Breeding Fundulopanchax Fallar CI-98

[koaladarshana]

I have a question regarding breeding killies. I've currently two (I could not buy a trio) in a heavily planted 10 gallon tank where the only filtration is a 20 gallon sponge filter. I'm trying to get my pair to spawn by feeding varied frozen foods and changing 50% of the water every day. I'm in no rush to breed them, however, as I'm currently enjoying just caring for these little guys. The question I have in mind is am I *caring* for this pair appropriately? It is, after all, my first time trying to get fish babies...

Thanks!

EDIT: I'm trying to breed Fundulopanchax gardneri innidere NOT Fundulopanchax fallar ci-98... I got confused with the names as they are, well, confusing! I just double checked my Aquabid receipt and they are in fact Fundulopanchax gardneri innidere.

[ScottiePippen]

I have not bred this exact species, but i have bred a bunch of other mop spawning killies, and here is my two cents. i do a 20% water change once a week in my killie tanks. The fry are really tiny, so i wouldnt gravel vac the tank when you are doing a water change, or really inspect the water closely before you dump it. When you see your first fry you will see what i mean. I usually pull the water from near the surface, then i use a turkey baster to get all the dirty spots at the bottom of the tank. Even when being careful like this i still inspect the water closely before i dump it, its nothing to wind up with half a dozen fry in the water change bucket.

My first mop spawning killie was Aphyosemion Pyrophore Komono, and for three months i thought i was doing something wrong because i wasnt getting any fry. Then one night i thought i saw something move in my water change bucket, and when i took a flashlight and looked very closely there were 3 fry in the bucket. I quit using the gravel vac, and had tons of fry in no time. I still feel sad for the countless fry that i must have dumped out back with the waste water, so hopefully you can learn from my rookie mistake.

[koaladarshana]

Great advice, thank you! I see your logic with not gravel vac-ing and I'm going to take your advice. I feel now like my water changing might be a bit excessive though... I'll just monitor my nitrates and change water accordingly instead of just daily.

[ScottiePippen]

Yea, if you keep an eye on how your water is testing and do changes accordingly you should be good. You may need to do more changes than i do because I only feed my killies live food, so that helps keep my water clean. Just a warning, killies can be addicting. Let me know if you catch the killie bug like i did, i'd be happy to share some of the other little tricks that have worked for me.