Day's Panchax Breeding Guide

How to breed Aplocheilus dayi, a Sri Lankan surface killifish that lays eggs on plants near the bottom in shallow tanks, hatching in about 12 days.

Overview

Aplocheilus dayi is a surface-dwelling killifish of the family Aplocheilidae endemic to Sri Lanka, where it inhabits shallow, still to slow-moving waters with dense vegetation. AquaInfo gives an adult size of about 6-7 cm and notes a harem social structure of one male with several females.

Sexing

AquaInfo describes males as vividly coloured with a greenish body, golden dorsal, soft blue-violet belly, red spots and a red band on the tail, while females are duller with narrow dark bands across the caudal peduncle.

Conditioning

The species is primarily carnivorous and requires live foods, only occasionally accepting dried preparations, so conditioning is done on live and frozen foods.

Breeding Setup

AquaInfo recommends a shallow breeding tank with low plants or driftwood root systems near the bottom, raising the temperature toward about 25 C for spawning. AquaInfo gives 22-25 C for maintenance, pH 6.0-6.5 and GH 8-12, and notes the species is mildly aggressive and suited only to larger tankmates.

Spawning Behavior & Trigger

AquaInfo notes the fish prefer to deposit their eggs in the immediate vicinity of the bottom, on low plants or driftwood roots in shallow tanks, rather than at the surface.

Egg & Fry Care

AquaInfo reports an incubation period of about 12 days. The newly hatched fry readily accept Artemia and very fine powdered food.

Common Challenges

The species is mildly aggressive and predatory, so fry are best raised away from adults and small tankmates avoided. As a surface fish it jumps readily, so a tight cover is essential.