This photo is of two male African killifish of the genus Nothobranchius sparring. The fish in the front is Nothobranchius kothausae (Pronounced No-tho-BRANK-e-us court-HOUSE-eye). The fish looking at us head on is Nothobranchius guntheri. These fish live in temporary pools in central and eastern Africa. The fish lay their eggs in the mud and die when the pools dry out. The eggs develop in the mud and then go into a state of suspended animation until the rains come again. Once the pools fill up, the eggs hatch and the fish grow quickly. They may have only 3 months to reach adulthood, breed and die.

Some aquarium keepers specialize in these fish. We can get a packet of eggs in some peat in the mail. When the incubation time is complete we put the peat in water and the fish hatch. They can reach adulthood in 6 weeks! To spawn them we put containers of peat in the fish tank. A pair will go into the peat and lay eggs.Every couple of weeks we remove the peat, partially dry it and store it in plastic bags. The peat has to be kept at a certain temperature range for several months for the eggs to properly develop. Then the cycle starts again. Even in the aquarium, the adults rarely live for more than 8 or 9 months.

Males are very aggressive towards each other once they mature. I put these two males in a special photo tank I use for photographing fish. Once the fish notice each other they begin a ritualistic display, flaring their gill covers and spreading their fins. If left together they would fight to the death, but I separate them before they get to the point of physical contact.

This photo was taken with a Nikon D750 with my 60 mm Micro NIKKOR macro lens. I typically use two to three flashes including one from above and to one side, one from above and behind and one from the front. F/16, ISO 200, 1/60 sec. Postwork done in Photoshop to adjust color bakance, brightness and contrast with slight sharpening.