Amiet's lyretail

Care at a glance

Overview

Amiet's lyretail is a colourful West African killifish, best kept as a single pair or as one male with two or three females, which spreads his attention and keeps any one female from being harried. It swims mostly in the middle and lower water among plants and cover, so give it a shaded, well planted tank with a tight lid, since it will jump. Temperament is mostly peaceful, and it does best with small, calm tankmates or in a species tank of its own, with nothing large or boisterous. Feed small meaty foods such as live or frozen brine shrimp, daphnia, bloodworm, whiteworm, and a little dry food. A pair is comfortable in a tank of about 54 liters, with more room welcome for a harem.

In the wild

This species comes from shaded brooks and swampy pools in the Sanaga basin of Cameroon, where the water is soft, acidic, and stained brown by leaf litter. Recreate that with gentle filtration, a dark substrate, roots and leaves, and floating plants to dim the light. Keep it soft and slightly acidic, around pH 5.5–7.0, and cool to warm at 20–25 C. Dried leaves and alder cones help hold the tannin colour and acidity it prefers.

Good to know

Fundulopanchax amieti belongs to the African killifish family Nothobranchiidae and reaches about 7 cm, the males patterned with red spots and vermiculations over blue-green flanks. It is a soil-spawning, semi-annual species: pairs bury their eggs in peat or fine substrate, and the damp peat is stored for a few weeks before rehydrating to hatch the fry. Breeding is a moderate project rather than a beginner one, since it depends on getting the storage time and water right.

Did you know

The fish honours Jean-Louis Amiet, the French naturalist whose surveys described a large share of Cameroon's killifish, so the name marks a debt to the person who put many of these species on the map.

Tank mates

Amiet's lyretail is a mostly peaceful, social species that keeps to the middle. These picks match on water type, temperature, pH, size and temperament.

• 

  Butterfly moth catfish

  Erethistes pusillus

  Freshwater

  2 in (5 cm)14 gal (54 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)
• Mini zebra loach

  Yunnanilus pulcherrimus

  Freshwater

  2 in (5 cm)14 gal (54 L)64–75°F (18–24°C)
• Guinean panchax

  Epiplatys guineensis

  Freshwater

  2.8 in (7 cm)14 gal (54 L)68–77°F (20–25°C)
• Pridi loach

  Schistura pridii

  Freshwater

  1.8 in (4.5 cm)14 gal (54 L)68–77°F (20–25°C)
• Chiangmai stream goby

  Rhinogobius chiengmaiensis

  Freshwater

  2 in (5 cm)14 gal (54 L)64–75°F (18–24°C)
• Elongate moth catfish

  Hara horai

  Freshwater

  3.1 in (8 cm)14 gal (54 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)

Check the full mix in the stocking calculator

Common questions

Related species

• Arnold's killifish

  Fundulopanchax arnoldi

  Freshwater

  3 in (7.5 cm)14 gal (54 L)68–77°F (20–25°C)
• Delta killifish

  Fundulopanchax deltaensis

  Freshwater

  3.1 in (8 cm)14 gal (54 L)68–77°F (20–25°C)

• 

  Plumed lyretail

  Fundulopanchax filamentosus

  Freshwater

  2.4 in (6 cm)20 gal (75 L)68–75°F (20–24°C)
• Walker's killifish

  Fundulopanchax walkeri

  Freshwater

  2.4 in (6 cm)14 gal (54 L)68–77°F (20–25°C)

• 

  Steel Blue Killifish

  Fundulopanchax gardneri

  Freshwater

  2.2 in (5.5 cm)21 gal (80 L)70–79°F (21–26°C)
• Fallax killifish

  Fundulopanchax fallax

  Freshwater

  3.5 in (9 cm)14 gal (54 L)68–77°F (20–25°C)