Plumed lyretail

Care at a glance

Overview

A trio or small harem does well in a planted 75 litre species tank at 20 to 24 C and soft, slightly acidic water around pH 6.0 to 7.0. Males show off to each other but rarely cause real harm when there is room and cover. Feed live and frozen foods such as bloodworm, white worm, brine shrimp, and daphnia, with some dry food accepted. Spawn on fine plants or coconut fibre and incubate the eggs damp.

In the wild

It occupies small, often shaded pools, ditches, and slow streams in the coastal lowlands of West Africa. Males are bright, with rows of red spots on a blue-green body and extended lyre-shaped tail points, while females are tan. Give it a well planted, dimly lit tank with floating cover and a firm lid.

Good to know

Fundulopanchax filamentosus is a non-annual killifish that lives longer than the true annual species and does not need its eggs to dry out completely. It is a switch spawner, able to lay eggs on plants or in the substrate depending on conditions. Eggs are usually incubated damp for six to ten weeks before wetting triggers hatching.

Did you know

It can spawn either on plants or buried in the bottom, hedging its bets so at least some eggs survive whether the pool dries out or not.

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