# Anyone kept Clown Killies/Pseudoepiplatys annulats/Rocket killies in their NPT?



## yum (Feb 11, 2008)

These guys are an absolute beauty.

Here are a links for pics and info: http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/fish/clownkillifish.php

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/images/Freshwater/pseudepiplatys_annulatus_1.jpg
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/images/Freshwater/pseudepiplatys_annulatus_2.jpg

They seem perfectly suited for the NPT. I was able to pick up a few from a killifish club meeting but I don't think the one female I got survived. It's hard to tell since they are so shy. I almost never see them which is a shame! Take one look at the pics and you'll know why. I hope they become less shy as they adapt. They have been in there for about a week now and are readily taking flake food and their color is coming back from the shock of being bagged. They may be slightly anxious from the active swimming of my guppies. And to think I was actually worried they'd eat my cherry shrimps; I watched one of the killies get scared by a free swimming shrimp fry this morning during feeding! LOL! These have to be the absolute calmest fish I have ever had.

They're in my 20 gallon, heavily planted tank; got plenty of floating plants and duckweed to keep them calm and they seem to not like flow. They are hiding the opposite corner from my eheim which I put in just to get some water circulation. No filter; just shy of 2 watts per gallon.

I've never seen them in a store and I can only hope they have another killie show and I can get a few more and start them spawning.

Anyone have experience with these guys? Chime in please.


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## Forgotten Path (Apr 3, 2009)

Wow, those are beautiful fish... Wish I had a few (setting up a new tank)... How much $$ did you have to fork out for those?


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## yum (Feb 11, 2008)

Forgotten Path said:


> Wow, those are beautiful fish... Wish I had a few (setting up a new tank)... How much $$ did you have to fork out for those?


They were $4 each and I got 4: 3 males and a female. As far as I can tell, the females are still very colorful but don't have the dramatically long tail.

I wasn't able to find any LFS that carried anything beyond gardnieri killies and they were asking something like $20 per fish I think.

I had to attend a killifish show to buy these guys and have to try and contact the members to see if I can get some more.

If you do try them, I'd say that if you have a lip or rim on the tank, you probably won't see them too much if you fill the tank up. As I mentioned, they sit right up on the top of the tank. I've never seen a top dweller literally a millimeter from the surface at all times. One of the killi guys told me that they live in the shallows and avoid deep water for fear of predators. They have this neat organ on top of their heads that senses light. It looks like a really shiny patch, almost like a mirror. They normally eat insects on the water's surface and detects shadows of predators from above. Movement from their sides or underneath doesn't seem to trigger them at all. I had a really easy time netting them from my acclimating bucket, as they didn't seem to notice my net from below them. But if I make any passes over their heads when feeding them, they shoot off.

Which I can comment on their swimming behavior. They seem to like to sit very still for long periods of time and do not swim actively around the tank. I think this is two-fold to lie in wait to ambush insects and also to not attract predators. They seem to liven up a bit at feeding time and swim around a little to chase down flakes but are totally outmatched by the ravenous guppies. It's a good thing I have an NPT setup and can feed liberally, right? 

I'd say that you may have some luck buying eggs on aquabid but better off trying to find a killifish club. From what I saw at the show, Killies are just gorgeous fish that have some unrivaled colors for the freshwater hobby. The only downside I can think of is that they are not long lived fish.


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## Forgotten Path (Apr 3, 2009)

Wow, thought they would be a lot more than that. Of course they probably would be at a LFS. I have always liked killifish. I'm considering both killies and rainbows for my 46 gal. Thanks for all the info!


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## jaidexl (Jan 20, 2007)

I love clown killis, never kept them though. I wanted something larger for my 110X and just got a $12 pair of Blue Gularis. [smilie=u:

I wanted at least a small group, but they might be too hostile to have more than a few males together. I'm trying to decide whether to have one or two male blues along with a group of Peruvian angels, or if I want a bigger school maybe hunt down the clowns and keep the blue's in some smaller tanks. The angles would obviously fill the space of a tall tank better than a bunch of clowns dwelling up high, seems the blues tend to roam around and wallow on the sub.

If you youtube clown killi, there's a tank with a large group and two males squaring up, really cool and not so shy like you expect.

In the future you'll want to get more females to males, to avoid over courting from too many males. For larger killis you may have to keep them separated except for breeding, even for smaller ones it gives you the opportunity to fill a PT with more color.


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## jaidexl (Jan 20, 2007)

Here it is, this is awesome


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## yum (Feb 11, 2008)

Thanks! Here is some good and bad news for my tank.

The killies have started to settle in and are eating; they're still no match for the ravenous guppies but at least they're finally eating. They are also starting to swim around a lot more; I saw the female and one of the males swimming on all levels. The male was putting on a spectacular display for the female. I hope this is a sign that they are pairing up for mating! The 2 other males have slunk off together to the other side of the tank.

The bad news: I just noticed that my heater is broken and the temp is down to 68 degrees. I have no idea how long it's been like this but it's possibly a week or longer. This is a testament to how tough killies, guppies and cherry shrimp are. They don't seem to notice or care. LOL.

I took the heater out and gave it a couple whacks, per the fish store guy, and it started heating up again! Weird. It's a stealth heater so if it's really broken they said they'd take it back.

In the process of messing with the heater, I knocked the koralia off it's mount and it fell to the bottom of the tank and blew a nice giant hole down through the substrate and now my tank is a cloudy mess.

Anyways, I hope to get more killies in the tank the next chance I get. Thanks for the input.


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## jaidexl (Jan 20, 2007)

Can't confirm, but I read somewhere that killis are not as susceptible to temp changes. It was in a breeder's acclimation guide, advising not to waste time floating bags.


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## declevis (Nov 26, 2007)

I kept them "natural" in a 200 gallon tub outside. They did great over the summer and I got lots of little ones. They were tougher inside as some didn't like prepared foods etc. but after they settled down and ate normally they were great.


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## declevis (Nov 26, 2007)

By the way, check out the AKA website for more of these. Someone usually has some.


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## OldMan (Sep 22, 2007)

Forgotten Path, you need to join your local fish club. They will not provide the instant gratification in terms of information that you can get on line but they are a great place to find committed hobbyists who have learned many of their lessons the hard way. They are also an excellent source of fish or plants that you may have heard of but have never seen before. I have been bringing goodeids into my tank stockings simply by staying alert to what is available in my club. 
Another great thing about clubs is the periodic fund raiser auctions they hold. All of the clubs seem to also be a place to connect with other clubs and enjoy their auctions too. This past weekend, I brought home 3 new to me types of goodeids and a very nice looking fish called Brachyrhaphis roseni from the ALA annual convention. The Brachyrhaphis roseni has no consistent common name, even though it said Brachy Cardinal on the label, because it is just not available in a local fish store ever. They are not as colorful as some of the killies but are a very attractive fish in their own right. 
Another benefit of a club is that it is a place you can deal with your breeding results. You can be one of the people offering fish at that club auction and get more for the fish than a trivial portion of fish food in exchange. The clubs often take a large cut of the proceeds, it is a fund raiser, but the prices that truly nice fish bring can be impressive. In this case I was a seller of some Xenotaenia resolanae, leopard goodeids, and some Xentoca eiseni, redtailed goodeids which are also never seen in stores. The resolanae brought almost $20 a pair but there was a glut of the eiseni so they got me just enough cash to pay their food bill until the next batch are ready.


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## yum (Feb 11, 2008)

UPDATE: got a new heater and the temp is about 78 degrees. Their color and activity levels (no shocker) bumped right up. They are still having a hard time fighting for food against my ever growing horde of guppies but they're eating. They seem to hang out at the top/back corner of the tank a lot but one day I noticed them swimming all over the tank, from top to bottom, even inspecting the gravel. I wonder if this is more of a midday activity. No spawning yet that I can tell, but then again my tank is quickly become the over grown mess once again. This is probably a part of the reason why the fish all seem to congregate around the small patches of open water.


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