Killies in Big Tanks

[RuevenM at aol_com]

Hi Steve,

      Welcome back to killies. Funny, but I breed fancy swords too. I have 
been working with a line of red and neon hi fins for about 4 years. They 
started off from a great hi fin lyretail brick female I picked up but I let 
the lyretail side go. I have now a hi fin strain producing a percentage of 
3-4 inch body size males with large wide dorsals. Recently, I have 
reintroduced the lyretail side of the strain plus an unrelated redwag 
lyretail strain. I will be focusing on producing hi fin lyretail redwags. 
Although, yesterday, I picked up a female of a new strain -- a red eyed red 
"guppy tail" sword. It's a veil tail strain with lyretail tips on the veil, 
very nice. I will see what it does. 
      With killies I use large Lustar box filters with a bit of floss on the 
bottom and then filled either with small gravel or Eheim Efisubstract 
bio-filter medium for a bacteria colony. I use one or two to a 30 gallon 
tank. I use the Hagen brand peat fibers on the bottom for hiding places and 
water conditioning when not breeding the fish and I use Premeir brand 
Canadian Spagnum Peat in the breeding containers when breeding. I buy a 
bushel at the nursery. Make sure it says 100% spagnum peat. You DO NOT want 
any additives for mold prevention or fertilizers in the peat. I work with 
annuals pretty much 100% so the tanks have plants and containers of peat 
which I regularly collect and store. Needless to say these are not like the 
tanks of plant spawners that people keep as permanent set-ups full of plants 
where the eggs hatch and fry grow up with the parents. These are just larger 
tanks with breeding colonies. I think we have made a tragic error in killie 
keeping by making small tanks with pairs or trios the status quo approach. I 
think it might explain why we loose species or have genetic problems -- not 
to mention health problems. I think it is an approach that runs counter to 
the natural behavior/relationships of killies and; furthermore, is one reason 
they are rather unpopular. Since I started with colonies, the behavior I see 
now makes it all worthwhile.
     I would avoid power filters with most killies.

Robert E.
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