R.A.S. Fins & Friends

Aphyosemion australe/ The Chocolate Lyretail Killie

By Twyla Lindstrom-Peters

This beautiful little (max. 6 cms.) killifish comes from Gabon in West Africa.  It is a member of the Aphyosemion calliurum group which includes about 8 other species. The body shape is typical of other fish of this genus in that it is slender and cylindrical with the wide mouth slanted upwards and the lower jaw protruding slightly.  The male of the species is endowed with a beautiful lyretail edged with chocolate brown,  (the other color morph is orange)  and tipped with white.  The body of the male and female is greenish brown to silvery grey.  Both males and females have red spots (more and brighter on the male) speckled over the body and into the fins.  The males also sport small red wavy lines on their head and gill covers.  Females are rather drab silver grey with clear rounded fins and appear the same as most other female aphyosemion species.  These fish are for the most part very peaceful although males will spar, tearing each other's fins.  (Rips seem very slow to heal and may never heal entirely.)  They are also excellent jumpers and can hit the tiniest opening in the tank or jar cover so, keep them tightly covered.

I found these fish spawned spontaneously in a dark colored nylon mop.  I placed 2 females and 1 male in a gallon jar in room temp. dechlorinated tap water (pH 6.8).  To this I added a handful of Java moss on the bottom and suspended a dark mop from the top.  Lighting was indirect and filtered.

The fish were conditioned on brine shrimp nauplii and grindal worms.  The fish spawn side by side high up in the mop where the strands are quite tight usually in the early morning.  If the water quality declines, so does the spawning activity.

I removed the mop daily.  Take care to check the mop for fish as on several occasions I found a female fish in the sink as I opened the mop to look for eggs!  The eggs are clear, round, and 1-2 millimetres in size.  They can be gently removed and placed in a small container with fresh dechlorinated water to which 2-3 drops of methylene blue has been added.  The mop is then rinsed out and returned to the jar. 

The eggs hatch in 10-14 days.  The fry should be removed to a clean rearing tank and fed brine shrimp nauplii twice a day.  If water quality and feeding is maintained, growth is rapid, and sexes can be dishtinguished well before 60 days of age.

These fish are quite undemanding, requiring no special heat, filtration, light, feeding, or water requirements(besides clean).  They can also be kept with other small peaceful fish if spawning is not one's goal.  (Just keep the tank covered!)  Also, if more than one species of aphyosemion is kept together, the females of each species are very difficult (or impossible) to distinguish from each other.