A. bitaneatum eggs ready to hatch, magnified 60x. Click picture for enlargement

These fry are about 10 days old. A. bitaeniatum. Click picture for enlargement.

Aphyosemion striatum Cape Esteria

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Wonderful fish. Treat it like the other Aphyosemion species and it will do well. Breeds in a mop. Eggs hatch in about 2 weeks. Fry are pretty small and will need micro worms or vinegar eels for a few days to get off to a good start. Live baby brine shrimp and grindel or white worms will do the rest. Mine don't think much of flake food.

If you have trouble feeding the new fry, try just letting them grow up in the tank with the adults.

Aphyosemion gabuense Boehmi

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These fish amaze me. When they are growing up they get to be really nice looking fish. Then at some point the fins elongate and the colors become much stronger and more vibrant. Seems like that happens almost overnight. I feed micro worms for at least a week before trying any baby brine shrimp. If you keep lots of java moss in the tank with the new fry, that will give them more infusoria to eat to start out with. Many times I just leave the eggs in the tank with the parents and let the fry start out there until there are so many there is no room to swim. The key to doing it this way is to have a lot of java moss in the tank for the fry to hide and find food in. The parents don't seem to be very energetic when it comes to eating fry.

 Aphyosemion calliurum CI 97/1

Click for larger pic. Picture is of male and female.

These are an easy to keep fish, but rather shy. I keep them in a 2 gallon, mop, lots of java moss. The tank only gets natural room light. With this subdued light the fish are out enough to be seen and enjoyed. Small numbers of fry appear in the tank, living off the natural organisms until they are old enough to eat baby brine shrimp.

Aphyosemion ogoense caudofasciatum RPC 92/11

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