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Text / Photo by Wang Zhongjing Flair Wang (Taiwan)
© Taiwan's "Aiku" magazine authorized ifish to publish
If you want to vote for the most suitable type of killifish for the mini aquatic tank (Nano tank), the Epiplatys annulatus that I want to introduce this time is definitely one of the champion fish choices! Its petite body shape, gorgeous body color, attractive price, gentle temperament and ease of rearing make it one of the most approachable species of mackerel in the aquarium market!
Spotted mackerel on fish (left male and right female) ↓↓↓
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Latin scientific name: Epiplatys annulatus
Common english name: Clown killifish
Chinese common name: spotted squid, ringed flattened squid
Order: Actinopterygii
Order: Cyprinodontiformes
Family: Pseudogillidae Nothobranchiidae
Genus: Epiplatys
Origin: Guinea, Lion Rock and Liberia, Africa
Maximum body length: 4 cm
Distribution map of spotted salmon ↓↓↓
Unique appearance
It has a very streamlined long barrel-shaped body, a creamy yellow tone, and four broad black longitudinal bands, so it is called: spotted salmon. The most surprising thing is that the male fish's spear-shaped multicolored tail fins are interwoven with blue, red and orange, and such a wonderful color can be seen on the surface of other unpaired fins. In addition, its extraordinarily extended ventral fins also add a lot of gorgeous ethereal feeling.
Its rocket-like shape gives it the most common name of "Clown Killifish", in addition to the English name of "Rocket Killifish". Note that above its iris, it looks like an aqua blue eyeshadow, which is a silvery-white third "eye" structure that is generally found in the surface of the perched mackerel (e.g., the Indian golden dragon fish Aplocheilus lineatus), which is said to help them sense the approaching of tiny prey or predators above the surface of the water.
Origin of the body
At present, most of the spotted salmon are artificially bred strains, and almost no wild individuals have been imported. A large part of this should be related to the fact that its native origin is not a popular exporter of wild tropical fish in Africa (such as Congo, Nigeria or Cameroon), and there may be slight differences in color, texture or body shape of individuals distributed in different origins, but the source of individual origins currently circulating in the market is long unknown.
The spotted mackerel was originally described by the famous Belgian naturalist George Albert Boulenger in 1915 AD as Haplochilus annulatus. Over the decades, its scientific names have changed from Aplocheilus annulatus, Pseudepiplatys annulatus to Epiplatys annulatus, and there are still debates about whether to use "Pseudoepiplatys" or "Epiplatys" as the official genus name. Here we refer to the latest updates to fishbase (2013) and still refer to it as "Epiplatys annulatus". In addition, squid players often abbreviate the first three letters of the species name to abbreviate the species, so the spotted squid is often used as an ANN code name to circulate among squid players.
Feeding environment
This species usually inhabits West African rainforest streams, shallow ponds or swamps with extremely gentle water flow, with a habitat of weak acid to neutral (pH 6.5-7.0) and a water temperature of 23-25 °C, and prefers to move in groups near the surface of the water, feeding on small insects that fall to the surface of the water or small invertebrates in the water. Therefore, in the environmental setting before breeding, considering that their maximum body length is only 3.5 - 4cm petite size, if the feeding space is insufficient, they can raise several animals in an aquarium of one foot or one and a half feet.
The spotted mackerel is a good aquatic tank companion. It can usually be polycultured with small and mild Galasim, carps or even loach reptiles. If you only want to raise individually, it is recommended to use a pneumatic biochemical filtration system in a small feeding tank to create a gentle water flow, because they do not like too strong water flow. Sometimes they excrete less, some players do not use filters at all, only use regular water changes to maintain water quality; if you want to choose an external or external cylinder filter, please measure the size of the fish tank in advance to choose the filter model with the appropriate flow intensity, so as not to exhaust the spotted salmon in order to resist the water flow due to the excessive water flow, and should also install sponges or strainers at the inlet pipe to avoid petite them accidentally being sucked into the filter.
In terms of environmental arrangement, sinking wood can be tied to aquatic plants such as Anubias native to Africa, Bolbitis heudelottii or moss for landscaping, or some floating water weeds such as water hibiscus or locust leaf ping can be placed, which can not only provide hiding space for the spotted fish, but also the fine roots can be used as spawning places. In addition, a few dried deciduous leaves (such as olive kernel leaves or beech leaves) can also be placed at the bottom of the tank to create a native habitat landscape, and the leaves will release acidic substances such as tannins during decay, and will also nourish some microorganisms for adult or newborn juveniles to feed.
Feeding methods
Although many foreign articles mention that the breeding of spotted salmon is a bit difficult and not suitable for beginners, the author believes that it is not difficult to breed. Its requirements for feed water quality are not particularly picky, and the water quality is maintained in the range between weak acid and neutral pH (pH5-7) and soft to medium hard water, and the water temperature adjustment is more appropriate between 23-28 °C. They prefer clean water, so it's best to replace a portion of the tank water and residual bait regularly to avoid ascites or other bacterial infections.
Since the spotted catfish belongs to the upper water species, the fish only usually live in the upper layer of the water, so the space of the upper layer of the feeding tank should be manufactured and retained to avoid food and space competition caused by polyculture of the same nature of the upper fish. In the feeding of bait, although they prefer small live bait, the newly hatched shrimp arthropods are quite suitable for feeding, but in the case of live bait is often not easy to obtain, the use of frozen raw bait and artificial feed is mostly easy to accept. Frozen shrimp and red worms are fed in turn with artificial flakes that can float on the surface for long periods of time to meet most of their needs.
Note: When feeding, you should try to avoid the bait falling to the bottom, because they are often interested in the food at the bottom. To solve such problems, you can often use siphons to suck out the bait at the bottom of the fish tank, or polyculture benthic small fish, such as ratfish or loach, can be completely solved.
Breeding recommendations
When the male pulls out the long tail of the spear and the ventral fin, and shows a bright color, it means that they have matured, at this time its body length is about 3 cm; while the female is slightly smaller than the male fish, the round and blunt fins are not as bright and gorgeous as the male fish, and the tail fin does not extend like the male fish, but when its abdomen is getting fuller and yellowish, it shows that it already has many eggs!
Other polyculture fish (containing various snails or shrimp) should be removed as much as possible before breeding so that they do not ingest the eggs. When entering the breeding period, the male will begin to chase the female, and open the gorgeous fins to show the most beautiful body color to court the female, and then continue to work close to the female, shoulder to shoulder to the bottom of the aquatic grass or the bottom of the fish tank to spawn, and soon the female will begin to "squeeze" a transparent fish egg with a viscous filament, and the male will immediately fertilize the eggs. The eggs are laid to adhere to the delicate leaves of aquatic grasses (such as moss) or to the fine roots of floating aquatic plants, and some players use the wool used for breeding of oviparous mackerel to spawn the mother fish to facilitate the collection of eggs and reuse.
The genus Non-Annual Killifish indicates that their eggs do not need to go through a drying period of several months to hatch directly in the water. The eggs hatch at 25 ° C, about 9-12 days, because the newly hatched fry mouth is very narrow, so it may not be possible to eat the newly hatched shrimp, so if some dry leaves are placed in the tank beforehand, you can breed some microorganisms that are invisible to the naked eye for the fry to feed, and then after about a week to provide the newly hatched shrimp with arthropods. Since the size of the spotted scorpion is very small, it will increase the difficulty of hatching and caring for fish eggs, it is recommended to take a natural way to let the fry hatch in the original tank, which may actually improve the chance of successful breeding, and if you are lucky, you can see small fish swimming on the surface of the water.
Pictured: The male fish in courtship is holding up its fins to court the female ↓↓↓
Pictured: Male and female fish swim side by side to the bottom of the fish tank ↓↓↓
Pictured: The male fish continues to push and squeeze the female ↓↓↓
Pictured: The female lays a transparent fish egg with a sticky filament attached to the male fish under constant pushing and pushing
(Click to enlarge to view)
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