Hardiness of Clown Killifish - Pseudepiplatys annulatus

[Kadina]

In searching for a good top dweller for my tank the clown killifish was brought to my attention. I asked about them at my lfs and was told that they are extremely difficult to keep and even the smallest variation in water quality will kill them. Is that accurate? Searching the internet has given me conflicting reports on these little fish as well.

[demosthenes]

what i have found with my clowns is that they are pretty forgiving about water parameters as long as it stays consistent. the stuff on the internet about needing zero hardness and really low Ph hasn't held up. mine breed consistently in hard, neutral Ph water. just be sure to keep it clean and stable, and as always drip acclimate them (maybe even a little slower than normal).

they can be pretty picky about food, but i was able to train mine to eat flakes. they do seem much, much more excited when given live food though, so i would recommend mixing it in sometimes. daphnia particularly were a big hit. i also give mine frozen foods to add some variety and meat to their diet. the biggest thing about food is that whatever you give them needs to float. they don't gorge themselves like tetras do, and need the food to stay on the top long enough for them to pick their way through it.

another tip: they need some sort of floating plant to feel secure and for breeding success. i've found that without floating plants none of the fry survive long.

the term "hardiness" is pretty subjective. these fish do seem a bit more delicate than your average tetra or danio, but really all they require is smart fish keeping.

[Jacko]

They're great fish but one of the major problems people have with them is that they aren't the best community type fish. Faster moving fish stress them supposedly, I haven't seen this with mine so far but I've only had them a week. They're eating flake and frozen brine shrimp (very carefully fed by me, have to time it just right or the other fish get it first). They don't seem too picky but they do prefer the floating plants (duckweed and salvinia).

Mine are in fairly neutral water, 6.8 and moderate hardness. My main problem with them is that they are NOT morning fish. I can search for over 10 minutes after turning on the light and not see them, give them half an hour to wake up and they're all over the plants.

Be careful what fish you keep with them, since most of the ones I've seen are sold at only 1/2 an inch and since they're so thin they could make a snack for alot of community fish.