Least Killifish Livebearers the beginning

Least Killifish Livebearers the beginning

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Hello everybody!

Meet the Least Killifish Livebearers!

Least Killifish is one of the smallest fish in the world and the smallest fish living in North America.

Scientific name Heterandria formosa is a species of livebearing fish within the family Poeciliidae.

The same livebearers family with Guppy and Endlers fish.

The Least Killifish looks even smaller than my dwarf guppy :)

The adult least killifish is supposed to grow up to one inch.

I have this cute tiny fish as a top candidate for trying in my sustaining aquarium gardens for years!

And that's how the baby least killifish looks like.

The very first baby least killifish to roam my sustaining aquarium gardens :)

November 2nd, 2023.

Beryl from NYC traded with me 4 young least killifish!

Beryl, thank you so much!!

Pet stores in NYC don't sell the least killifish.

And I don't trust shipping companies when it comes to delivering live fish.

Here you may recognize my many years old 1.5 liter aquarium garden.

It's been populated with snails, scuds, algae and plants.

And here you can see all 4 least killifish from the top.

They are all about a half inch or 1.5cm long.

That's noticeably smaller than my dwarf guppy and about half the size of my Blue star endlers.

The less than 2cm long fish should be okay in an aquarium with the narrow side more than 6 cm.

The diameter of this jar is about double of the necessary minimum for this small fish.

I used this aquarium for some of my dwarf guppies and endlers too!

And now it will serve as the first house for my Least Killifish.

The fish start hunting scuds right away!

Little hunters they are.

I have a couple of tanks for culturing scuds.

So, these tiny hunters would never run out of game :)

The small size and natural disguise makes it hard to spot the least killifish in the aquarium.

Very adorable hunters!

This is a male.

You can see a stick shaped underbelly fin.

Females have a fan shaped underbelly fin.

I have a family of 3 males and one female.

Here you can see the female least killifish.

Fan shaped underbelly fin.

She is of plain color with less stylish disguise compared to males.

The female is larger than the male.

Aha! She attacks the male standing in front on her path and looking at her - a very rude male!

And she keeps chasing him away.

I think this was the plan the male was carrying out - get her attention at all costs.

And this male...hmm...it does not look as he was planning on it.

But he is about to get kicked for hanging on her hunting path anyway :)

Least Killifish males seem to know better than argue with dominant females.

Here she got him - you better watch yourself in her kingdom!

Notice that males do not fight back - take the hit and move away - that is the way.

The female keeps males in check all the time.

I don't change the water in my aquariums.

You can see healthy green algae deposits accumulated through years.

Small aquarium gardens are great for many reasons.

Planning for future experiments a bit ahead I assembled a couple more larger size aquariums.

I think I will move my Least Killifish in this, much more specious, 8 liter tank.

And there is a 3 liter aquarium garden also sitting ready for more fish when it comes to it.

I am very excited about tiny Least Killifish!

Have fun and happy aquarium gardens :)