Shene's Killies

North Huntingdon (near Pittsburgh, Pa.) 

 

Updated 7/4/08

Added link to Back Bay Aquaculture

 

Please note if you got here from shene.killi.net it is because that copy of my site is being updated. Both sites are normally identical

 

Back Bay Aquaculture

A new site of tropical fish

 


 

I am a hobbyist, not a business. Prices are set only to cover some of my costs in raising and maintaining the fish, and lower "wholesale" prices for "quantity" are non existant.

I do not sell eggs since non annual eggs are a poor investment, as eggs usually sell for a dozen for the price of a pr of fish.

You have a much better chance of obtaining new eggs from a pair of fish than getting more than

a single pair from purchased eggs and you would not know if you got a apir until 6 months to a year later!

Sorry but shipping of fish to areas outside the US is not an option for me so do not bother to ask.

 

 

Young male Fundulopanchax arnoldi Calabar lovation

 

Fish Availability

I have only a few young pairs of the following as of 10/28/07. Please contact me via e-mail for ordering

and delivery details: (I do not sell commercially, but only to help pay for hobby expenses, so I

am not really into this for a profit and never really even cover expenses. Since it really costs me

more to raise them than I charge, quantity discounts, where offered on rare occasion,

are really only to clear tanks.)Weather is getting bad for shipping so I will only ship US Express mail with heat pack

and that costs a bundle. Best wait till spring if you want fish from me at lower shipping costs. I should have young pairs of half a dozen

to a dozen other species by then (I hope). You can email me at shene@sheneskillies.com. the previous is not a link

so you will have to cut and paste it. Spam was getting overwhelming with spammers using links on any page they could find.

 

Fish currently Available:

Aphyosemion congicum Z82-17

Fundulopanchax arnoldi Calabar

Aphyosemion coeleste GBG 93-2

Aphyosmeion celiae celiae

Aphyosemion calliurium Siloko

 

 

 

 


 

Site photo pages:
 Aphyosemion

Diapteron

Fundulopanchax

Epiplatys

Nothobranchius

New World Annuals

 Articles:

Automated Water Change System

Use of CPVC overflow fixtures and drip emitters

Beginners Guide to Killies An article on acquiring and maintaining your first killies-conservitive but safe.

Breeding Mop Spawners Epiplatys and Aphyosemion- method I use

Breeding Bottom Spawners - Fundulopanchax method I use

Breeding Diapteron What little I have learned

Species breeding information-general parameters that have worked for me by species

Culture of White Worms Short article on easy culture and of white worms

Water Treatment Information on Reverse Osmosis


 

  

   PAKA Web Page Update 

I am continuing to update the PAKA page to include Autobiographies and fishroom photos of members.

 

Killies I keep
I primarily raise Aphyosemion and Epiplatys. Also a few Fundulopanchax and S. A. annuals. I usually have around 70 to 80 varieties of killies at any given time, but only a dozen or so available. I do not have the tank space to raise all at the same time even if I could. I alternate what I raise to try maintain all my species.
Most of my breeder males are pictured on this website in photo links. All of the photos are of my fish and were taken by me.  I will be adding photos as I have time to take more.


Fishrooms

These are photos of my 3 fishrooms.     The main room, containing about 80 tanks, is a 13'X12' corner of the basement where my furnace is located. The room has most of my breeding tanks, fry tanks and RO water supply. Initially I had to add an air conditioner to cool the room for some of the cold water fish like striatum and ogoense to get any eggs at all, but now with the new cold room, the australe can take their sweaters off and start laying again.

The second room (Laundry Room) has one long wall of 20 gal tanks for raising fry and keeping larger killifish .

The third room, formerly a garage filled with junk (could not fit a car anyway), is air conditioned in the summer for cold water species and contains 50 tanks.  It is plumbed with RO, but I am using a container for interim storage to let the water cool off. At last I have an array of tanks with a face on view and at viewing height!

My Background
I have been in fishkeeping on and off for over 50 years and my primary love has always been killies. Got my first ones (E.dageti, Rivulus cylindraceus and A.australe) around 1954 when I was 11.  Before that my dad got me a 5 gal tank in which I had the typical live bearers and some white cloud mountainfish. Also got a 15 gal which I had a pair of Egyptian Mouthbreeders and had housed several species over a few year period before finding australe and falling in love with killies. I am currently a member of the AKA and CKA. Email me with any questions you have about keeping killies (please check my aritcles at the left first to get some background and possibly the answers instantly) , or for information on fish I currently have available for sale. I'm certainly no expert but I can at least tell you what I have experienced.

For photographs, I use a Nikon D100 with two different lenses. One is a 60 mm Micro-nikor and the other a 105 mm Micro-nikor. I use on camera flash. Most photos are "in tank" as I prefer to shoot that way. Some of the older photos on the site were taken with a Nikon Coolbpix. As you might note many are blurred. If you want good photos, the best way to go is with a single lens reflex and macro lens. Hand focus, not autofocus. With autofocus, sometimes by the time the camera settles down due to glass reflection of the autofocus, the fish may have died of old age. A digital is great as it saves enough money in wasted film to cover the cost of a good digital camera and lens.

 

 If you want to ask questions about anything please read my beginners guide for many answers. If you don't find a good answer there, just email me at... shene@sheneskillies.com and I will try to help. This is not an email link due to such overwhelming spam email so you wil have to type it in your email program.

Bill Shenefelt

Other Links:

PAKA

Pittsburgh Area Killifish Association Home Page

IKA -International Killifish Association (good information and great photos)

CKA -link to Canadian Killifish Association

AKA -link to American Killifish Association

Killie Nutz!-link to a great information page

AOA-All Oddball Aquatics-Several varieties of fish including some really rare corydoras,
killies and apistos.
Very reliable fish source

Curt's Killies Curt is a great South American Annual breeder

Location/Species Code Information-Tim Addis (BKA) site with great info on codes and locations of African species

GPASI- Greater Pittsburgh Aquarium Society Incorporated-General freshwater aquarium club in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.

New Austrian Site

South African Killifish Society