Breeding of Non-annual and Semi-annual Killies

Breeding of Non-annual and Semi-annual Killies

The fish which belongs to Non-annual group of Killies live in the nature in the waters that do not dry up during whole year. They eggs have continual development without diapause. There are a few breeding methods but I will describe the method I use. This method is appropriate for breeding of semi-annual fish, too.

I use ten litter tank filed with soft water. The layer of boiled peat covers the bottom. Sometimes I use Jawa moss but I usually put some artificial mop. Many of non-annual Killies deposit their eggs into the plants and it provides the shelter for females, too. The usual spawning group consists one male and 3-4 females. If larger breeding group is used, the larger tank is necessary. Though the filtration is not necessary I prefer to use it in every setup. The fish are left to breed from 7 to 14 days. After that period they are removed from breeding tank.

The eggs could be incubated in water though I prefer dry incubation. The procedure of peat drying is simple. I inspect the spawning mop, the remove the eggs and put these back in the tank. Then I pour the water and peat through the fish net. I do not dry the peat with non-annual eggs too much, I just squeeze it lightly. Then I store it in plastic bag for the next 15 days. Sometimes I left the eggs to incubate in the water. For breeding of semi-annual fish the dry incubation is usually longer, and it depends on particular species.

In my opinion the drying method has a few benefits that the water incubation method does not have. The first is that the fry hatch at the same time and there are not difference in their size which is very important in some species that tend to be cannibals. There are not the premature birth in fry which is not unusual with some species. The most important benefit is that the eggs are less prone to become fungused, compared with water incubation method.

After period of incubation the peat with eggs is introduced in the raising tank with soft water. If everything is OK after a few hours the most of the fry hatch. Most of killifish fry accept the newly hatched Artemia as the first food. However, if the fry is to small it is necessary to feed them with infusoria.

Raising of fry in soft and slightly acid water results usually with good sex ratio. If bred and raised in hard and alkaline water the most of the fry tend to become females. Such manipulation with sex ratio is possible with most of non-annual species I have bred so far

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