# Buying fish eggs online?



## rmc (Dec 6, 2005)

Those type of killifish eggs need to incubate in moderately moist peat moss for approx. 120 days so the chances are good that they would survive.


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## fishscale (May 29, 2007)

I'd try Aquabid first to see if you can get a closer supplier, but killies do have eggs you can actually ship.


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## Raimeiken (May 20, 2004)

that's awesome, i never knew that! I think I'll try them out. Does anyone have any experience keeping these?


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## spdskr (Nov 14, 2005)

Killifish eggs can be shipped and still hatch. As the other poster mentioned, the eggs of some species require a dormant period of several months. I have had more success with purchasing eggs from the USA, and the most success with eggs that are ready to hatch. If you do not have experience with raising egg layer fry, or more importantly annual killifish please start with the AKA website: http://www.aka.org/aka/modules/content/?id=2 You may also want to check out aquabid as noted above for local sources of fish or eggs. Best of luck.


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

Wow, I never knew Killies looked so cool. I might have to grab some eggs myself.


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## Raimeiken (May 20, 2004)

epicfish said:


> Wow, I never knew Killies looked so cool. I might have to grab some eggs myself.


i know! i cant even pick which species i want to keep! there's so many cool ones. 

I want to know which ones do well in groups, are easy to feed with regular fish flakes (i've read that most of them eat only live food but can be trained to eat dry food) and also which one's are non annuals. 

When they're considered annuals, does that mean that they die quickly or is that just in the wild because of the dry season?


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

Raimeiken said:


> i know! i cant even pick which species i want to keep! there's so many cool ones.
> 
> I want to know which ones do well in groups, are easy to feed with regular fish flakes (i've read that most of them eat only live food but can be trained to eat dry food) and also which one's are non annuals.
> 
> When they're considered annuals, does that mean that they die quickly or is that just in the wild because of the dry season?



Doing a little reading myself: http://www.aka.org/aka/modules/content/index.php?id=7


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## spdskr (Nov 14, 2005)

Annual killifish will only live 6-12 months even with ideal care. The few individuals that do last longer are far from their prime. Many species of killies are non-annuals and will live for two or more years, but very few do well housed in groups unless the tank is thickly planted as the males and sometimes females can be quite aggressive. As far as feeding is concerned, my fish have always preferred live or frozen foods. While you may be able to train some individuals to eat flakes or pellets, the majority of species will require more natural food items. Once again, I suggest consulting the AKA website or any others out there that have detailed information about killies.


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

Just read all I could. Time to get some eggs.


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## fshfanatic (Apr 20, 2006)

Killies are predators, keep that in mind. I kept them for years and they love to ambush small tetras, etc. They love to hammer juvenile crickets! Fun fish. Highly recommend.


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

Whoa, time to get some eggs AND crickets!

They'll be going in a dedicated tank for them. Something to watch while I get bored!


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## fshfanatic (Apr 20, 2006)

I think I am going to get some more Killies as well. I miss mine.


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

Eggs? Or fish that have already hatched? Do you have a good source on them?


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## fshfanatic (Apr 20, 2006)

Actual fish.. I worked for a LFS here for over a yr before leaving and it specialized ig getting rare and specialty fish.. When and since I worked there they generally have at least a couple different species of Killi.


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

Oh interesting...hm. I'd rather get live ones but the LFS here don't have them.


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## Raimeiken (May 20, 2004)

which species are non-annuals? i dont want my fish dieing after a few months


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## Raimeiken (May 20, 2004)

epicfish said:


> Oh interesting...hm. I'd rather get live ones but the LFS here don't have them.


yeah but they're way more expensive


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

Raimeiken said:


> yeah but they're way more expensive


Have you read reviews on buying eggs from overseas? Seems like 2/3 vendors are junk sellers that ship you peat without eggs. And at $2 a vial plus $8 shipping...I'd rather spend $15 for a live fish while supporting a local business.


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## Raimeiken (May 20, 2004)

epicfish said:


> Have you read reviews on buying eggs from overseas? Seems like 2/3 vendors are junk sellers that ship you peat without eggs. And at $2 a vial plus $8 shipping...I'd rather spend $15 for a live fish while supporting a local business.


im not buying overseas though. there's some sellers here in the US too, just look around


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## Cloudy View (Oct 23, 2007)

fshfanatic said:


> Actual fish.. I worked for a LFS here for over a yr before leaving and it specialized ig getting rare and specialty fish.. When and since I worked there they generally have at least a couple different species of Killi.


Hehe, I love Pets Inc. Need to get some more Sidthimunki's from them myself 

Killi's are cool looking fish, I've not really looked into them for my own tank though.


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## lookimawave (Feb 23, 2012)

I just saw a kit for this on the internet and really couldn't help myself! Mind blown...fish fry hatch out of a teabag O_O

I have an empty 22g that i was going to fill w/ a tropical community, but now it looks like it's going to be baby killifish mansion. How soon after hatching can I move them into the big tank? 

If I have some floating java moss, do you think it's safe to put some neons in the tank first as starter fish? Once the killifish get bigger, what do you think will work for tank mates? I initially wanted a beta sorority, will that still work? Dwarf Gourami? Livebearers? Minnows?

I'm going to be so sad if I get the kit and nothing hatches, maybe I just shouldn't think about it until then 

Lili


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## Fluvledgend (Mar 28, 2012)

Did the kit work?


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## lookimawave (Feb 23, 2012)

Fluvledgend said:


> Did the kit work?


Heh...i dont have it yet... >_>... i thought i paid but i hadnt... But ill post an update!


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## lookimawave (Feb 23, 2012)

Fluvledgend said:


> Did the kit work?


So my killie eggs arrived! I got some brineshrimp eggs and a container with peat and, upon close inspection, a few killie fish eggs. I'm supposed to have 50, though i doubt i got half that number...

I waited a couple days past the hatch date just to be safe and hatched the brine shrimp a day in advance. Then put a coffee filter in a cup and filled it w/ tank water. Next day when i came back from work i had 3 baby fry! Thats not even in the ballpark of 50 but ok ill try again in a couple weeks. Im pretty happy about the 3! I pipetted the babies into a smaller container and put a plant and some brine shrimp in. The babies are ridiculously bad at hunting  ...a few hrs later i stired up the peet a bit...and got a 4th fry! Yay yay! 

2 days later this 4th fry isnt doing so hot  apparently ive got whats known as a belly slider... Maybe this happened bc i took this guy out of the hatching vessel before it could fill its swim bladder? Maybe the peat helps them do this? I read that rooibos tea might help...so vanilla rooibos tea might help? Or opposite of help? I brewed myself some tea first which hopefully got rid of the vanilla. Ill see when i get home!

What i cant seem to find is whether this belly sliding condition is lethal. How worried should i be? Should i just leave the little guy alone?


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## yellowsno (May 15, 2011)

fshfanatic said:


> Actual fish.. I worked for a LFS here for over a yr before leaving and it specialized ig getting rare and specialty fish.. When and since I worked there they generally have at least a couple different species of Killi.





lookimawave said:


> So my killie eggs arrived! I got some brineshrimp eggs and a container with peat and, upon close inspection, a few killie fish eggs. I'm supposed to have 50, though i doubt i got half that number...
> 
> I waited a couple days past the hatch date just to be safe and hatched the brine shrimp a day in advance. Then put a coffee filter in a cup and filled it w/ tank water. Next day when i came back from work i had 3 baby fry! Thats not even in the ballpark of 50 but ok ill try again in a couple weeks. Im pretty happy about the 3! I pipetted the babies into a smaller container and put a plant and some brine shrimp in. The babies are ridiculously bad at hunting  ...a few hrs later i stired up the peet a bit...and got a 4th fry! Yay yay!
> 
> ...


Depending on what type of killifish u have less is more meaning don't move them around to much u can keep them in the same peat container for 2 weeks feed them live small foods... Some good information I got was from Doing a google search for "introduction to killifish" there are 6 different articles on how to raise killifish from eggs to fry to mating and back to storing eggs


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## ykh (Jul 21, 2006)

The belly slider fish will stay as belly slider for the rest of his/her life. I think until today, no scientific findings have yet to find out what's causing belly sliders, if there's one, I haven't seen it yet.

Don't throw away the peat. There might be still eggs in there. You might want to "dry" the peat for a week or two and rewet it, if the eggs were collected at different time, the fry will hatch at different time.


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## yellowsno (May 15, 2011)

ykh said:


> The belly slider fish will stay as belly slider for the rest of his/her life. I think until today, no scientific findings have yet to find out what's causing belly sliders, if there's one, I haven't seen it yet.
> 
> Don't throw away the peat. There might be still eggs in there. You might want to "dry" the peat for a week or two and rewet it, if the eggs were collected at different time, the fry will hatch at different time.


Agreed u don't think u see 50 eggs but sometimes it might surprise u... I bought some fundloplax Lagos eggs the seller said 15... I hatched the first set on the day I was suppose to... Waited a week the. Poured the peat into coffee filter.. (make sure the coffee filter doesn't have eggs) then stored again for another week and more fries hatched I think I ended up with 18 total.. But just so u know the hatch rates for some is low.... I have some notho reds 30 eggs that I haven't hatched yet but they said expect hatches to be about 60 percent...


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## lookimawave (Feb 23, 2012)

ykh said:


> The belly slider fish will stay as belly slider for the rest of his/her life. I think until today, no scientific findings have yet to find out what's causing belly sliders, if there's one, I haven't seen it yet.
> 
> Don't throw away the peat. There might be still eggs in there. You might want to "dry" the peat for a week or two and rewet it, if the eggs were collected at different time, the fry will hatch at different time.


Aww  that's sad... So its gonna be like a cripple? Will it have a shorter lifespan? How long should i leave the peat in the hatching vessel? I read 24 hourrs but can i leave it in longer without damaging the remaining eggs?


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## lookimawave (Feb 23, 2012)

yellowsno said:


> Agreed u don't think u see 50 eggs but sometimes it might surprise u... I bought some fundloplax Lagos eggs the seller said 15... I hatched the first set on the day I was suppose to... Waited a week the. Poured the peat into coffee filter.. (make sure the coffee filter doesn't have eggs) then stored again for another week and more fries hatched I think I ended up with 18 total.. But just so u know the hatch rates for some is low.... I have some notho reds 30 eggs that I haven't hatched yet but they said expect hatches to be about 60 percent...


I've got mixed nothos. Even with 60% hatch rate, 4 out of 50 seems low dont you think? Which vendor did you buy from? Mine are from bestplumeria on [Ebay Link Removed] Do u have any experience w them?


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## yellowsno (May 15, 2011)

not at all... but because they are nothos they might need more then 1 wet periods... again google "introduction to killifish" and start reading as those will help you out... also im no killifish expert... but mixing different strains is frowned upon and may produce more sterile eggs... so if the person u bought from is mixing killies... u might end up with alot less then you hoped for ...


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## lookimawave (Feb 23, 2012)

The little guy i put in the rooibos seems about the same. I read about it here http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum/showthread.php/50297-can-we-prevent-belly-sliding ...anyway, I'm thinking, should I just flush the little guy? In nature he would prob end up as food, or starve


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## lookimawave (Feb 23, 2012)

Just wanted to update about the killies. I complained about my low hatch rate to the guy i got them from on ebay and he sent me another set for free! This time I got 15 to hatch


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## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Do you have any pics? I would love to see them! I think Killies are sooo awesome, but I have never had the guts to try them! BUT I now have a few "extra" tanks, so now might be the time to try!!!  

Thanks,
Drew


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