breeding golden wonder killifish help??!!

[fishfanatic17]

so i have a 20 gallon community tank that includes my three golden wonder killifish i have two males and one female. as well as the community tank, i have a 10 gallon tank that im going to turn into a breeding tank. i got bored of breeding guppies since it was to easy and wanted a unique fish to breed and thought of a killi. so here are my questions:
1.i have a somewhat small female, so should i get another female that is larger?
2.one of the males has been chasing the female around every now and then and half of the time he is next to her side. is this a sign of breeding?
3. can the female lay eggs anytime or does she need to become like pregnant first and then lay eggs
4. does the female contain eggs all the time and i was looking at some pics on another site and she was fat, like a guppy is when she is gonna spawn. this is like question 3 but does this mean she is full of eggs? and when they are skinny she isnt full of eggs?
*thanks for your time and help*

 

[Cichlidgirl91]

Heh. Small world. I've been wanting to try breeding them too, so I just got 6 of them a week or two ago. Turns out, I've got 5 males and only 1 female.
I think the best thing to do is fatten them up - feed them good foods (live is the best, frozen is the next best).
Other than that, the only advise I can give you is to google "breeding aplocheilus lineatus".
Good luck and let us know how it goes!!!

 

[Cichlidgirl91]

Heh. Small world. I've been wanting to try breeding them too, so I just got 6 of them a week or two ago. Turns out, I've got 5 males and only 1 female.:headshake2:
I think the best thing to do is fatten them up - feed them good foods (live is the best, frozen is the next best).
Other than that, the only advise I can give you is to google "breeding aplocheilus lineatus".
Good luck and let us know how it goes!!!

 

[platytudes]

I know this site is very '90s in its design, but actually it has all the info you need for breeding golden wonder killies:
http://www.geocities.ws/mexfishweb/page.html

 

[digitalphrage]

With two males, they might pester the female a bit too much. As with most killies, you ideally want 1 male to 2 females.

The chasing? Well, the males wants to make babies. Hard to say if the female is ready, though. The time will definitely come, they are quite prolific breeders, probably about as easy as the guppies.

Once the female is sexually mature, she will remain gravid throughout her lifetime so long as she'll in good health and well fed. If you keep the killies properly fed, then the female really won't get skinny. She's going to get fat, and if you keep her healthy she's going to stay fat. And yes, some of the girth will be eggs.

The pair(s) will lay eggs sporadically, but almost constantly. As in, anywhere from a few to a dozen (maybe more) per day. You'll see them wriggling in the plants or on the substrate. The dance induces the female to drop an egg or two, which the male will then fertilize.

Honestly, if your water conditions are good (and these fish aren't picky) and you feed them with a variety of foods (hopefully some live foods) then you won't have any breeding problems. Just make sure there are plants in the tank and it'll happen. The hardest part is going to be removing the eggs promptly. You can google spawning mops, and this will help. Or you can keep cycling in a steady supply of new plants (like java moss or water sprite) for them to lay on. You'll need to remove the eggs before they hatch if you plan to rear the fry. I never noticed the adults eating the eggs, but these fish are voracious feeders and will devour each and every fry in your tank. And you'd be surprised at the size of the fry an adult can eat. I definitely made the mistake one time of returning some young GWs to the same tank as their parents -- the babies didn't last long.

Also, you definitely need to watch the stocking of the tank. Golden Wonders are one of the larger killies commonly kept in aquariums and that 20 gallon tank will be over stocked very rapidly. It's probably fine for 3-4, but I wouldn't push it too much. Also, since they stay at the top of the tank most of the time, they'll rapidly crowd out that portion of the tank.

They really are great fish though. They are long lived for killies (I had some live for over 4 years) and they're really colorful.