Six-barred panchax

Care at a glance

Overview

Keep them in a group of six or more in a tank of 75 liters or larger. They are top dwellers and skittish in small numbers, gaining confidence in a loose shoal rather than a tight school. Run the water warm, from 22 to 27 C, soft, and slightly acidic at pH 6 to 7. They are mostly peaceful toward similar-sized tankmates but are micro-predators, so they will eat dwarf shrimp and small fry, and mature males can squabble or turn territorial when breeding. Feed small live and frozen foods like daphnia and bloodworm, and they take dry foods too. They are strong jumpers, so a tight-fitting lid with no gaps is essential. They are not brackish, just standard tropical freshwater.

In the wild

Six-barred panchax come from soft, slightly acidic waters across West and Central Africa, from Ghana to Gabon. These are dim, tannin-stained pools and slow creeks shaded by forest, with leaf litter and overhanging plants near the surface. To match that, give them a densely planted tank of at least 75 liters with floating plants for cover, driftwood, leaf litter, and a dark or sand substrate. Lower light brings out their best color. Keep the water warm, from 22 to 27 C, soft, and on the acidic side around pH 6 to 7. They are a surface fish, so the top of the tank matters most.

Good to know

This is a West African killifish in the family Nothobranchiidae, often called a panchax. Adults reach about 8 to 9 cm, with a recorded maximum near 10 cm. They are egg layers that scatter eggs into fine-leaved plants, with the eggs incubated in the water rather than buried. With good care they live a few years, which is long for a killifish.

Did you know

They spend almost all their time pressed up against the surface, watching for insects that land on the water, and that habit makes them remarkable jumpers. A startled fish will launch straight out through the smallest gap in a lid, so any opening for a filter pipe or heater cord needs covering. In a blackwater setup over dark substrate, the bars along the body stand out far more than they do under bright light.

Related species

• 

  Red-chinned panchax

  Epiplatys dageti

  1.8 in (4.5 cm)20 gal (75 L)70–75°F (21–24°C)

• 

  Clown Killifish

  Epiplatys annulatus

  1.4 in (3.5 cm)15 gal (55 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)
• Gery's killi

  Scriptaphyosemion geryi

  2.6 in (6.5 cm)14 gal (54 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Bluefin Notho

  Nothobranchius rachovii

  2.4 in (6 cm)21 gal (80 L)68–75°F (20–24°C)

• 

  Gunther's nothobranch

  Nothobranchius guentheri

  2.4 in (6 cm)11 gal (40 L)72–77°F (22–25°C)
• Plumed lyretail

  Fundulopanchax filamentosus

  2.4 in (6 cm)20 gal (75 L)68–75°F (20–24°C)