Where can I buy a Killifish?

[iris yashiemorra]

I love killifish. They are in my opinion, the most beautiful freshwater fish. There is a store where I live that sells them but they don't have the species I'm looking for. If anyone can tell me where I buy a aphyosemion it would be greatly appreciated. I could ask if the store can order one for me but I'm posting this question incase they can't get one.


Here is a pic of a aphyosemion killifish
http://akwa-mania.mud.pl/ryby/ryby/rybya...iatum1.jpg

[obedientKiller925]

Any Aquatic shop should sell them if not they should be able to get them in but they need to be kept in a group of at least 5 .

[Bob]

Most aquarium stores don't stock killiefish regularly. If you want a specific specie, try Aquabid.com,
or look for a Killifish club in your area. Killiefish keepers have traded fish and eggs by mail for years.

Look for AKA.ORG and join it and get on it's email list - you will definately find people breeding what you want by that means.

[golden lyretail]

Iris, I share your view that killifish are among the most beautiful of killifish. Your image is a gorgeous Aphyosemion bitaeniatum, in the prime of its life.

Some European correspondents on this site have more access to pet shops that are more likely to have killies than many of those in the US. Part of this is because of the decline of the "Ma & Pa" independent shops that would buy from hobbyists who bred fish. Many of these are long gone.

The big box stores have much less flexibility, having to stay with their computerized inventory of 150 to 200 strains & species (of the potential 7,000 aquarium residents). Their people are forbidden to do any swapping or trading of store credit with aquarists.

General aquarium clubs in the US and to a degree in Canada are less common that in the past. However there still are a lot of great aquarium clubs around and they sell fish at meeting mini-auctions, at swap meets & at auctions, usually in the spring & fall months. There is also the American Killifish Association (among many national killifish associations in industrialized/ financially sophisticated countries) The AKA & other groups also have local clubs loosely affiliated with them. Both the national clubs & regional often have killifish shows & auctions. Swap meets & mini-conventions with fish sales are becoming more common. And the national shows will offer hundreds of killies at auction & fish sale rooms.

Google your city or state & Aquarium Societies or clubs.

Please see
http://www.aka.org
http://aka.org/aka/affiliates/
https://www.facebook.com/ChicagoKillifishAssociation
http://www.michianaaquariumsociety.org/2...nival.html (Don't believe the date.)

A lot of groups are also on Facebook now. I'm embarrassed that the CKA stuff is not more updated. That will be amended.

An increasing number of fish breeders are also offering some really nice killies on-line, often through http://www.aquabid.com. Spring and fall offer the best opportunities to ship fish safely, though heat packs have been increasingly used to safely ship killies in cooler months.

The record cold this winter has really discouraged shipping. But local groups continue to swap & sell killies, food cultures, plants and just hang out talking killies. On my calender for the near future are Chicago Killifish Association events. We also have a table at the Greater Chicago Cichlid Association's swap meets (70 vendors, 1,000 visitors. The Chicago group also has a couple great speakers & a fish sale the 3rd weekend in March. Several of us are getting ready for the Michiana Killifish Karnival (a great cure for cabin fever) the last weekend in February.

A number of killinuts raise a few extra killies, not enough for sale on-line sales, but enough for club events and friends. I have been distributing Fundulopanchax gardneri Makurdi and a few Aphyosemion bivittatum Funge (closely related to your bitaeniatum) lately.

Hope your search for neat killies is wildly successful!

Scott