Lucania Goodei Bluefin Killifish, Florida Bluefin Dace

1.The bluefin killifish are sexable when they are mature. The males have
bright blue marks on the dorsal fins, whereas the females only clear dorsal and anal fins with no color at all. The males also have red or yellow marks on caudal and anal fins and are larger and more slender than females, which are smaller but plumper. Bluefin killies are onmivores, meaning they eat both animal and plant matter. Bluefins prefer munching on inverts such as mosquito larva, snails, scuds etc. Bluefins also will pick on the algae on aquatic plants. Best food for them is frozen bloodworms, especially for the wild caught and pond/tub bred ones that are picky eaters, refusing to consume flakes. Breeding is actually easy, as long as you have lots of plants such as Java moss or use a spawning mop, and feed them live/frozen foods.

The bluefin killifish do better in heavily planted tanks than bare tank or not enough plants. They will behave naturally in the planted tank which is why I always have to add Java moss, banana plants and elodea to my bluefin killifish tank. They are better in a species tank, as they can be shy or playful depending on the tankmates. Dwarf livebearers (Heterandria formosa) and Japanese Rice fish (Oryzias latipes) are my bluefin killies' tank mates, all of them in a 115 L tank without a heater. Bluefins tolerate up to 26°C but they do better at lower temperatures. I always put the bluefins in my 470 L tub outside with duckweed and elodea during the summer. I always get some fry in the fall when I fish the bluefins out of the tub. The bluefins can breed in the tank as long as you can provide the fry with green water, then later newly hatched brine shrimp. Make sure the parents are removed from the tank if you want babies, as the parents will eat the eggs and the fry. Bluefins are my favorite native killifish because they have playful personalities and are very easy to take care of.