Lacustricola pumilus Breeding Guide

Breeding the dwarf lampeye Lacustricola pumilus: a non-seasonal East African plant-spawner that lays adhesive eggs continuously, hatching in about 14 days.

Overview

Lacustricola pumilus, the dwarf or Tanganyika lampeye (family Procatopodidae), is native to Lake Tanganyika and associated drainages across Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia, in rivers, river mouths, coastal swamps and shallow parts of the lake. FishBase reaches about 5.5 cm and classifies it as a non-seasonal killifish that is easy to maintain; the IUCN lists it as Least Concern (2016).

Sexing

Males display the brilliant blue iris ring above the eye most strongly; in this petite shoaling species males are the more vividly marked sex while females are plainer.

Conditioning

FishBase gives sexual maturity at about five months of age. Condition adults on small foods; FishBase lists a temperature of 24-26 C and pH up to 7.5 for the species.

Breeding Setup

A small, densely planted aquarium suits this nano species. killi.co.uk records breeding on spawning mops, and the fish also deposit their adhesive eggs on fine-leaved plants; a planted bottom is important as a spawning substrate.

Spawning Behaviour & Trigger

As a non-seasonal plant-spawner, the dwarf lampeye spawns continuously rather than in a single seasonal event, attaching adhesive eggs to plant surfaces day after day under stable conditions.

Egg & Fry Care

FishBase gives an egg development time of about 14 days in captivity, and the eggs are reported not to be prone to fungus. killi.co.uk notes fry can be started on a fine first food and moved onto brine shrimp nauplii after two to three weeks, with very gradual acclimation to new water to prevent mortality during transfers.

Common Challenges

killi.co.uk reports that hatch rates can be low and that young fish are sensitive to abrupt water changes, so slow acclimation and stable parameters are key. The tiny fry also need very fine first foods before brine shrimp.