Lloyd’s Lyretail

1 Lloyd’s Lyretail Overview

The Lloyd’s Lyretail reaches 4–5 cm and is native to East Africa. Called one of the world’s most beautiful tropical fish, it is also very hard to keep, among the hardest. Sensitive to hard water, its environment must be carefully managed.

Aliases: Lloyd’s lyretail, Lyretail

Origin: River systems of West Africa

Water temperature: 22–26°C

pH: 6.0–6.4

Food: live foods such as daphnia, earthworms

Temperament: Fierce; keep as a single species

2 Appearance

Called one of the world’s most beautiful tropical fish; the curious want to know its beauty. Here it is.

The Lloyd’s Lyretail is 4–5 cm, with blue scales edged red; dorsal and anal fins blue with brown spots. Overall red-blue; pale yellow snout; blue eyes; dorsal and anal blue with brown spots; caudal blue with red and black edges.

When buying, beyond color check eyes and body proportion, any disease, fins spread. Wave a hand before the tank; if the fish comes, reacts, seeks food, doesn’t dart, and is active, it is healthy. When netting, catch the shy ones—fast swimmers are healthy; don’t give up because hard to catch. Don’t buy on looks alone; if pretty but failing the above, wait two days and check again. Even if someone beats you to it, better than buying a sick fish. Always oxygenate, ideally two per bag; shade the outer bag to avoid fright.

3 Habitat

Water quality is vital; among the most beautiful yet hardest, it needs strict weakly acidic soft water. Recommended 24–26°C.

It is extremely sensitive to hard water; in hard water the gills flutter and it floats, dying soon—its gill filaments are very fine and easily damaged, hard to recover. Native to areas with distinct wet/dry seasons, active only in wet season and dying in dry; in a tank 1–2 years is long-lived.

After purchase, float the bag in the tank 1 hour, adding a little tank water every 10 minutes and removing some bag water until nearly replaced, then net the fish in. Some sink the bag, but bag water may carry pathogens; net carefully by hand or a larger net.

4 Feeding

Among the hardest; not only water but feeding is demanding. Generally do not feed for two days after introduction, then follow fixed time, amount, quality, location.

1. Time: once daily is fine and the fish grows fast; hunger gives vitality. Morning better than evening; once better than several. More feedings risk water problems worse than slight hunger.

2. Amount: hard to master but learned quickly. Generally eat in 10–15 minutes; if not finished in normal time, some or all fish are sick—stop feeding, observe, treat.

3. Quality: complex.

4. Location: important, to build conditioned response. Feed at the same spot daily and they gather there.