WTB: Lake Tang killifish
hey, i have never kept kili fish before but after reading an article on Lamprichthys tanganicanus i am fasinated with these fish.
They were labelled on this forum as available and i was wondering who i would have to get in contact with to source some of these incredible fish.
They are not a killifish for beginners and even experienced killi keepers have considerable difficulty in keeping them. The fish basically die on exposure to air (that is, they cannot be netted out of a tank), generally require dim light and the females easily become egg bound.
There are only a few of these fish that are surviving in Australia and their numbers are generally not available for public distribution.
They seem to be very common in the USA but are not permitted to be imported into Australia.(This means there was a "wild" population here in 178
A beautiful killi which is kind on the user is A amieti which you might like to consider
Re: WTB: Lake Tang killifish
fair enough, the importer was very reluctant to bring them in as they do die in captivity.
Are there any other killi fish native to the rift valley??
Thanks for your help.
Cheers
Nick
There are the annual killifish from East Africa, the Nothobrancius species with some of them coming from Uganda. There have been a few in Australia from time to time but the Australian hobby seems predominantly non-annual west african fish.
Killies are not community fish and really do require their own species tank. In a community setup they will either be eaten or will hide in dark corners. I had to keep a pair of blue gularis killifish (they are big and quite vigorous) in a tank with some immature kribs for a couple of days and the killies came off second best.
Re: WTB: Lake Tang killifish
Sorry to annoy you all again but do you know if Aplocheilichthys pumilus are available in Australia or are they again available just not advisable for a killi beginner.
Thanks for your patience,
Nick
Had never heard of it. A beautiful fish from some web photos I looked up. From what I have been able to find out, has never been in Australia either as a legal import or otherwise.
This forum is here for discussion by killi-nuts so please keep posting all you like. We need to get killis out of the onion jars in dark cupboards (lol)
Re: WTB: Lake Tang killifish
Aplocheilichthys pumilus have been kept in Australia, but I have not seen them for many years. All I have is some slides taken by Neil Armstrong in Melbourne. Keith
Re: WTB: Lake Tang killifish
I would really love to see proof of them existing in Australia because 3 killi-nuts who have been keeping killis since the 1960s do not know of them ever having been in Australia.
It would be great if they DID exist and could be resurrected and saved as a species within Australia. We have lost far too many species of killis (cichlids, PNG rainbowfish etc etc) in Australia.
Re: WTB: Lake Tang killifish
Relying on my fading memory, I would say the Aplocheilichthys pumilus were in Melbourne around the mid-90's. Neil probably came across them through his contacts at Pet & Aquarium Ind. I will try to find the slides over the weekend and if I can scan them, maybe post them here on this forum. My guess is they came in a single shipment and never found there way to killi nuts, so were lost.
Keith
Re: WTB: Lake Tang killifish
Hmm.. thats odd if the importers don't bring this into Australia. Usually if they bring in Tanganyikan cichlids, this species does turn up in the export lists.
Here in Singapore they appear from time to time in the farms that deal with African Rift Lake cichlids.
The key to keeping this species is to ensure a high TDS and also maintaing the water quality. They need a pretty large tank as they are a shoaling species and some form is current is also good as they love to swim against it.
They are crevice spawners as per communication with a breeder in Hawaii and also will lay eggs in mops if I recall correctly.
I have L.tanganicanus and can say from first hand exp. that they are not as delicate as they are made out to be. I keep these fish in a tank with Tanganyikan sand sifters i.e.
X. sp. ochrogenys and E.descampsii and the fish are thriving.
I have also netted the fish on several occasions and have never had a problem. I haven't as yet bred the fish however judging by the way they are carrying on it should't be too long. If I do breed them I'll let you know, more than happy to help you out.
Re: WTB: Lake Tang killifish
G'Day Icarus, mate if you have any luck with breeding them please give me a yell and i will buy some off you. On another note, have you got any sand sifter fry or sub-adults for sale at the moment?
It would be great if more people can pressure the impoters to get these awesome killies.
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