OP
OP
Aphyosemion zygaima.
Tracking that package
- Thread starter GaryE
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Im being really picky when I say this I know but I don't think those fish look good with that substrate
... That's just me tho... Beautiful fish!
A high pH (above 7.6) gave me a lot of male killifish when I was keeping them. A lower pH gave more even numbers of males and females.
OP
OP
I agree. I keep them over a dark grey sand normally. That shot was of 2 young males sparring in a tank I'd grown fry out in. Put them with a darker substrate and they darken a lot. They really look good. If I go the bare tank route, I paint the outside bottom black.Im being really picky when I say this I know but I don't think those fish look good with that substrate
My usual mantra kicks in - every species is different. These ones don't care about pH, but hardness seems crucial to good ratios. Soft works. But very closely related species react differently. I have friends who successfully manage the ratios of fry with temperature with some of their relatives, and what I can do with zygaima, I can't get to work with their closest relatives. They push you to the old saying that every day, you should find something you thought was true but were wrong about.
In my new house, I have the exact same water readings as in my old one, 950 km away. But I have a completely different set of algaes here. All the ones that traveled in my tanks from Montreal died, and are slowly being replaced. So all I can figure is that the ppm count testing gives me must reflect different minerals in the water. 80 ppm of what.... So maybe the techniques I figured out won't work here.
And so, I get to figure out how these fish react to that.
There were several groups of Europeans and Africans who went looking for the fish in the wild over a period of about 25 years, unsuccessfully. I have one of the fish caught on that quest, closely related to zygaima and from the same general habitat, geographically. They are the easiest fish to get both sexes from. Go figure. You have zygaima, a fish considered hard to maintain, and ottogartneri, a killie considered dead easy, with reason. If you look at DNA based family trees, they're close, and the same holds true if you look at maps. But try keeping them and they are different indeed.That's an ottogartneri.
Yah. That sounds like a good mix!
I see why you like killifish.. They are all stunning
I've been amazed at a number of killifish shows, how big certain killifish species can get.
What species is that? I may add that to my wish list
Not sure which killifish species this might be. But I do know that it was around 15cm. Maybe someone could help us out which species this might be. But he was quite big.What species is that? I may add that to my wish list
There were more bigger specimens overthere.
Sounds like a very robust species to keep. He looks wild in the photo
Fundulopanchax sjoestedti
And now you have got bitten by the killie bug.What species is that? I may add that to my wish list
You should definitely get into killifish. They're a pretty and interesting fish to keep.
I just might... I have a 10g that may not be in use in the coming monthsAnd now you have got bitten by the killie bug.
You should definitely get into killifish. They're a pretty and interesting fish to keep.
I just might... I have a 10g that may not be in use in the coming months
I was amazed how big they got...
OP
OP
They're an interesting bunch of fish. They come in varying sizes, depending on origin and which line they are. There is a "dwarf red gularis" in circulation. It gets to 3-4 inches/9/10 cm. After that, they can range up to 6 inches/15cm, although I once saw some very old wild caughts come in that were larger than that, and murderously aggressive. They were past breeding age, but really impressive beasts.
They are semi-annuals, with eggs incubating in peat for weeks to months depending. That makes buying eggs easy, on Aquabid or through killie clubs. But variability hits again - some lines will hatch in water in with the parents, and some need incubation on peat. They are in an area threatened by a combination of the oil industry and human population displacement and growth, and I don't know of anyone studying them. I expect that if someone sampled wilds, they might find more than one species under the name. Most of the ones in captivity are mixes of different catching location, often going back several decades.
They are semi-annuals, with eggs incubating in peat for weeks to months depending. That makes buying eggs easy, on Aquabid or through killie clubs. But variability hits again - some lines will hatch in water in with the parents, and some need incubation on peat. They are in an area threatened by a combination of the oil industry and human population displacement and growth, and I don't know of anyone studying them. I expect that if someone sampled wilds, they might find more than one species under the name. Most of the ones in captivity are mixes of different catching location, often going back several decades.
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