Chromaphysemoin bitaeniatum
Chromaphysemoin bitaeniatum (Benin City)
Basic Care
Temp: 72-76 Fahrenheit. The fish seem pretty tolerant of varying pH levels, but tend to do best in slightly acidic water. When feeding, live, frozen, or freeze-dried food is preferred. As far as prepared food goes, they are hit or miss. Mine find tetra color bits disgusting, but love the NLS line. Favorite frozen foods are frozen mysis and bloodworms, though live black-worms are a favored treat. Fry feed off of infusoria and the addition of whiteworms or bbs will greatly improve growth rate, but they have done just fine being fed “golden pearls” though growth will be a bit slower.
Tank
These fish will do well in tanks as small as 5.5 gallons, but with their rate of fry production, larger quarters will
be necessary. A 10 to 30 gallon would be ideal. Contrary to popular belief, these fish will not only hug the surface, but if they are comfortable, will make good use of the whole tank. The tank should have large thickets of java fern and/or najas, both for protection and as shelter for the fry. Also very important, is either a glass cover or a good thicket of floating plants, as these fish can be very efficient jumpers when stressed.
Tankmates
These fish can certainly hold their own in most peaceful community settings, though egg production may be slowed or halted. (They’ll still be making them, but most will get eaten). Good tank mates for Chrom. bitaeniatum would be Pseudepiplatys annulatus, as both work in permanent setups, and if you keep the tank around 76*, then a pair/trio of apistos can be added to the tank as well.
Breeding
Either I just have great luck with this species, or they are some of the easier killies to breed. Provided with a java moss choked 10 gallon, the parents expressed such fecundity that it was only a matter of time before they had to be upgraded to a 29. The permanent breeding setup works wonderfully with these fish. Though I never saw a single egg being laid, their courtship was quite apparent, with the pair diving into the plant masses together, and after some shaking, departing. Additionally, babies were constantly showing up amongst the floating plants. At first, I never made any provisions for feeding them, letting them fend for themselves, a system that ended up working quite well. Growth rate increased when golden pearls were added to their diet. Fry growth was somewhat slow, but the addition of live feed definitely would change this.
Considerations
Many killie species have very similar appearances in their females, and since there is often uncertainty over
whether different collection localities are indeed the same/or different species, it is best to avoid mixing closely related species of killie in the same tank, or even in close tanks, as they are accomplished jumpers. Though it is generally easy to spot a male of a given species out of a group, the females are often a completely different story to distinguish, even for the experienced eye. As such, it is important to remember collection details, which come as a tag after the species name, and attempt to keep the purity of that name for as long as possible for future hobbyists.
Notes
There seems to be a lot of variability between my fry. There seems to be distinctly, a light bodied and dark bodied morph, with the light body having slightly more washed out colors, but better fin structure, and the dark body more showing far better colors. These fish have had a bad reputation for being jumpers, which is true, but providing safe cover for them will reduce incidences of carpet surfing. Overall, I have found this species relatively easy to breed, and an interesting tank inhabitant in terms of their beautiful courtship/threat displays and gorgeous jewel tone colors. These guys have proven to be an excellent first killie, and as they say, “Nothing succeeds like success” so be prepared to branch out into other species after your experience with Chromaphysemoin bitaeniatum.
2 males sparring:
Female:
__________________
Chromaphysemoin bitaeniatum (Benin City)
Basic Care
Temp: 72-76 Fahrenheit. The fish seem pretty tolerant of varying pH levels, but tend to do best in slightly acidic water. When feeding, live, frozen, or freeze-dried food is preferred. As far as prepared food goes, they are hit or miss. Mine find tetra color bits disgusting, but love the NLS line. Favorite frozen foods are frozen mysis and bloodworms, though live black-worms are a favored treat. Fry feed off of infusoria and the addition of whiteworms or bbs will greatly improve growth rate, but they have done just fine being fed “golden pearls” though growth will be a bit slower.
Tank
These fish will do well in tanks as small as 5.5 gallons, but with their rate of fry production, larger quarters will
be necessary. A 10 to 30 gallon would be ideal. Contrary to popular belief, these fish will not only hug the surface, but if they are comfortable, will make good use of the whole tank. The tank should have large thickets of java fern and/or najas, both for protection and as shelter for the fry. Also very important, is either a glass cover or a good thicket of floating plants, as these fish can be very efficient jumpers when stressed.
Tankmates
These fish can certainly hold their own in most peaceful community settings, though egg production may be slowed or halted. (They’ll still be making them, but most will get eaten). Good tank mates for Chrom. bitaeniatum would be Pseudepiplatys annulatus, as both work in permanent setups, and if you keep the tank around 76*, then a pair/trio of apistos can be added to the tank as well.
Breeding
Either I just have great luck with this species, or they are some of the easier killies to breed. Provided with a java moss choked 10 gallon, the parents expressed such fecundity that it was only a matter of time before they had to be upgraded to a 29. The permanent breeding setup works wonderfully with these fish. Though I never saw a single egg being laid, their courtship was quite apparent, with the pair diving into the plant masses together, and after some shaking, departing. Additionally, babies were constantly showing up amongst the floating plants. At first, I never made any provisions for feeding them, letting them fend for themselves, a system that ended up working quite well. Growth rate increased when golden pearls were added to their diet. Fry growth was somewhat slow, but the addition of live feed definitely would change this.
Considerations
Many killie species have very similar appearances in their females, and since there is often uncertainty over
whether different collection localities are indeed the same/or different species, it is best to avoid mixing closely related species of killie in the same tank, or even in close tanks, as they are accomplished jumpers. Though it is generally easy to spot a male of a given species out of a group, the females are often a completely different story to distinguish, even for the experienced eye. As such, it is important to remember collection details, which come as a tag after the species name, and attempt to keep the purity of that name for as long as possible for future hobbyists.
Notes
There seems to be a lot of variability between my fry. There seems to be distinctly, a light bodied and dark bodied morph, with the light body having slightly more washed out colors, but better fin structure, and the dark body more showing far better colors. These fish have had a bad reputation for being jumpers, which is true, but providing safe cover for them will reduce incidences of carpet surfing. Overall, I have found this species relatively easy to breed, and an interesting tank inhabitant in terms of their beautiful courtship/threat displays and gorgeous jewel tone colors. These guys have proven to be an excellent first killie, and as they say, “Nothing succeeds like success” so be prepared to branch out into other species after your experience with Chromaphysemoin bitaeniatum.
2 males sparring:
Female:
__________________
