Killies

The illustration above is of Aphyosemion (Fundulopanchax) sjoestedti (Lonnberg, 1895) a typical killie, though not one that is outstandingly temperature tolerant. Further on this subject Andrew Broome writes:

Many of the killie species are tolerant of low temperatures. I've kept a couple of Cynolebias species indoors unheated all year and have maintained Cynolebias nigripinnis outdoors where it survived a few frosts before I felt sorry for them and moved them indoors (where they promptly died). Cynolebias affinis is another low temperature tolerant species that has been in NZ up until recently. C. whitei will easily cope with cool temperatures too. It seems that many of the Nothobranchius species appreciate warmer temperatures (being from lowland east Africa) although I have a reference for Brian Watters collecting N. sp. Caprivi (95/1) in Namibia at a water temperature of about 8 C, at 8:00am. Many of the Aphyosemion species are from highland west Africa and are happy at the cooler end of the temperature spectrum although I maintain most of mine the mid to low 20s C since they seem to breed better around that temp.

Worth looking up is an excellent article; in the Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine, that describes summering of killies in the garden pond; by Hans-Jurgen Rosler. You may also care to have a look at another page on this site for a low temperature killie: the American flagfish.

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