You CAN house them in a community but given the 110% care they need I'd pers never recommend that but rather set them up a tank for just them alone and concentrate in the set up on just THEIR needs. Otherwise really only with small absolutely peaceful fish of their size; nothing that's too active nor aggressive.

You got to keep in mind after all thou Killi are not the type of fish that will life in a tank for some 10-15 yrs like many other fish, they really only have a natural live span of 2-3 yrs.


Did I miss anything for the moment? I donno but yes I say go for them!!!

stephanieleah

Thanks, you rock! I don't have a tank atm that has "neutral" pH. Two are 7.6-7.8 and my other is almost down to 6.0

I can definitely stain the water and all that, and everyone else gets frozen or live food regularly so no problems there.

Would want to breed them, since they are "annuals" (I hate that term, sounds so 'disposable' to me)

The males seem aggressive (they just look wild-eyed)...have you kept more than one male in the tank before?

Angel079

Def do NOT use the 6'er pH tank. Adding peat will drop this below anything you can measure!!!

Dep on the quality peat and the amount used (eg 10g or 20g tank size) you'll do just fine starting out at 7.5'ish. I can not for the life of me find my old 'fish diary' any more since the move but my tap back then was something along the lines of 7.6-7.8 and about 8-9KH (just so you have some comparison values there).

Yes I have usually went for a "mix" of 2F to 3F per 1M so dep on the size tank you wanna set up eg: 6F 2M; 12F 3M and so on.

They're eggs are MUCH easier to handle as for example Cory. They will either use (if offered) the coconut fibers and you just pick the eggs off and use lil plastic containers for them or the "mop" its nothing more then a pure 100% cotton wool put together like your avg house mop looks; just on a way smaller scale lol (And don't ask me why its gotta be 100% cotton, but if it ain't, they don't use it, do not ask me why lol)

stephanieleah

what about tank size? (those params are exactly the params of my 10 gallon i'd like to use).

iamntbatman

Never had this species, but I have kept and bred Aplocheilus lineatus. Very hardy fish although extremely predatory. I'm not sure if the same applies to these killies, though.

Angel079

So yea a 10g will do fine, I'd prob start out with 3-4 gals and 1 guys since you want to breed them anyway.
@Iambatman you'll often see that happening with some Killi spices if the mix of F/M is off (eg. 3F 3M) you can easly aviod that in having more gals in the mix. And then just like many other fish some are naturally more territorial then others

stephanieleah

did you have shrimps or snails with these natalie?

batman, those are some nice looking killies too...

iamntbatman

Natalie, I didn't mean territorial/aggressive, I meant like literally predatory. They stalked my tetras around for weeks before they eventually figured out they were too big to eat. They decimated my Guppy population in short order. They also went nuts for live bugs like crickets.

Angel079

Oh sorry that's why the PM I had missed this thread yesterday yea no hadn't tried shrimp yet; also not sure considering the lowering of the pH with the peat how well they'd do in there (the shrimp that is).

Ok that may well be I donno I had spices tanks set up and the only other fish I ever housed with Killi was my A. Australe with the C. trilineatus as you see in my avatar picture but they never bothered thinking about the Cory's in there.