Aquatic Wonders: A Blog for Aquarium Fish Enthusiasts

For breeding purposes, the aquarium size should be at least 15 – 20 liters for a pair or a trio. This fish is not aggressive, although there might be an occasional aggressive male that might need to be separated from the group. Hypsolebias gardneri are quite prolific spawners if conditioned and fed well on live foods. These fish are substrate divers when spawning. The layer of peat needs to be at least 4 – 5 cm or even deeper if you want the fish to feel comfortable while spawning. Peat moss or coir is the preferred medium, but any other suitable type of spawning substrate can be used. The eggs are small in size, from 0.6 to 0.8 mm, and can withstand much abuse. The eggs are not adhesive and can be seen in the substrate with a bit of effort. Please note that the eggs incubation period of this species can be as long as 5 – 10 months and even longer, depending on the incubating temperature, substrate moisture, and other factors. You need to be patient and to check the eggs every 2 –...

This is probably one of the most beautiful South American annual killifish. This particular fish originates from a temporary pool close to a small stream of Lagoa de Maricá system (Road RJ-106) at Inoã, a small town in Maricá municipality located in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. As far as we have been told by a few Brazilian killifish breeders, this biotope is going to disappear quite soon due to new building projects in this area. For breeding purposes, the aquarium size should be at least 25 – 30 liters for a pair or trio (1 male and 2 females). This fish is not aggressive in general, although there always will be a dominated male, and it’s not necessarily required to remove him if you keep this species in a large group in spite of occasional aggression from the dominated male. Nematolebias papilliferus are quite prolific spawners if conditioned and fed well. These fish are substrate divers when spawning. The layer of peat needs to be at least 8 – 10 cm or even deeper i...

For breeding purposes, the aquarium size should be at least 30 – 40 litres for a breeding group of a few pairs. Males can be at times aggressive towards their kin’s and in that case, it is better to separate them or transpose them into larger tanks before casualties are allowed to occur. After having spent some time in a tank, each male establishes his own territory, which he eagerly defends against intruders. Relatively speaking, Nothobranchius eggersi is not as aggressive as some other Nothobranchius but they certainly can be aggressive to the point where females can suffer fatal damage. Wild specimens generally tend to be more aggressive than aquarium-raised specimens of the same species. In general, the best way to deal with aggression is to raise and breed them in groups (e.g. 5 – 6 males and 10 – 12 females) and do not at any time separate them. Taking one male out of a group and placing him back say a week later will assuredly create trouble. Raise them together as fry and as t...