Blue Lyretail Killifish Breeding Guide

How to breed Fundulopanchax sjoestedti, a substrate-spawner: sexing, conditioning, peat or mop spawning, water or 10-12 week dry peat incubation and rearing fry.

Overview

Fundulopanchax sjoestedti is a large West African killifish from Nigeria and Cameroon and a substrate spawner. Its eggs can be incubated in water or dried in peat, giving the breeder a flexible choice of method depending on the spawning medium used.

Sexing

The male is the larger, more brightly coloured fish, with extensions to the caudal, dorsal and anal fins. Females are smaller, plainer and rounder in the belly.

Conditioning

Separate the sexes into conditioning tanks and feed a varied diet of live and frozen foods, then select the best male and the plumpest females for spawning. Suitable spawning conditions are around 74-77 F (about 23-25 C) and pH near 6.5, though the species can breed up to pH 8.0.

Breeding Setup

The spawning medium can be a layer of peat moss on the floor of the aquarium, spawning mops, or clumps of fine-leaved plants such as java moss, with peat moss considered the most productive method. A trio can spawn in an aquarium as small as 15 by 8 by 8 inches.

Spawning Behavior & Trigger

Being a substrate spawner, the pair drives the eggs into the peat or plant clump at the bottom. After spawning the keeper recovers the eggs from the medium for either water or dry incubation.

Egg & Fry Care

Eggs can be incubated in water (with methylene blue) and will hatch in 21 days or so depending on temperature. For dry incubation, peat moss is dried on newspaper for 2 or 3 hours, then stored in a plastic bag at 70-75 F for 10-12 weeks before wetting induces hatching. The fry have no visible yolk sac and can be fed brine shrimp nauplii or microworm from hatching.

Common Challenges

Choosing the correct dry-storage duration is important, as eggs wetted too early or too late hatch poorly. Maintaining stable storage temperature and avoiding fungus in water-incubated eggs are the other key points.