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Chromaphyosemion/Aphyosemion

aarhud

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5 Year Member
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343
I have never kept Killifish. Could Chromaphyosemion/Aphyosemion work in a planted six foot tank alongside some of the shoaling killifish (lampeye's) and Pelivachromis species?

If so, what sort of numbers would you try for? Most of the information on killifish relates to smaller tanks and trios. I found a couple of instances where people kept groups of killifish in larger tanks and the interactions between the fish sounded interesting.

Do any particular species of Chromaphyosemion/Aphyosemion take to dry foods easier?

Thanks all!
 

gerald

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5 Year Member
Messages
1,491
Location
Wake Forest NC, USA
I've kept Aphyo (now Fundulopanchax) gardneri together with small Tanganyika cichlids (Julies and shell-dwelling Lamp's). One particular male gardneri loved to fight with the cichlids.
 

aarhud

Active Member
5 Year Member
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343
Was the fighting a problem or just harmless skirmishes?


I bought some f1 P. pulcher of unknown location (may be tank a strain for all I know) to hold me over until the Apistogramma fry sexed out. I'm hooked...These are the first "kribs" I have kept. Love that they can spawn and not cause any major disruptions. And their behavior is so natural, constantly sifting sand and picking at wood. The sand substrate has craters all over it from them taking little mouthfuls of sand. The fry are MUCH easier to raise than Apistogramma IME so far, which is a huge plus for me. I feel like I am cheating on Apistogramma...been keeping them for a long time. The final straw was loosing the last male A. cacatuoides last week.

Long story short, I am going to move the young adult Apistogramma back to small tanks and do a biotope around the P. pulcher based on Cameroon/Nigeria.
 

Mike Wise

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Staff member
5 Year Member
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11,201
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
All I can add is the these killis are exceptional jumpers and often find the smallest opening to jump through. You will need a very tight lid - or extra tanks below where they can safely land!:)
 

gerald

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5 Year Member
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Location
Wake Forest NC, USA
"Kribs" guarding fry are just as protective as most other good-parenting cichlids. Since the fry generally stay together near the bottom, I guess they don't need to defend quite so large and area around their fry cloud as some other cichlids. But they can certainly terrorize anyone who approaches their kids, and bite catfish eyes. The gardneri/shellie war was not harmless. The killie usually initiated the fights and would not back down, but shellies have those fang-like teeth, so the killie got beat up more. I did separate them eventually. Most other Aphyos and Chromaphyos aren't as belligerent as gardneri. Striatum would be a good one to try - readily available, reasonable size, beautiful, and easy to unload any extra fry. (Might be some at the Raleigh auction March 4!) Did you go to that USC-Spartanburg swap a few days ago?
 

aarhud

Active Member
5 Year Member
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343
Thanks Gerald,

You are probably right though, the fry do stay close so you don't get the "cloud effect" where the parents are trying to guard half the tank or more. I enjoy that though since the other fish do not get pushed into a small area of the tank. Makes the tank seem more natural.

No, I went to that swap several years ago with Juand and I think that is the only time I made it. Did you go? I think Juand is into reptiles now and is scaling down on fish? I got a Boykin spaniel last year and I have really got into working with him on retrieving water fowl, so that eats up most of my free time. Between the boykin and work/CPA prep I have my hands full haha.
 

aarhud

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5 Year Member
Messages
343
I decided to try A. striatum alongside the normani lampeyes. I want to wait until the weather warms up, maybe there will be more offerings from hobbyist on sites like aquabid.

I had found some bolbitus fern in my ten gallon that actually looks nice. Funny, it never did well in the big tank. I moved it over and am going to experiment with trying to get it to fill in. That should give the killifish some cover from breeding Pelvicachromis.
 

themountain

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
172
Location
Mallorca/Spain
Striatum are tuff cookies ...they do not get easily intimidated by cichlids ;) ...the do exeptionally well in lower temperatures (20°-24°) .
 

aarhud

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
343
Is A. bivittatum an easy keeper? I like the large fins of the males. WetSpot has some for $14 a pair, which seems the average price for a pair.

Oh man, I can see why Killifish people are usually the worst addicts. So many to choose from.

Is live foods mandatory? I have had a lot of luck with Golden Pearls for Apistogramma. Anyone tried them with killifish?
 

Chromedome

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
98
Most Chromaphyosemion are pretty easy to care for. Dry food will be fine, I've bred species on crushed flakes and powdered foods.

I would note, however, that the "bivittatum" at Wet Spot is actually bitaeniatum. This is the species that is found in the vicinity of Lagos. True bivittatum are located hundreds of miles east of there, on the border of Nigeria and Cameroon.
 

aarhud

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
343
Thanks all.

I found an auction that includes:
-A. volcanum ekondo titi
-Fundopanchax gardneri
-Eggs of Epliplatys dageti monroviae (these fish look awesome)

Do those species still fit the "easy" label? The one I am most unsure about is the A. volvanum
 

gerald

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5 Year Member
Messages
1,491
Location
Wake Forest NC, USA
BTW Aaron there's a new Carolinas-Virginia Regional Killifish Club getting started; a regional chapter of AKA. We just had the first meeting in Raleigh 2 weeks ago, and planning another one in May in Wilmington (with a field trip to the Green Swamp area).
 

Chromedome

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
98
Thanks all.

I found an auction that includes:
-A. volcanum ekondo titi
-Fundopanchax gardneri
-Eggs of Epliplatys dageti monroviae (these fish look awesome)

Do those species still fit the "easy" label? The one I am most unsure about is the A. volvanum

I would consider all three of those very easy to keep and breed. I would note that the Epiplatys dageti rarely has the color you might see in some photos. However, it was once a very common species in the hobby because it was so easy to breed.
 

aarhud

Active Member
5 Year Member
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343
I lost that auction.

100% want the E. dageti. From youtube videos they seem significantly more active than Chromaphyosemion. Are some species of Aphyosemion/Chrom more active than others? Maybe Killifish are just hard to capture, but they often seem "listless".
 

aarhud

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
343
BTW Aaron there's a new Carolinas-Virginia Regional Killifish Club getting started; a regional chapter of AKA. We just had the first meeting in Raleigh 2 weeks ago, and planning another one in May in Wilmington (with a field trip to the Green Swamp area).

Thanks for the tip!
 

gerald

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
1,491
Location
Wake Forest NC, USA
Many of the Aphyosemion group and S. Amer killies do spend a lot of time just hovering among the plants. Gardneri are one of the more active ones. Also Epiplatys, Aplocheilus, and the Lampeye group are generally more active. Our native Fundulus and flagfish are also quite active.
 

aarhud

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
343
Ah, I see.

So should I try to get several species and see which I like best? Aphyosemion seem like Apistogramma, you can like one species and not another.

The big killies look incredible. The AKA beginner guide states fundulopanchax sjoestedti can be difficult to spawn. They look incredible.
 

MickeM

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
441
Location
STOCKHOLM , SWEDEN
I`ve successfully kept Rivulus cladophorus and several Epiplatys species with similar-sized Apistos some times .. but then in quite long/large heavily planted tanks: 90cm<..
..and then with a significant distance between the water surface up to the feeding-hole.. (10-15 cm)
A small customized black plastic lid/ piece of dark plastic will help the killies from trying/wanting to jump out of the tank..
My experience is that they only seem to try to jump toward the light .. or if any "food-item" catch their eyes !!??
Here is a film a friend of mine made as an experiment..



(If the killies grow faster than the Apistos, I would keep an extra eye on their toothcarp-behaviours ..
They are quite territorial and also infamous for eating/biting their own siblings if not fed properly/enough when growing up..
So if size differs, and there are very few peaceful areas in the tank , their teeth may be the problem for other fishes??
For example..Tetras often get their fins badly bitten if put together with any Fundulopanchax ..!!
Chromaphyosemion seems to be calmer in temperament, but stay aware....!! )
 

aarhud

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
343
I received 4 pairs of C. volcanum, a pair of E. daget, and 25 dageti eggs today! The E. dageti male is super colorful.

The P. pulcher was a no go in a community tank. The pair grew more aggressive as they put on size. I did not know males grew so large! I'm either going to stick with Apistogramma (if I can find a wild type male cacatuoides) or maybe try P. taeniatus alongside the killifish.
 

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