Habitat in nature
Epiplatis torch is widespread in southern Guinea, Sierra Leone and west-eastern Liberia.
Inhabits swamps, small rivers with a slow flow, streams flowing both through the savannah and among the tropical jungle.
Most bodies of water are fresh water, although some individuals are found in brackish waters.
The climate in this part of Africa is dry and hot, with a distinct rainy season lasting from April to May and October to November.
At this time, most reservoirs are significantly filled with water, which leads to an increase in the amount of food and the beginning of spawning.
In nature, they are rare, in shallow water, often no more than 5 cm deep. Usually these are small streams in the jungle, where the water is warm, soft, and acidic.
It is reported that the water in such places is completely without current, which explains why they do not like current in the aquarium.
Even in an aquarium, torch epiplatis do not gather in schools, as many small fish do.
Each fish chooses its own habitat, although juveniles can swim in company, although this is not a school in the classical sense.
Compatibility with other fish
These peaceful fish are kept with other peaceful fish of a similar size: neons, platies, guppies, rhodostomus, zebrafish, rasboras, corydoras catfish. They should not be housed with large predatory fish, as they will eat them. Killie clowns are kept in a flock. In it they will reveal all their beauty. When kept alone, fish become shy and constantly hide.
Description
This is a small fish, body length 30 - 35 mm. But at the same time it is very brightly colored, in English it even received the name “clown killie”.
However, fish caught in different places differ in color, and fish also differ from each other, even from their parents.
Both males and females are cream colored, with four broad black vertical stripes that start just behind the head.
In males, the dorsal fin may be cream-colored, pale red, or even bright blue with redness.
In females it is transparent. The caudal fin is pale blue, its first rays are bright red.
Maintenance and care
A group of fish of 8–10 individuals will feel great in a tank of 40 liters or more. A large number of plants, both rooted and floating, should be used in the design. The latter provide additional shading, since Epiplatis torch does not like bright light. The substrate is sandy with several natural shelters in the form of snags, tree branches or roots. It is advisable to add a few dry leaves; as they decompose, they release natural humic substances that color the water the faint brown color characteristic of wetlands. Leaves should be renewed once a week. Carefully choose a filter; it should provide effective cleaning, but at the same time not create excessive water movement; the fish cannot resist the flow. Other minimum equipment required consists of a heater, an aerator and a lighting system set to low power. Water conditions are typical for most swamps - pH value below 7.0 and hardness parameters not higher than 10. Read more about pH and dGH parameters in the section “Hydrochemical composition of water”. To maintain biological balance, it is necessary to update part of the water weekly (about 20% of the volume) with fresh water, and it must have identical indicators and temperature, since the fish are extremely sensitive to changes in external conditions. The permissible concentration of sea salt is within 1–2 grams. for 1 liter of water.
Content
Most aquarists keep clownfish in micro and nano aquariums, and these conditions are ideal for them. Sometimes the problem can be the flow from the filter, and neighbors, these two reasons lead to the fact that it becomes more difficult to separate them.
But otherwise, they are great for nano-aquariums, significantly decorating the upper layers of water.
Water parameters for keeping are quite important, especially if you want to get fry. They live in very warm, soft and acidic water.
The temperature for keeping should be 24-28°C, pH about 6.0, and water hardness 50 ppm. Such parameters can be achieved by placing peat in the aquarium, which will color and soften the water.
Otherwise, the content is quite simple. Since they do not like flow, filtration may not be used. It’s better to plant more plants; they especially love those floating on the surface.
A long aquarium, with a large water surface, is preferable to a deep one, since they live in the upper layer, no more than 10-12 cm deep. And you need to cover it, as they jump magnificently.
Since there will be no filtration in such an aquarium, it is very important to monitor water parameters and feed moderately. You can launch invertebrates, such as ordinary coils or cherry shrimps, epiplatis are indifferent to them.
But they can eat small fish eggs. It’s better to just clean and change the water more often.
Diet of torch epiplatis
Particular attention should be paid to the diet of epiplatis . The fact is that they ignore the tubifex, and bloodworms can be difficult to select in size. Therefore, we have to resort to a rather labor-intensive operation - sorting and slightly drying the bloodworms. In addition, the fish can be given small coretra, sometimes cyclops and daphnia. It should be remembered that this is a typically insectivorous fish and therefore small insects such as aphids, larvae of crickets and cockroaches, and fruit flies are considered the best food.
Due to the structure of their mouth, torchbeards take food well from the surface of the water and rarely pick up food from the bottom. The fish are fed often, but in small portions.
Compatibility
They are peaceful, but due to their size and keeping habits, it is best to keep them in a separate aquarium. A 50-liter aquarium can contain two or three pairs, and a 200-liter aquarium can contain 8-10. Males compete with each other, but without injury.
If you want to combine with other fish, then you need to choose small and peaceful species, such as Amanda's tetra or badis-badis.
Breeding torch epiplatis
Reproduction of torch epiplatis is similar to other representatives of the genus; they are spawning fish that lay their eggs on floating plants.
All-glass or acrylic small aquariums with a bottom area of 200x200 mm and a water level of 5-8 cm are used as a spawning tank. Water is taken from the aquarium where the breeders are kept, and a small amount of settled, slightly softened water is added to it. The water should be clean and fresh, it is good if areas of open water alternate with islands of floating plants.
It should be borne in mind that all procedures associated with replacing and adding water must be carried out carefully - preferably more often and in small doses. It is recommended to raise the temperature by 1-2°C. Plants such as richia and Thai fern are used as spawning substrate.
When breeding torch epiplatis, it is necessary to take into account some nuances. If the male is active, then from two to four females can be placed with him, Epiplatis in a group, so in a 50-liter aquarium you can put a group of breeders consisting of 20 individuals, with a predominance of females.
With the group breeding method, epiplatis spawn for a long time. The spawning period can last several weeks, during all this time the producers are fed abundantly and variedly. Among floating plants and their roots, females of epiplatys periodically lay small eggs with a short stalk. It is sticky and attaches well to the substrate; individual eggs sometimes fall to the bottom, which does not in any way affect their development.
The number of eggs laid each day varies; the female lays several transparent eggs at a time. The egg diameter is about 1 mm. Caviar is susceptible to fungal and bacterial infections. After 8-12 days, a larva ready to hatch is already noticeable. To stimulate a more friendly hatching, you can add a little fresh water to the spawning tank.
Torch epiplatis - male and female
The spawning tank is periodically inspected and the eggs found in it are transferred to another aquarium. If this is not possible, then the eggs and fry can be left in the spawning tank, since the producers do not eat them. During this period, the fry feed on ciliates, which are caught in the midst of floating plants. The fry should be caught from time to time using a glass tube or an ordinary spoon and transplanted into a separate small, preferably wide, aquarium. Most often they can be found at the junction of the surface of water and glass, in the bend of the water film. They are noticeable by the steely shine of the spots on the crown of the head.
Pair breeding gives good results. With this breeding method, after spawning, the spawners are usually returned to the aquarium from which they were taken.
The best starting food is “live dust”. A small number of fry can be raised with a micromin and a microworm, but for this, a sufficiently powerful aerator must be installed in the aquarium so that the food is in constant movement.
At first, the fry grow slowly, but when the first subtle stripes begin to appear in their color, the growth rate accelerates sharply. At this point, it is advisable to transplant the fry into a larger container. You should be careful about sorting food by size; the main thing here is not to rush into switching to larger food.
Two- and three-month-old juveniles can already be distinguished by sex. But before transplanting young Epiplatis into a common aquarium, you should first prepare them for this procedure by adding small portions of water from the aquarium into which they are planned to be transplanted.
As you can see, all this is not difficult, but it requires some attention and caution. Let's hope that the torch epiplatis will not suffer the same fate as some of the spawning cyprinodonts that have disappeared from our aquariums. May they always delight us with their beauty.
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The aquarium fish Epiplatys chaperi (lat. Epiplatys chaperi) is a guest from Africa. In nature, this fish is found in equatorial West Africa from Gabon to Liberia.
These “Africans” have been living in our aquariums for generations, since the first specimens were brought to Europe in 1908.
To understand what the Shapera pike needs for a comfortable life in the aquarium, you need to mentally go to its homeland.
Imagine a small pond under the tropical sun. The water in it is very warm, sometimes even hot. It is difficult to breathe in such water; not every fish can survive in such conditions, but Epiplatis chapera is at home here. True, the fish stays close to the surface. There is more oxygen there, and it is more convenient to hunt insects.
This aquarium fish has another name - Schaper's pike, and it really is a bit similar in body shape to the European pike. If you are not familiar with common pike, then you can read about it in the blog about fishing, and at the same time how to catch it.
And our pike has a round, elongated body. The fish is dark gray from above, you can’t see it against the background of the dark bottom covered with silt. And if you look from the side, it’s striped, also a good camouflage against the background of vertical stems of algae.
But the color of the male below does not seem to be protective - it is bright: the chest is orange, almost scarlet, the tail with a short sword is bright green.
But it is not protective only from our point of view; in fact, in the tropics the colors are brighter and perhaps this orange spot, on the contrary, makes it protected. The female has a very modest color - she is all gray.
But the fish are unpretentious, which is why many people like to keep them in aquariums. But it is better to keep them in a ratio of three: two males and one female. Shaperi are excellent jumpers, so it is imperative to cover the aquarium.
They hunt for insects by jumping out of the water, so they can easily jump out of an aquarium. In an aquarium, chaperi are kept near the surface, so its depth is not as important as its width.
Any plant will do, but be sure to throw a little Riccia fluitans onto the surface.
In order for the fish to begin to reproduce, it is better for them to arrange a “rainy period”: gradually add fresh heated water. At a temperature of 23-25 degrees, each female will lay 2-4 eggs. They hang them on the riccia.
For 10 days you can be calm about the offspring, the eggs are hard and no one will touch them yet, but on the ninth day you should catch them along with the riccia and transfer them to a deep bowl of water, covering it with glass from dust. This is where the fry hatch.
Description of where it lives
In the wild, the fish is common in western Africa, found in countries such as Guinea, Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The usual habitat of epiplatis is shallow swamps and slowly flowing forest streams.
Outwardly it looks like a pike. The small body of the torch epiplatys (see photo in the review) is elongated, in the rear part it is flat on the sides. His eyes are colorful, glowing blue-green. The male is usually brighter colored than the female. Four parallel wide stripes of a dark shade run along the body of the fish.
Prominent is the tail, with a bright orange stripe in the middle in the shape of a flaming torch, the edges of which are red lines on a blue background, shaped like a flame. Thanks to him, epiplatis acquired its name. The color of the remaining fins, depending on the species, can be brown-yellow in combination with brown, red, and blue.
Females look less noticeable, not having such bright colors, with the exception of some cases. Their size does not exceed 1.5-2 cm, in contrast to males, whose length can reach 3-4 cm.
Behavior and Compatibility
Peaceful with other species, but not suitable for an aquarium with larger fish due to its size.
Small tetras such as Ladigesia Roloff, Lepidarchus adonis or Neolebias Anzorga make good aquarium mates. In fact, most peaceful species of similar size that have comparable conditions are suitable, such as many small cyprinids, anabantoids, callicids and loricariids.
Try to buy at least 8-10 specimens as this species is relatively sociable and the fish will not only be less shy but will also exhibit more interesting behavior when kept in large groups.
