Make lid discipline the first and loudest rule
Brief a house sitter on emergency care for a clown killifish by teaching the lid before the food, because this species' commonest home accident is a jump through a gap nobody believed a fish could use. Clown killifish live pressed to the surface film, startle upward at shadows and hands, and thread themselves through openings around filter pipes and feeding hatches. Show the sitter exactly how the cover sits, including the small piece you use to close the cut-out gap, and set the rule in absolute terms: the lid opens only for feeding, closes before the food pot is put down, and never stays open while the sitter answers the door. Have them check the floor around the tank at every visit, and explain the rescue: a fish found still wet and moving goes straight back into the tank at once, then you are called, because minutes decide that fish's chances.
Show where the fish live in the tank
Orientation comes second in a clown killifish briefing, because a sitter scanning midwater will conclude the tank is empty and start investigating. These killifish hold station just beneath the surface, usually under the floating plants, striped bodies angled slightly upward, watching the film for insects. The sitter's daily check is a surface check: both fish accounted for under the plants, fins spread, rising to the film when a pinch of food lands.
Portion surface food and forbid substitutes
Feeding a clown killifish under a sitter is measured in pinches, because its mouth is small, upturned and built for insects taken from the film, and it will not descend far for food that sinks. Food that sinks uneaten should be noted, not answered with a second pinch from an unlabelled tub, and nothing from the kitchen or another pet's shelf substitutes. Clown killifish are light feeders in a small volume of water, so overfeeding clouds their world quickly. A whole pair refusing the film two feeds running is a same-day report, since these fish normally rise to food even for a careful stranger.
Guard the soft, steady water exactly as it is
Water rules in a clown killifish brief protect softness and stability, because this species comes from slow, leaf-stained forest water and feels abrupt changes through its whole body. The sitter adds only your labelled, pre-mixed water for top-ups, in the small amounts you marked, and performs no water change you have not demonstrated with that same water. The filter keeps its gentle setting; a strong current pins these surface fish against the plants and is a setting to report, not adjust by guesswork. If the heater or filter fails, the sitter checks plugs and switches, keeps the lid closed to hold warmth, and calls you before improvising.
Write down the few real alarms
Alarms in a clown killifish tank are short enough to memorise, so give the sitter the list rather than a lecture. Call at once for a fish found outside the tank, a fish lying on the bottom or hanging listless away from the surface, both fish refusing food, white spots or a clamped, faded look across the pair, or equipment silent and cold. Your number heads the card, followed by an aquatic shop or veterinarian who knows killifish, and the sitter photographs the surface from above rather than opening the tank for a better view.
Hand over the surface rules in one document
Clown killifish care is a handful of vivid rules that blur together when they are only spoken, so the lid routine, the floor check, the pinches and the alarm list should travel together in one handover the sitter opens at the tank. Saving that handover in KinsLe as a Care Pass gives your sitter temporary, clear access to this killifish's routine and emergency details while you are away, so a tiny surface fish gets cover as careful as the one you give it yourself.