History

Alfred Adloff discovered this species in 1921, and Ahl described the species as Cynolebias adloffi in 1922. Adloff found the species near Porto Alegre, Rio Grande du Sul state in Brasil. The species stayed in the genus Cynolebias till Costa (1998) transferred it into the Austrolebias genus. Austrolebias adloffi and its related species, A. arachan, A. charrua, A. minuao, A. nachtigalli, A. nigrofasciatus, A. reicherti, A. salviai, and viarius, do show dark- to black vertical bars on their sides. This pattern seperates them from the other species within Austrolebias. Another typical characteristic is the positive D/A deviation, which means the dorsal fin starts more to the front than the first ray of the anal fin and the two precaudal vertical blotches in females.

Garcialebias adloffi (new combination)

The bassin of Canal Andreoti it´s : 33º51´00" S - 53º´36´13" W // 33º54´19" S - 53º35´24" W // 33º 52´30" S - 53º 36´51" W // 33º 53´22" S - 53º 34´03" W in Republica Oriental del Uruguay - América del Sur.

(source: Alvaro Nessi)

To breed most Austrolebias, you need a tank with about 10 to 25 liter water in it, a small jar or plastic container of about 10 to 15 cm high, a little bit of well-boiled peat moss, or coco-peat, and a water temperature between 18 and 24 C. It is wise to add a small filter to that tank and change the water regularly for 90 %. Bring one male and, if possible, two or more females in the tank and feed the fishes daily with live food like daphnia, red- and black mosquito larvae, and white worms. Austrolebias does not accept dry food quickly, and also, the prepared cow-heart is not preferred if live food is offered. If possible, breed this genus in larger tanks with more than one pair or trio and give some hiding places if you do so. When breeding with more than one male, you should also provide more than one spawning container. Every male must have one, and you will see they show interesting territorial behavior to attract females into their spawning place.

The male "flinders" around the female, displaying his fins high- up with the most intense colors. As the female is willing to spawn, she follows the male, pressing his head towards the layer of peat, and when the female contact the male's belly, both will dive into the peat layer. This layer should have a thickness of at least the length of the largest animal or, better, some deeper so they can dive entirely into it.

The spawning occurs during the whole fertile life of the fishes, starting at 5 to 6 weeks of age, till they become old and weak or die from the lack of water in their natural environment. This "end-of-life" will be within 8 to 11 months, depending on the temperature. Higher temperatures will trigger more rapid aging.

In the wild, Austrolebias live in colder environments during the wintertime. Temperatures in Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina can get very low. Incubation time usually is six weeks if stored at high temperatures ( 25 C.) and more extended if kept at lower temperatures. The development can last five to six months also. So it is wise to check the eggs regularly to see if the eyes inside the eggs are fully developed and the iris is well visible. When "eyed-up," put a part of the peat with the eggs in water at cool (ca. 18 C) temperature. If the fry usually hatches- and swims within a few hours, wet the rest of the peat. After hatching, feed the fry immediately with freshly born Artemia nauplii. A day or so later, I pour the water together with the fry off and place them in a well-filtered tank without any peat moss to grow up. Austrolebias are not used to strong currents, and juveniles can die if turbulence is too strong. The remaining peat will still have eggs inside that are not ready to hatch yet. Re-pack the peat and store it for some extra time. This hatching delay is nature's answer to short rain showers that fill pools only temporarily, followed by another dry period. Such an event would kill the entire population of the species in that area if all eggs were hatched with first rains. These (late) eggs will hatch later, sometimes very much later, and the fishes that were born earlier will eat these youngs.

As stated before, young's are growing fast and will produce their first eggs after 5 to 6 weeks already, if not even sooner. This breeding information applies to most Austrolebias. However, if the above Austrolebias- species have different behavior or extreme adult size, find these adaptions below in this chapter under <remarks>.

Remarks;

No data of reproduction on this new species are given, but it is likely they reproduce like most other Austrolebias of small to medium size.

Max. size 5.0 cm.
Dorsal 22.0,
Anal 26.0,
D/A 2.0
LL scale count (average) 27.0
Pre- dorsal length to % SL – 51.4 %
Depth to % SL – 42.0 %

Ahl E. 1922. Die Gattung Cynolebias. Blatt.Aquar. -u. Terrarienk., 33 (14):

Costa, W.J.E.M & M.M. Cheffe, 2001. Three new fishes of the Geneus Austrolebias from the Laguna dos Patos system, southern Brasil, and a redescription of A. adloffi (Ahl) (Cyprinodontiformes: Rivulidae). Comunicacoes Museu Ciencias e Technologia PUVRS, sér. Zool., Porto Alegre, 14 (2), December: 182, figs. 2-3.

Alonso F., G.E. Terán, W.S. Serra Alanís, P. Calviño, M.M. Montes, I.D. Carcía, J.A. Barneche, A. Almirón, L. Ciotek, P. Giorgis, J. Casciotta, 2023. From the mud to the tree: phylogeny of Austrolebias killifishes, new generic structure and description of a new species (Cyprinodontiformes: Rivulidae) Zool. Journ. of the Linnean Society, XX, 1-30, Fig. 15, Tab. 2.