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Hi guys,

I saw some aphyosemion bivittatum at an LFS a couple of weekends ago. They look really nice but a bit pricey ($15 each). Does anyone have any experience with them? Specifically, will a pair be ok in a 15g planted community tank with peaceful, dwarf fishes? Are they quite hardy and how long do they live?

Thanks!

-P

Gorgeous little fish but unfortunately they are not considered hardy as they almost always refuse commercial diets and will usually take only live feedings of various worms and mosquito larvae.

They can be very aggressive towards their own and immediately related species, but usually live ok with other species of small fish. As for longevity , if you break 2 years youd be doing very well indeed. Most adults you see in shops have only 6 months or less to go.

They like it around 75f so perhaps a suitable cagemate for flame tetras?

I'd keep them in a species aquarium. They are fairly delicate, have pretty stringent water chemistry requirements, and also possess the infamous Fundulopanchax habit of being rocket-propelled jumpers, so they MUST be well covered at all times. They're not quite as bad as the Blue Gularis in this regard, but they share with the Blue Gularis the habit of looking slow-moving to the untrained eye one moment, then imitating a Polaris missile leaving the launch tube the next.

Generally, a fish that requires considerable dedication. Live foods MUST be supplied on a regular basis, and it is unlikely that this fish will be weaned onto dead foods except with a LOT of patience and skill. A stunningly beautiful, but challenging fish that is really best left to the dedicated and experienced Killie keeper. Sorry to dampen your spirits like this, but better that you go into a project of this kind with your eyes open than experience expensive heartbreak later.


Last edited by Calilasseia at 24-Nov-2005 12:30

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Amen to that cal besides killies are a group of fish that should really only be kept by people putting the time and effort in to breed them. Theyre just too shortlived to be sustainable in the hobby otherwise, and if you want to breed them I guess that does mean species specific care, or the fry die-off would be terrible.The feedings can be weird too, they do have a habit of stuffing themselves stupid once youve found a food they like, so keeping them requires a degree of restraint. Their territorially means that you have to seperate them into suitable breeding groups, and it helps to have a number of aquaria available, not to mention a choice of fish. That and avoiding genetic inbreeding, as often the entire stock of a shop will be from one pair ( when theyre not wild collected), so to find a viable breeding colony youd really have to know your suppliers and shop around.

I have some experience in keeping killies and smaller rainbows like madagascans and now and then I see a species that makes me think...nah, i'll leave it for now. This is one of them. Not saying its not do-able, but it requires a dedicated effort.



Last edited by longhairedgit at 24-Nov-2005 13:10

Thank you both very much for the very helpful advice! I'm glad I asked.
I had my reservations about keeping killifish given their short life and live food requirements (it's quite difficult to find any variety of live foods here besides brine shrimp and black worms). But you don't see them very often here either so whenever I see a nice looking one I get very curious!
Hmm..perhaps someday when I have more time and tanks (or hot tub ) to give them the proper care they need.

Thanks again!

-P

The trouble with quite a few of the Killies that need dedicated care being, of course, that they are utterly drop dead gorgeous to look at ... sigh ...

Aphyosemion bivittatum ranks as one of the catwalk stars. A true living jewel among fishes if you alight upon specimens with a good provenance. Another species that is drop dead gorgeous (and if anything, needs even more dedication) is Aphyosemion bualanum, a favourite of mine among the Fundulopanchax Killies. It's one of those fishes that makes your eyes pop out on stalks, but running a breeding facility for those is akin to running a fish version of an intensive care ward. Sigh.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I have a couple of pairs of bivitattum which I got off a guy who got them from QLD. I kept them initially in a very heavily planted 18"x18"x18" with a pair of apistos (which turned into a large extended family of apistos). I found no problems with them in that setup and found they would eat small dried pellets OK. They do prefer live grindal worms though (what fish wouldn't). I had half a dozen fry in that setup until I went away and the other fish got hungry. They now have there own standard killie 45cmx15cmx15cm tank.

I've found mine pretty hardy although I did lose one male that got beaten up in a tiny holding tub and another male that jumped out (yes I usually do have very close fitting lids on my killie tanks). Most semi-annual killies will last around 18 months so yes, breeding is sort of a requirement. Luckily, they are not very hard to breed in general.

If you are interested in killifish the larger Fundulopanchax (very closely related to Aphyos) would suit that tank. Fp. gardneri would do very well in that setup (if you can block every tiny gap in the cover). Here is the addr of a pick of one of mine. http://au.geocities.com/namezmud_au/fish/Fgardneri_m2.jpg

Beware, once you start with killifish you WILL end up with little tanks all over your house.

On the live food, if you contact some local killi keepers (or me) you should be able to find a white worm or grindal worm culture.

Dean


Last edited by abob at 28-Nov-2005 00:00

Hi Dean,

Thanks a lot for that info. I've decided to delay any killifish purchase until next year (if the wife approves, that is - I'll be sure to leave out your comment about proliferation of small tanks! ) since we're going on vacation in a month. Also the aforementioned tank is most probably not suitable to keep killies, because it does have a gap in the cover! I have a spare 10L tank that I could use for a species-only tank.

I actually almost bought some clown killies (e. annulatus) this past weekend. What gorgeous fish! However he LFS guy warned me that they're a very picky eater and advised me to hold off until they're more settled in (if they survive at all, which he has doubts).

Anyways, at least I know where I could get some live food from if I do decide to get killies! Cheers!

-P