do you think a semi-heavily planted 10 gallon tank is large enough to hold, about 3 killifish , 1 male 2 female, that grow to about 3 inches max plus a few tankmates ?

i am completely new to killies and i have trouble researching them,

what species do you reccomend?, what about tankmates?, plants?, decor?

I was thinking..

inhabitants:
gardneri killifish ( Aphyosemion gardneri )-1 male, 2 female-
albino corydoras ( corydoras aeneus )-4-
Undecided, maybe 3-6 small fish the killies cant kill -?- ( otos? guppy\livebearers? )

Plants:
Tape grass
Dwarf hairgrass
Java fern
Java moss
Water sprite
Amazon sword
Some other free-floatig plant similiar to java moss, unknown name,

Decor:
A *shelve*
A rock garden sculpture underneath the shelve to keep it up
A piece of bogwood
Another rock garden sculpture

Set-up:
*drop of water* sized black gravel
Heater
10-20 gallon filter, Tetra brand external box filter
hood and light, and fitted covers since killis jump
Thermometer

Maintenance:
20% water change every 5 days
Water quality test before and after every WC
Light on from 7AM to 5-10PM, depends on my schedule
Fertilizer tabs, once every ( undecided dates )
water kept at a nice tempeature of 78 degrees F
6.5-7.2 PH
Fed 7AM and 4PM
Treated to meaty foods once every 5 days, but not fed anything else that day, 4PM
Catfish pellets every 2 days for cories, and otos if i get them,
Need an idea of veggie substanence 5 days after meat treats <If i keep livebearers


So yeah, im completely new to killies, and otos too,

What to feed the killies, and otos if so?
Any reccomendations on species and numbers?
Plant reccomendations?
What if the killies spawn?
What if the cories spawn?
What for tankmates?
How safe would the cories, and other tank-mates be from the killies?
Would 1 male, 1 female killi be a better idea?
Should i make it a 20 gallon instead?, or a 15 or something? *need to know ASAP*
and, is this topic in the right section? because i saw tylers killifish post here and. ya
and so on, and so on.

About all I can tell you is that the otto's, like most algae eating fish, need to be put into an established tank. I have been doing research on them and it seems that one common reason for loosing otto's is the fact that they are put into new tanks with little to no "soft algae" and they starve to death.

A 10 gal tank is plenty big enough for killies. I have 11 species myself. They can into something as small as a plastic shoe box with no problem. I keep 6 in as little as a 5 gal..

One thing I would recommend with killies is to make sure you have a good lid on the tank as they are good at jumping out of it.

I keep my killies with shrimp, cories and otos. but that is only in the tanks for show and not breeding tanks. the eggs from either cories or killies will be eaten by the cories and shrimp. Depending on the type of killie they will either be plant or mop spawners. In any case for the fry to survive you will need lots of plants that are good for hiding in unless you move the eggs . Mop spawners will need the eggs removed and incubated for a certain amount of time. (Do a google on breeding killies)

Some killies will eat flake with no problem. but to keep them in the best condition it is best to give them live or frozen foods.

The gardenis or the australes are a good starting killie. I would recommend a small colony of them in a 10 gal. like 4 males and 6 females and not put any other fish in there except maybe 3 of the smaller cories. and a few algae eating shrimp. Keep the water clean with lots of plants and water changes. Most killies don't need a heater in the tank unless it gets cold in the winter there and the cories can handle the cooler water.

Hope this helps.

Never buy plants from SE Asia...they die. >_>

The best thing for you are a small group of baby SAE...but good luck finding them.

yeah i've kept DHG before and it died right away, Se asian plants r useless, just thought to retry it, best not waste my money., and no heater, no problem, just more money to save, i was wondering about that. Yeah, i was thinking otos for later in time, much later.
Im not technically gonna breed the killies, but if they do spawn, ill probably have a few fry from being planted so no mop or anything is necessary, i like to let my fish spawn and let nature take its course, besides, cant afford fry tanks
Alright cool, thanks alot guys, got alot of helpful info.

inhabitants::

2 male 5 female gardneri killies
4 cories
and algea eating shrimp
and in the future ill add maybe 2 otos.

I decided to cut back on the java fern, as well as obviously the DHG
and i also decided to get rid of the 2nd rock sculpture because theres more room for plants.

This is the tank i plan to set-up after the larger labyrinth, because i have a spare 10 gallon.

Ah jeeze... I missed the boat on this thread. I was reading up on Irwin's death when you guy's were posting.
I have one thing to add to all that great advice. What is your GH and KH? in the tank and your water supply? Killies prefer slightly acidic conditions so you are good there, but they also generally do better with soft water (Most plants and fish do, including Ottos).

i dont have the tank yet so i cant give parameters, and yes, that is why i chose ottos and cories as t-mates, the water conditions.

...Perhaps some peat pellets in the filter and substrate?

...Oh, and you will probably want some "spawning mops" in there. :)

I would also be concerned about the corys and oto's eating the killi's eggs.

cool, ill try the peat pellets,

like i said, my fish spawn all-naturally, maybe in the future if i have space ill breed them, but for now, ill enjoy just keeping them

hmm, now that i think about it... i have a5 gallon bowfront, maybe ill put.. 1 male, 2 females, and maybe 3 cories in it, think that'd be good?, if its planted well of course?

Probably a little much with three corys.

Instead of cories how about some shrimp. You could put about any kink of shrimp in there and will help keep the tank clean.

now that i think of it, i got three empty 10 gallons, i got that 5 gallon, i also got a 1.5 pentagon, I might get a 2 gallon hex from my friend, and my brother might let me use his 2.5 gallon.

So.. if i were to go about breeding them.. yeah?


What about american flag fish ( AFF )? how would they do and what are they're care and breeding habbit?

AFF are an awesome fish, but, i don't think that they would do well in a 10 gallon, but, i havent seen there swimming habbits, seeing as i only had them in my pond.

i want to know since you were talking about the shrinp, do they require aquarium salt, beacuse some one at the LFS i go to said they eed aquarium salt....

:off: lol

thanks.

post some pics when you actually get the tank up and going :)

i might not be able to post some pics as we probably accidently gave the camera to charity.. lol

:banghead:

yeah i thought AFF's might be a bit cramped in a 10.., besides, kinda want to breed some attractive killies, my friend moving his angelfish pair ( which spawn!!! ) from his 20 gal to a 55 gallon, and if i breed killies he wants to dedicate that 20 to killies

on another off topic thing, they're going in my 29 gallon while he rearranges the house, for a week, and they might spawn in my tank, lol,

algea eating shrimp are freshwater, almost positive, and im pretty sure salt might hurt *bugs* of freshwater like them and snails

Well to start off with, yes you can keep a pair of AFF in a 10 gal tank. I keep a breeding pair in one. Swimming habits aren't much for these fish as they usually stay near the center of the tank except when feeding and then will hit the top and bottom. They do like lots of plants though.

Freshwater shrimp don't like salt at all and not really good to put too much in with them. Now Amano fry does require full salt from hatching then acclimated to fresh which is an entirely different story.

still need advise

going to the pet store sunday, gonna see if they have killies, if so, im gonna set-up this tank in about a month- 3 months,