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An Easy Way to Breed the Clown Killifish, Epiplatys annulatus
By Rich Serva
Epiplatys annulatus is a killfish that comes from Liberia and Guinea
on the West Coast of Africa. Literature lists this fish from pools
and streams in Niger, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea on the West
Coast of Africa. It is reported to come from the waters drained by
the St Paul Rive (map - Figure 1). I decided to search NEODAT II for
listing of Museum Records of collected specimens. I found no
listings in that database.
Description of the species
Epiplatys annulatus is shaped similar to other Epiplatys. It has an
elongated body with a pointed head. Its body color is alternating
wide bands of cream and black over the length of the body. Their
eyes are a reflective blue coloration. Both sexes have a pintail
shaped caudal fin. Males have a slightly elongated dorsal and
alternating blue & red stripes on the tail. Males are slightly
larger than females but reach no more than 1.5 inches in overall
length. These fish prefer softer conditions but water from the Akron
water department proved adequate for breeding conditions.
Habitat
More specifically the fish are found in the pools and streams in
Niger, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea on the West Coast of Africa.
Personal observations
Epiplatys annulatus proved to be an easy fish to maintain. We set
our pair up in a 10-gallon tank containing Java moss. They were less
picky than most killifish and they accepted baby brine, Moina,
frozen brine and flakes as food. The Epiplatys annulatus were fairly
shy and spent most of their time hidden in the moss. As a result we
ignored them other than at feedings.
After a few months we started noticing fry in the tank. We figure
“nice and easy” so leave the fish alone. Soon those fry starting
growing up but no new fry were spotted. In an effort to collect fry
to turn in for BAP the juveniles were removed to a separate tank. I
only found 5 fry so the fish were left separated and I went back to
ignoring them. Before long I began to notice small fry again. I
suspected that the larger fry were feeding on the tiniest fry so I
went looking in the literature. Their I found Curt’s article where
he mentioned that problem. So it looks like we will be setting up a
number of fry tank. Although we feed the fish the tiny babies most
likely feed mainly on the microscopic life that grows on the Java
moss so remember that if you decide to keep this fish.
References:
Riehl, R & H Baensch, “Aqurium Atlas, Volume 1”. Mergus-Verlag Hans
A. Baensch (1982).
Smith, C, “Breeding Clown Killies, Epiplatys annulatus” Youngstown
Aquarist, publication of the Youngstown Area Tropical Fish Society
(Youngstown, Ohio).
Taylor, R, “Care and breeding of Epiplatys annulatus” Newsletter of
the Tri-State Aquarium Society (Huntington, WV).
Figure 1: Range for Epiplatys annulatus in the countries of Liberia,
Sierra Leone and Guinea (Africa)
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