Nothobranchius sp. Caprivi Strip

Nothobranchius sp. Caprivi is an undescribed species from Namibia, specifically from the Caprivi Strip which is a tract of land that separates Angola and Zambia from Botswana.  They were originally discovered in the Chobe River floodplain by Van der Waal during investigations carried out between 1973 and 1977.  It was found in only 3 of 39 locations sampled. 

To my knowledge the first importation of this fish was in 1995 when it was collected by Watters, Wood, and Ipple.  These fish were found at the Gunkwe locality, one of the original collection sites.  They were collected again in 2000 or 2001, but this location did not become widely distributed in the hobby.  It was collected once more in 2007 from a location called Salambala.

N. sp. Caprivi is very similar to but distinct from blue forms of N. kafuensis.  The body is nearly solid iridescent blue, with irregular red vertical bars.  The dorsal fin is heavily marked with red, the anal and caudal fins feature black marginal bands with blue and red submarginal bands.  Females are a light silvery-grey and may have some fine dark markings on the body.

One or two pairs of this species can be kept in a 5 gallon aquarium.  I prefer large breeding groups whenever possible and keep a number of fish in a 20 gallon tank. Males spar and display, but damage is rarely done.

Water changes of 50-80% are carried out every week.  Salt is added at a rate of 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons of water, as this is one species that velvet has been a problem with in my fishroom. 

Adults are fed a variety of foods including blackworms, frozen bloodworms, grindal worms, frozen shrimp, and flakes.  They are not picky eaters and have good appetites. 

Breeding is carried out in typical fashion.  If they adults are well fed and the water is clean, they will spawn.  I personally use plastic container of some sort with peat or coir.  I don’t have a problem with the container floating, and don’t weight them down.  They are a prolific spawner, and eggs can be collected weekly.  Incubation temperature should be in the mid 70s.  The 95-1 strain often hatched in 3-4 months, but the newer Salambala strain seems to have a longer hatching window.  I often hatch a small number of fry at 3 months, and then a large number hatch at 7 months. 

Fry are somewhat small, but can eat newly hatched brine shrimp.  I also feed microworms when I have them as well as golden pearls and decapsulated brine shrimp eggs.  As they grow they also get grindal worms and flake food.

Fry growth is quite fast and first signs of sexing out can be seen at 6 weeks.  Males often grow faster than females, so separating the fry as they grow can be beneficial.  Another reason for separating the fry by size is often I’ll get a few dominant males that will slow the growth of other males.  Eventually as the fry mature they all reach a similar size and I put them back into one tank. 

 Nothobranchis sp. Caprivi is a beautiful, prolific, and relatively easy species to keep.  It’s a good next step after keeping some of the easier species with shorter incubation times. 

 

Background

Nothobranchius furzeri is an annual killifish found in Mozambique and Zimbabwe. It occurs in small freshwater pools south of the Save River and north of the Incomati River, and inhabits basins of the Limpopo, Changane, Chefu, Mazimechopes and Vaneteze rivers. It is commonly found with N. rachovii and N. orthonotus. North of the Save River, N. furzeri is replaced by the recently described N. kadleci.

N. furzeri is a fairly robust species, growing to 3”. The body color is generally light turquois with a red reticulation, although solid red strains exist. The anal fin is red, and the caudal has a black margin with a red or yellow sub-marginal band depending on locality.

It is often stated to be the shortest-lived vertebrate species with a life span of 12 weeks in nature. However a 2005 paper by Michael LePage found the coral reef pygmy goby Eviota sigillata lives only 8 weeks. In the aquarium, N. furzeri can live up to 6-8 months, but shows signs of decline around 5 months.

Aquarium Care

Like most species of Nothobranchius, N.furzeri will tolerate a range of conditions with a preference for neutral to moderately alkaline water

with a temperature range of 75-78 F. Salt may be added to the water at a rate of 1 tbsp per 5 gallons up to 1 tsp per gallon. I generally find this unnecessary as long as the tank is kept clean. I change 50% of their water every 10 days and haven’t had problems with velvet.

Keeping N. furzeri does pose some challenges compared to other species of Nothobranchius. I’ve found to be most successful with them I need to keep them in a larger than typical aquarium. I keep most of my nothos in groups in a 20 gal long. N. furzeri is kept in a 33 gal. Both sexes can be aggressive. If they are raised together in a group, they seem to do well. But if they are separated for a short time, they must be kept separate and supervised during spawning. They also eat quite a bit more than other species. I feed them live black worms, frozen bloodworms, and chopped red worms and cocktail shrimp. Ideally they should be fed multiple times per day. Feeding has been the biggest challenge with keeping this fish for me.

Breeding and Raising Fry

N. furzeri is a prolific breeder and getting them to spawn doesn’t present any difficulties as long as they are well fed and have clean water. Peat and Coir both work well as a spawning media, I use a fairly large amount in a margarine tub. They can be messy spawners and using a dish with a hole cut in the cover may help.

 

Incubation typically takes 5-7 months. I’ve hatched large numbers of fry as early as 2 months so it pays to check the eggs monthly. I typically will hatch fry in a large margarine tub, which I will lower into a ½ filled 5 or 10 gallon tank depending on how many fry have hatched. Fry can take newly hatched brine shrimp nauplii on hatching. The fry tank is filled daily until full after the first week. After that I do 80% water changes weekly. They grow very quickly, showing signs of sexual maturity at only 4 weeks. For me, females initially grow more quickly than males, which catch up and surpass the females in size.

Nothobranchius furzeri has become one of my favorite killies. It’s somewhat challenging, but not so difficult it can’t be maintained long-term. With a little extra care and attention, they can be easily kept and are very rewarding.

Golden Pearls - An Excellent Fry Food

I’ve been using an excellent dry fry food for very small fry called Golden Pearls since 2004. I use the 50-100 micron size, as a comparison Artemia nauplii are around 400 microns. It’s been great for tetras, bettas, danios, rainbows and of course killies. It worked great for small killi fry like E. annulatus and N. janpapi. I also feed it to larger fry. A little goes a long way. I bought ½ lb in 2004 from Brine Shrimp Direct and have just gotten through the first ¼ lb package. Keep what you aren't using in the freezer to extend it's shelf life.

Here’s the description from the BSD website:

"Golden Pearls is a revolutionary new larval diet that has successfully replaced live Artemia nauplii in marine fish hatcheries in Europe. A patented processing technique (agglomeration of micro-encapsulated particles) results in feed particles or "clusters" that resemble raspberries under the microscope. Golden Pearls have tiny air pockets that keep the feed particles in the water column, not on the bottom of the tank. Golden Pearls mimic live brine shrimp nauplii."

Available in Seven particle Sizes

· Diatom Replacement: 5-50 microns

· Diatom Replacement: 50-100 microns

· SS Rotifer Replacement: 100-200 microns

· LS Rotifer Replacement: 200-300 microns

· Artemia Nauplii Replacement: 300-500 microns

· Instar V Replacement: 500-800 microns

· Baby Brine Replacement: 800-1,000 microns

Nothobranchius boklundi Luangwa Valley ZAM 09-2

Nothobranchius boklundi is a relatively new species of annual killifish from Zambia discovered by Jorn Boklund in 2009 in the Luangwa river valley.  It is part of the N. brieni species group and is similar to N. kafuensis.  It is differentiated from N. kafuensis by coloration and morphological characteristics. 

N. boklundi has an overall blue iridescence to the body and red reticulation with a blue or orange-red caudal margined in black.  The dorsal and anal fins are heavily spotted with red and may be yellow to red with some blue iridescence and no marginal bands. 

I obtained eggs from Bob Morenski in the summer of 2010, and a small number were ready to hatch in late October.  The fry are large enough to eat newly hatched brine shrimp and microworms.  Raising the fry posed no unusual problems, although I did have some mortality.  In N. kafuensis males often grow much more rapidly than females.  I did not have that problem with N. boklundi, and both sexes grow at about the same pace.

I usually breed in groups in a 20 gallon long tank.  They’ve turned out to be quite prolific and not aggressive at all.  Their diet is the same as it is for most of my fish: BBS, frozen bloodworms, live white worms, live blackworms, chopped redworms, daphnia, grindal worms, and dried foods.  I perform 50-80% water changes every week.  

Every two weeks I change the spawning medium.  Currently I’m using coir (ground up coconut husks) and I like it better than peat so far.  Incubation takes 4-9 months, but it’s important to watch the development of eggs from all species.  It’s the only way to be certain they’re ready to hatch.  After hatching I transfer the fry to a ½ filled 2.5 gallon tank.  I re-dry the medium, check for eggs, and re-bag and store the eggs for another month or two. 

I routinely get fairly large hatches of fry.  I have never seen a red form of the species other than in pictures, and have heard the same thing from everyone I've talked to who breeds this species.  If you are getting males with red caudal fins, please let me know!  I'd love to get that diversity in my strain.

Elassoma zonatum - The Banded Pygmy Sunfish

Banded pygmy sunfish, Elassoma zonatum, are a small freshwater fish found in North America.  They range from North Carolina to Florida west to Texas and north to Indiana and Illinois.  Like most Elassoma species, they inhabit swampy slow moving waters with plenty of aquatic vegetation.  Not true sunfish, they’re in their own family, Elassomatidae, with the other species of Elassoma.

E. zonatum is probably the least colorful species in the genus, but they are still attractive despite their drab coloration.  Both sexes are grey to tan and have vertical bars on their bodies.  Males tend to be darker, have more pronounced bands, and have dark fins whereas the female has relatively clear fins.  My females are slightly larger and more robust looking.  Males can get some very subdued blue iridescence, but you really have to look for it to find it.    

My fish are from Texas and were collected by Brian Perkins of WildPERU.  I received a group of 6 in late December and set them up in a 5 gallon tank with a huge clump of java moss.  I lost 2 in the first week, but they settled in well and turned out to be 1 male and 3 females.  Water was kept about 225 ppm hardness and 75°F.  They hide quite a bit, but not so much as to be hard to find.  They come out readily for food or to explore the tank but spend their resting time in hiding.  E. zonatum tends to stay near the bottom of the tank, but will explore mid water to find food. 

So far they don’t seem inclined to take flakes or granules.  They will pick at Repashay foods a bit.  I feed them mostly frozen bloodworms, frozen tubifex, blackworms, white worms, grindal worms, and baby brine shrimp.  They have good appetites and will eat quite a bit. 

I wasn’t 100% sure I had any males in early January, so I slowly lifted the moss out to find the adults.  My curiosity was answered by the very large number of miniscule fry dropping out of the moss as I lifted it through the water.  I didn’t need to ask Brian to bring any males to the January meeting; I obviously had males and females.  At this point I moved the adults to a 2.5 gallon tank with a spawning mop for cover while I cleaned out and set up a 20 gallon to house them permanently. 

Fry are very small, maybe only slightly larger than tetra fry.  I’m pretty sure I found them newly hatched, I didn’t come across any free-swimming fry for another week.  I started feeding them on 50-100 micron Golden Pearls and microworms.  After about a week I started them on baby brine shrimp.  For such small fry, they grow fairly quickly.  Once they got to be about 1/8” I started doing 80% water changes every week using aged tap water.  Most fry are growing at a fairly constant rate, but there is a small number that are absolutely huge.  Most are about ¼”, but a few are ½” or a little bigger.  I’m not sure why this is.  I’m not sure that it’s a simple matter of males growing faster, as that’s a much bigger difference than I normally experience with other species.  

Good tank mates would be other small fishes that inhabit the upper regions of the aquarium.  I’m now keeping them with Epiplatys annulatus, the clown killifish.  It seems to work well as the killies stay at the surface and the sunfish stay near the bottom.  A small mid-water schooling fish would be an excellent addition too.  While a little picky about what they will eat, Elassoma zonatum have been overall easy to keep and would make excellent candidates for nano tanks or planted setups.  

Aphyosemion cognatum CI2011

Aphyosemion cognatum is a beautiful species of killifish from the Aphyosemion elegans group.  The Zaire River drainage south & east of Kinshasa & southern Congo, the lower Kasai River & Pool Malebo are all areas known to contain the species.  It is generally found in streams, pools, and swamps in forested regions.  While it hasn’t been collected by hobbyists since 1991, it is imported regularly; probably due to its proximity to Kinshasa and Brazzaville where many fish are imported from.  In 2011 Jeff Michels (www.aquaticclarity.com) imported the species with only the designation of Congo for location. 

Like most other rainforest dwelling killies it prefers cool, soft, acidic water.  It does seem somewhat tolerant to a wide range of water conditions however.  I currently keep my water around 120-150ppm hardness and 75 °, I don’t check pH.  I raise fry in straight tap water, which for me ranges from 225 to 350ppm hardness. 

A. cognatum readily accepts many kinds of foods.  Mine happily eat flake, granules, frozen bloodworms and Repashay foods.  For breeding I feed them a range of live foods including white worms, black worms, fruit flies, chopped red worms, daphnia, baby brine shrimp and grindal worms.  Fry get baby brine shrimp, microworms and golden pearls and grow rapidly.

This is a plant spawning species and breeding is fairly simple.  They can be bred using a spawning mop.  You can pick eggs and incubate them in water or on damp peat moss, incubation takes 14-21 days.  Another way to incubate the eggs is to pull the mop from the tank, squeeze out the excess water, and store in a Ziploc bag.  When using one of the above methods I like to keep the male and female separate for conditioning and then put them together for a day or two for spawning.  This typically gives a larger number of eggs.

Another method of spawning them is the method I learned from Gary Greenwood & John Metzger, and the method I currently use.  I fill a 2.5 or 5 gallon tank approximately half full of long fiber sphagnum moss.  Usually I will pre-soak the moss until it sinks before adding the fish.  These “natural” setups get large weekly water changes to maintain water quality.  I feed live/frozen foods daily, and these tanks always get baby brine shrimp as well.

Usually within 4-6 weeks I start seeing ¼” long fry hiding in the moss or hovering just above it.  At this point I set up an identical tank and move the parents.  The fry grow fairly quickly and show signs of sexing out at 2-3 months.  Once I see a large number of fry in the 2.5 gallon and they have a little bit of size on them, I will carefully remove the moss, small amounts at a time, by hand.  Once most of the moss is out of the tank, I will transfer the entire contents of the tank to a 10 or 20 gallon tank.  At this point I start feeding the fry grindal worms as well as baby brine shrimp. 

By the age of 5-6 months I’m able to set up new breeding pairs and start the cycle all over again with another generation.  Some strains of A. cognatum are reportedly more difficult to breed, but so far the CI2011 strain has been easy and prolific.  I regularly get batches of 3 dozen or more fry at a time.  If you’re new to killies this is a great species to try.

Aphyosemion cameronense

Aphyosemion cameronense is a beautiful and highly variable species of killifish.  Its range includes the Inland Plateau of southern Cameroon, Rio Muni & northern Gabon.  It is generally found in slow moving rainforest streams, and can be found in the drainage systems of the Boumba, Boume, Dja, Lobo, Nyong, Sanaga & Upper Ivindo rivers.

Like most other rainforest dwelling killies it prefers cool, soft, acidic water.  Like most of my plant spawning killies, I currently keep my water around 120-150ppm hardness and 75 °, I don’t check pH.  I raise fry in straight tap water, which for me ranges from 225 to 350ppm hardness. 

A. cameronense doesn’t seem to like prepared foods.  I feed them a range of live & frozen foods including frozen blood worms, frozen tubifex worms, white worms, black worms, fruit flies, chopped red worms, daphnia, baby brine shrimp and grindal worms.  Fry get baby brine shrimp, microworms and golden pearls and grow rapidly.

This is a plant spawning species and breeding is fairly simple.  They can be bred using a spawning mop.  You can pick eggs and incubate them in water or on damp peat moss; incubation takes 14-21 days.  Another way to incubate the eggs is to pull the mop from the tank, squeeze out the excess water, and store in a Ziploc bag.  When using one of the above methods I like to keep the male and female separate for conditioning and then put them together for a day or two for spawning.  This typically gives a larger number of eggs.

Another method of spawning them is the method I learned from Gary Greenwood & John Metzger, and the method I currently use.  I fill a 2.5 or 5 gallon tank approximately half full of long fiber sphagnum moss.  Usually I will pre-soak the moss until it sinks before adding the fish.  These “natural” setups get large weekly water changes to maintain water quality.  I feed live/frozen foods daily, and these tanks always get baby brine shrimp as well.

Usually within 4-6 weeks I start seeing ¼” long fry hiding in the moss or hovering just above it.  At this point I set up an identical tank and move the parents.  The fry grow fairly quickly and show signs of sexing out at 2-3 months.  Once I see a large number of fry in the 2.5 gallon and they have a little bit of size on them, I will carefully remove the moss, small amounts at a time, by hand.  Once most of the moss is out of the tank, I will transfer the entire contents of the tank to a 10 or 20 gallon tank.  At this point I start feeding the fry grindal worms as well as baby brine shrimp. 

Usually with the various Aphyosemion species I’ve spawned, I’ll get fry gradually coming out of the moss as they get bigger and I’ll have a range of sizes.  I originally had a group of around 10 fry, after another month another group of fry came out of hiding.  This was a bigger group of fry, but much younger.  I’m guessing water quality dropped a bit and the fish stopped spawning for a while.  When I did a water change they probably spawned heavily for a couple of days before I noticed fry and pulled the adults from the tank. 

I picked up the Yen BDBG 04/04 strain at the WAKO show in November.  It’s been easy to breed so far and the fry have grown pretty quickly.  I’m told however that they take a long time to sex out reliably; 6 months or more.  I wouldn’t recommend this species for beginners, but if you have some experience with killifish, this is a good next step.  Aphyosemion cameronense is a little more demanding about water quality and food than the easier species, but if you meet their needs they are easy to raise.