rm
Passport
- Family
- Killifish
- Grows to
- 10 cm (3.9")
- Lives
- 4–5 years
- TemperamentSuggested
- Predatory
- Care
- Beginner
- Swims
- Near the surface
- Keep
- One is fine
- Water
- 22–25 °C (72–77 °F)
IndiaSri Lanka
Care requirements
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On record for Golden Wonder Killifish: adult size, lifespan, minimum tank, temperature, ph, hardness, minimum group, diet, care level, swim level.
Not on record for Golden Wonder Killifish: tank length.
A figure that is not on record is left out rather than guessed. One marked Suggested comes from keeping knowledge rather than a page.
- Minimum tank 76 L / 20.0 US gal
- pH 6–7.5
- Hardness 5–15 dGH
- Diet carnivore
Care notes written from general aquarium knowledge, not from the cited sources.
About
Golden wonders are a surface predator wearing a pretty coat. The body is metallic gold scattered with red flecks, the fins are edged in yellow, and the head is flattened on top with an upturned mouth — which is the part that tells you what they do for a living.
They hang motionless just under the surface and then strike. Anything small enough gets eaten: neons, ember tetras, guppy fry, shrimp. This is not occasional opportunism, it's what the fish is built for.
They're not annual killifish. Unlike the species whose eggs survive in dried mud, these live in permanent water and are kept as ordinary long-lived aquarium fish.
Tank setup
Cover the tank without any gaps at all. Golden wonders are exceptional jumpers — a surface fish that hunts by ambush will go straight out of an opening, and this is the most common way they're lost.
Give them surface area rather than depth. They use the top of the tank almost exclusively, so a wide footprint beats a tall one.
Add floating plants. They provide the cover an ambush predator wants and take the edge off the light.
Stock around their diet. Nothing small, nothing slow, nothing you'd mind losing.
Keep the flow gentle and the surface reasonably calm.
Feeding
Golden wonders are carnivores that take food from the surface and will strike at anything that lands on it.
Feed a varied protein diet: floating pellets, frozen bloodworm, brine shrimp, mosquito larvae, and live food if you can get it. They respond dramatically to live insects.
They rarely take food from the bottom. Anything that sinks is wasted on them.
Avoid: keeping them with fish small enough to swallow, and avoid assuming a well-fed predator stops hunting.
Filtration and flow
Run the filter so the top stays glassy. They're strong fish, but an ambush hunter needs to see what lands on the surface, and a churning one hides it.
Ordinary filtration is fine. They're hardy and tolerant of a wide range of conditions.
Regular water changes keep them in condition; nothing about their maintenance is demanding.
With plants
Golden wonder killifish are safe with plants and won't damage them.
Floating plants are the useful category. They give an ambush predator somewhere to wait and make the fish far more relaxed.
Rooted plants are untouched, so plant the tank however suits the other inhabitants.
Health
They're hardy, adaptable and long-lived, with no ailment particularly attached to them.
Jumping is the real risk to their lives. Check the lid, and check around every pipe and cable entry.
Watch for damaged mouths or snouts. A surface fish striking at the glass or the lid can injure itself, usually because it's being startled from outside the tank.
Breeding
They're plant spawners rather than mud spawners, attaching eggs to fine-leaved plants or spawning mops near the surface over an extended period.
Collect the mops every few days and move them to a rearing container. The adults will eat eggs and fry given the chance.
Eggs take a couple of weeks to hatch and the fry are large enough to take baby brine shrimp almost immediately, which makes them noticeably easier to raise than most small egg-layers. They grow fast and start hunting each other early, so sort them by size.
Tank mates
Avoid25
- Common Pleco Common Pleco grows to 45 cm against Golden Wonder Killifish at 10 cm, big enough to eat it.
- German Blue Ram Golden Wonder Killifish grows to 10 cm against German Blue Ram at 4 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Least Killifish Golden Wonder Killifish grows to 10 cm against Least Killifish at 2 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Scarlet Badis Golden Wonder Killifish grows to 10 cm against Scarlet Badis at 2 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Threadfin Rainbowfish Golden Wonder Killifish grows to 10 cm against Threadfin Rainbowfish at 4 cm, big enough to eat it.
Only with care28
- Kribensis Golden Wonder Killifish is predatory and Kribensis is peaceful.
- Panda Garra Golden Wonder Killifish is predatory and Panda Garra is peaceful.
- Agassiz's Dwarf Cichlid Golden Wonder Killifish is a risk to Agassiz's Dwarf Cichlid: killifish and sth american cichlids - dwarf are a pairing to watch.
- Angelfish Golden Wonder Killifish is a risk to Angelfish: angelfish and killifish are a pairing to watch.
- Betta Golden Wonder Killifish and Betta are an uneasy mix: betta (male) and killifish are a pairing to watch.
No conflict is recorded with the other 52 species in the database, so nothing to flag. 3 species are not covered at all, so they could not be judged either way.