[belltold12]

Years ago, a former boyfriend of my sister had this book shelf filled with little maybe 8-12oz tupperware containers that he was breeding a type of fish in. I want to say they were about 1/2" - 3/4"

I'm trying to remember what type of fish these were. It's been so long I can't remember any of the details about what they were and of course the guy is long since out of the picture.

Anyone have any ideas what these could've been?

 

[SeaHorse]

Probably Bettafish. Those are the ones that people wrongly house in Vases. But each one at some point needs to be housed separately. We have a whole section on Bettafish,... in fact it is a full forum of it's own. Try this link:

Betta Fish and Betta Fish Care

It looks different if you key in the site address. It is a fully functioning website of it's own.

www. bettafish .com (skip the spaces)

Your logonid will work on both sites.

 

[belltold12]

See the one thing I remember is they weren't bettas. They were small, like maybe the biggest one was 3/4" or so. Unless it was a wild betta that stays tiny like that...

I remember he was friends with the owner of an LFS so I'm fairly confident what he was doing was appropriate for the species.

 

[Mikaila31]

They were killis then

 

[moghedan]

The tupperware containers were maybe a little larger than you remember...

Do you recall if they had an airstone in them?


The fry of most fish can be raised in small plastic containers like shoeboxes in great numbers, or smaller leftover sized containers for only a few. The airstones perform double duty as aerators and water change siphons in the larger containers. The smaller ones with very few fry in them can live without them. This is actually common practice.


Some mosquitofish (wild relatives of the guppy), some killifish, and the white cloud mountain minnow can live to adulthood and breed in great numbers in small containers.


Something that is frequently lost is that 50 years ago, a 40 gallon aquarium was considered huge. 20 gallons were luxurious, and 10 gallons were occupied the space that was hold for 55-75 gallon tanks now. 5 and 7 gallon tanks were not micro... they were normal sized.

So, pictures in on old book showing small containers is quite normal.

 

[jaysee]

They were killis then

agreed, most likely choice other than bettas.

 

[dramaqueen]

Yes, bettas CAN be bred in small containers but I wouldn't recommend it to beginners. The fry would have to be moved to a larger growout tank and you wouldn't be able to do that until they are big enough and strong enough to handle it.

 

[belltold12]

I'm fairly certain the containers he had were that small. Of course, whose to say he was in fact doing it appropriately. No air stones just twenty or so tiny containers. Looking at pictures the killifish look about right but the profiles I'm reading online say they get 3-4" so maybe he was just breeding them while they were small and moving them to bigger tanks later.
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[Mikaila31]

3-4" is big for a killi. There are many species but that size is the upper range AFAIK. If he was breeding them as you say they were likely annual killis, which are not terribly common unless you run through a breeder. I don't know a ton about them other then how they are typically kept and when I go to fish shows there is a whole area for killis setup like you described. 4-6 cup critter keepers x 36 or so is the killi area. No air. Very very pretty tiny fish. Natural life span is a year for the 'annual' species there are some non-annual species that are typically the larger more common species. There is nothing wrong with keeping the annual species the way you mentioned as long as care is up to par. They are interesting fish. Annuals live a year because they are native to temporary lakes or puddles, which dry up every year and the adults die. Eggs need to be removed from the water for a certain time length to imitate this dry period or they will never hatch. It also makes them easily tradeable in the hobby. If your looking to start with annual killis start looking at those selling eggs as thats how its typically done.

 

[jaysee]

3-4 is normal for a golden wonder killi. The annuals are smaller.

 

[jimscott]

Yes, bettas CAN be bred in small containers but I wouldn't recommend it to beginners. The fry would have to be moved to a larger growout tank and you wouldn't be able to do that until they are big enough and strong enough to handle it.

I once bred a pair of bettas in a 5 1/2 gallon tank that was really intended for propagating Water Sprite. For months I thought there was nothing alive in there anymore, other than the plants. Then I saw some movement. It was a short-finned, blue male betta that survived with total unintentional neglect.