Inhabits ephemeral, water-filled depressions, pools and swamps mostly located in lowland floodplains. Water levels in these seasonally-variable habitats typically decrease during the dry season and eventually become completely dessicated for several months each year.

Near Bagamoyo it’s been collected from pools of a flat, grassy floodplain alongside the congeners N. annectens, N. janpapi and N. melanospilus, while at Soga it occus together with N. janpapi and N. ocellatus. Most habitats appear to be heavily overgrown with terrestrial vegetation.

This species is also known as ‘Gardner’s Killi’ and ‘blue lyretail’ and the commonly-available aquarium forms are perhaps among the best choices for those new to keeping killifishes being relatively hardy, colourful and easy to breed.

A number of ornamental strains have also been line-bred by aquarists including ‘gold’ and ‘albino’.

Distributed throughout coastal regions north and westwards from Gabon through Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin and Togo as far as Ghana although some consider it restricted to northwestern Gabon and Equatorial Guinea with the remaining populations representing various subspecies (see ‘Notes’).

Type locality is ‘Gaboon River’, which presumably refe…

This species is also known as ‘Daget’s panchax’, ‘black-lipped panchax’, ‘orange-throated panchax’ or ‘firemouth killifish’ and is an aquarium stalwart with the red-throated form having first been exported in 1908.

It’s an excellent choice for those new to killifishes or egg-laying species in general since the aquarium strain is well-established, quite hardy and easy to breed.

There was some initial confusion after Belgian ich…

Appears restricted to the area between the lower Mitmele River, Equatorial Guinea and the lower Ogooué basin in Gabon, including coastal drainages such as the Mbei, Komo and Gabon watersheds in between.

Type locality is ‘Abanga River, between first and second rapids, Ogowe River system, Gabon’, corresponding to the Abanga River bas…

A. gabunense is a good beginner’s killifish as it is not an annual species, being found in permanent bodies of water in nature. It exists in several geographical colour forms which are sometimes referred to the subspecies Aphyosemion gabunense gabunense, A. g. boehmi and A. g. marginatum. The latter two are slightly smaller with a maximum standard lenth around 45 mm, and all three can be told apart by differences in colour pattern.

This species is not an annual fish, being found in permanent bodies of water in nature. Over 20 different forms of it have been discovered at different localities and a handful have been given subspecific names. The most popular in the aquarium hobby include A. o. ottogartneri and A. o. pyrophore, both of which were initially described as separate species.

There exist several different colour forms of this species depending on collection locality, and these should not be kept together in order to prevent hybridisation and preserve bloodlines. It has been classified in the subgenus Chromaphyosemion by some authors who consider that nominal grouping to represent a monophyletic branch of a paraphyletic Aphyosemion.

Also known by the vernacular names You might also see it for sale as ‘golden lyretail’ or ‘lyretail panchax, A. australe was among the first killifishes to become popular in the hobby and still a favourite today. There exist a number of wild forms which tend to be labelled with place and year of collection in order to preserve bloodlines and avoid hybridisation, as well as several ornamental strans including ‘orange’, ‘gold’, ‘chocolate’, and ‘albino’.

Contrary to many reports, including a number of scientific papers, this species breeds in the same way as other cyprinodontids and does not dig pits or exhibit extended parental care.

It’s a fractional spawner with females depositing eggs on a more-or-less continuous basis when a warm temperature is maintained though ideally it should be permitted to breed on a seasonal basis in spring and late summer as it would in nature.