Aplocheilus lineatus

By Seth Serva

This is my first article about killifish and I would have to say that killies are about the prettiest type of fish out there. There are so many different colors of these fish and so many skill levels of keeping & breeding them. There are the pretty easy mop spawning killies and some very hard mop spawning killies. The same goes for the peat spawning fish. I am going to talk about a certain type of mop spawning fish called Aplocheilus lineatus.

These fish are usually bought at fish stores about 3 to 4 inches in length. They are usually ready to breed when you buy them. But, if you buy them and they are less than 3 inches, you should put them in separate containers and grow them up to 4 inches before you put them together to breed. They are usually called Gold Wonder Killies in the stores.

The males of this species are brighter colored and have 6-8 very faint vertical stripes on their bellies. The females have none or very little of the males color, But their stripes are a lot easier to see. I think both sexes are pretty in their own way.

My gold wonders are usually fed flakes or freeze dried bloodworms, But, on occasion I feed them baby brine shrimp or frozen brine. You can also feed them baby fish. That means you can’t stick them in with smaller fish and expect them to get along fine. But, my fish do just fine without baby fish.

These fish need to have a cover on their tank at all times because they are one of the best jumpers and they like to prove it. Also, when you are catching them, you need to put your hand over the net because way too many times I have dropped my fish on the ground. But, a good thing is that these fish are very tough and they can be dropped and not harmed. But, if you go and buy one and try to bounce it off the floor and it dies, don’t yell at me.

Now down to the breeding of the Gold wonders. When, your fish have reached 4 inches long and you have feed the female so much that she looks like she will explode, you can think about breeding them. First, get a five-gallon tank and wash it out very good. Then, put enough water in it to make the tank half way full. I put some gravel in my tank to make the fish a little more comfortable. I also put Java fern in the tank. Take both of the fish and put them in the tank. Then get a killifish mop and stick it in their tank. When I breed them I stick two mops and attach them together and they seem to like that. Then put your cover on the tank and you are set to go. The fish usually don’t start breeding in till 2 or 3 days after they are put together. When you start getting eggs, you need to place the eggs in a camera film canister and put a top on it. After about 3 to 4 days the eggs should start to eye up. After a week and a half, they should hatch. The babies start to eat soon after they hatch. You should feed them APR or baby brine. But, when they are first hatched, put in some Java moss in with the babies because the tiny organisms that live in with the Java moss, the babies eat. After about 2 weeks, the babies start to get stripes and you can kind of sex them, But, it is probably not very accurate since some species of fish have been known to change sex and also because they may just be to young.

If you decided to breed these killies, you will certainly love these cute little things. By the way, please buy some raffle tickets in future meetings because these fish may just be there for you to win.