Rachow's Nothobranch (Killifish)

Hello everyone,

Feel quite werid posting something in here. Today I went out on a search for some more female betta's, managed to find & buy 3 DT females, however I also treated myself to something new!

I bought a pair of Killifish (Rachow's Nothobranch), i believe is there type.

Have NO idea what im doing with them, but its all part of the fun, they've been set up in a 20litre, on there own as the pair.
The male is gorgeous!

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.....that's not him, but is what he looks like.

Will post some official pictures later. I'm hoping in the future to breed, but have read its quite a random method of doing it.

I can't wait to see the real photos of them. They look STUNNING!

They are beautiful, just been researching what to feed them. The guy in the shop said most live foods & even flakes.
But im seeking help from professional info & people, learnt not to trust lfs staff now!
Fed some frozen mosquito larve, the female loved it, but the male is so excited he swimming around up & down at the back he hasn't noticed any food yet.
Pictures coming in abit.

They will take flake but its best to give them frozen and live aswell. I would try and get another female if you can as males tend to harass females. They do best in soft acidic water but will adapt. Breeding is a bit tricky and it will be better explained on wedsites than i can.
This might help
Nothobranchius rachovi is a true annual killifish species.
Not recommended for the community tank, Needs copious amounts of livefood as they dont accept dry or frozen food too well.
Best of in a small species tank. Life expectancy (if given the proper aquarium conditions) is around 14months.
Here follows a little about their breeding habits.
Nothobranchius rachovi Beira 98
Beautiful fish and I have kept them for many years.
Firstly You dont need a big tank to keep these. It all can be done in a smaller aquarium.
I use small 12x8x8 aquariums for spawning. They are not too fussy about water statistics, at least not like some aphyosemions and rivulus species.
Your normal tap water will be fine. Fill a 2 gallon bucket and place some Peat moss (not sphagnum moss) in a net bag (leg of a ladies nylon will suffice) and place this in the bucket. Keep running off about 1gallon per day and replace with fresh. do this for a week. After this time has passed the water you have is the water you will be using for the breeding tank. It should still have a slightly brown tinge from the peat.
Fill the 12x8x8 tank with this water and heat it using the heater stat to around 25'f
I like to include a small air driven sponge filter set to a trickle.
Remember the peat you used in the bucket, well bring this indoors and microwave it for around 30 seconds. This is now steralised and is ready for use. Place the peat in a jam-jar and lower this into your tank. If done correctly most of the peat will stay within the jar.
I like to use a trio (1 male to 2 females) for spawning. The breeders must be feed livefoods inorder to bring them into spawning condition (please note N. rachovi turns their noses up at dry and frozen foods) Collect the eggs once a week by lifting out the jar and emptying the peat into a net, now squeeze all the water out until what you have left looks like the consisty of pipe tobacco (not too damp and not too dry. Bag this peat and label with the date collected and the expected hatching date.
For Rachovi it should be around 25'C and the peat can be wetted after 6 months. Use 1lb white ice-cream tubs to wet the peat floated in the main tank, cover the peat with around 1" of water and wait. The fry will hatch and are very very small and will need infusorians for the first few days. Transfer the fry to another clean tub to feed. After a couple of days redry the peat and store for another month then rewet. You may find that you get a larger hatch from the second wetting.
Feed the fry little and often. The fry should not have to go hunting for food it should be in abundance an right under their noses (newly hatches brineshrimp and microworms) Keep your fry tubs clean (use a syringe with some airline attached to remove uneaten food. Perform small water changes each day as you remove uneaten food. Gradually increase the water level in the fry tubs. They should sex out in around 3 weeks and will become sexualy mature shortly after that. Male are quite aggressive with each other so keep the females seperate for one and make sure you have them males graded by size as the smaller ones will get bullied.
I think I've covered most of the info I have on these, if I have failed to provide all the information you require or have other questions then just ask away.

Thanks for that!!!

I'm so excited learning about a whole new species of fish, all i've kept is Bettas but this is VERY different for me!
They were only selling them as pairs, so will see how it goes. Hopefully she won't be too harassed. I've put loads of plants in so she can hide.

Here they are....excuse the blurry pics, they are fast little nippers!!
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Very nice. I was thinking about getting a pair for my 30G. I need something to take the food from the surface because the tetra just leave it till it drops so it goes a little funny. If you dont mind me asking how much where the pair there £12 for a pair at my lfs.

i got these for just under £10

so do you have any idea what types of food i could feed as a weekly diet?

this evening they've had some mosquito larve.

can all males and females live together?

Thats a good price. I have some steel blue killis and they get flake and tetra prima that i ment for the cichlids 3 days a week then freeze dried brine shrimp one a week and frozen or live twice a week and peas once a week. so normally something like
Mon - live or frozen
tue - flake and prima
wed - freeze dried
thur - flake and prima
fri - live or frozen
sat - flake and prima
sun - peas

but you wouldnt need the prima thats for my apisto but they nick it.

I wouldnt keep more than 1 male in a 20l its best to keep 1 male to a few females.

what do u mean freeze dried?

Its live foods like blood worm and brine shrimp that have been freeze dried.
like this
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and this

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ok im gonna order some off eBay.

Would you feed them twice a day....or once?

...sorry for so many questions.

I just feed them ones a day but you could split it up into 2 smaller feeds both should be fine.

oh wow they are beautiful

I love them. Can't stop looking at them, looking forward to getting to know all about these. I've been looking at these type of fish for a long time in fish shops, & today the project started.
There doing quite well, the male doesn't seem to be chasing the female, & this eve I fed them a couple more mosquito larve & they were eating together, it was soooooo cute!!!!!

:] mine are the opposite the male is always harassing the female. m thinking about moving them and maby the hatchets to my 30G though because i think it could be the apisto chasing them as to why they hide alot. They love mosquito lava mine go nutty if i put some in. The female is the greediest in the tank. I have to watch out when i put livefoods in or she just eats it and and just bubbles around twice the size she was before eating lol.

Yeh my girl ate the most this evening. Can different breeds be kept together then?
Seems werid having all together, as all I've kept is purely bettas, seems werid to have a boy & girl together permanent.

I wouldnt recommend different breeds its best to keep 1 type to a tank. Haha male and female will be fine together. Im the opposite i was keeping community fish fish so only being able was keep male or female was wierd. I would try and get a few more females if you can find them and maby a little group of cherry shrimps or pygmy corys.

Well they enjoyed there bloodworm this evening, pigs they were!

Haha same as mine lol. Mine seem alot happier now there in my 30G. Do you ever plan on spawning yours?

Beautiful!!!