Going fishing in West Africa - a journal

[Innesfan]

Here's how a quest develops - my number one target in this trip. The first picture is an old one, an adult Chromaphyosemion biteniatum from Ijebu Ode in Nigeria, near the world city of Lagos. I kept that species for 10 years, and a second local Nigerian variety of the same species, "Lagos Red" for 15. There were subtle differences. The Ijebu Ode had more colours, and the Lagos Red had longer fins with less blue. They bred true to their geographic form.
With some imagination, you could wonder if well after humans are extinct, if they would diverge and become independent species. I

I have kept both and they remain among my very favorites. After the Blue Gularis, I suspect they are among the most photographed of killies, and for good reason. And as for their evolutionary paths, I think we can safely use our newly adopted term--Evolutionary Significant Units--for both of them.

 

[GaryE]

@Innesfan Evolutionary Significant Units indeed. Now I have to bide my time and see if there is significant variation in the two populations I brought back, and then see if they hold over several generations. They're a well known, often kept species. My first killie after Fundulopanchax gardneri from a pet shop was biteniatum from Togo, and we tried to capture some of them again too, on the Benin side of a river between the two countries. All we got was mud and Parachanna, who had probably eaten the killies.

You don't need to find the new and rare to find puzzles and questions. This is a well known species, but it's not well known, or at least well photographed from where we got it.

If I ever get to go back to Mexico, the fish I would love to catch is Xiphophorus maculatus, the good old platy. I've never seen a wild, unmodified one except once uncaught near the surface of a stream in Belize. Unmodified, not linebred old favourites as they arrived in the hobby one hundred years ago are an interesting idea. People liked them for good reasons.

 

[SammyTargo]

the fish I would love to catch is Xiphophorus maculatus, the good old platy. I've never seen a wild, unmodified one except once uncaught near the surface of a stream in Belize. Unmodified, not linebred old favourites as they arrived in the hobby one hundred years ago are an interesting idea. People liked them for good reasons.

Do the platies in the wild ever come with slight colouration, like a feint orange, blue or white? I know they can have black/grey spots.

If you managed to get your hands on the wild variant, would you selectively breed for colours? .. If not, would you suspect that many generations down the line they would start to develop colours?

 

[GaryE]

@SammyTargo
Over to @emeraldking for that one - he has wild platys in the Netherlands.

I wouldn't selectively breed, or hybridize as was done with pet shop platys. Personal choice. I wouldn't expect any colours other than that which they had on capture.

I have Lake Catemaco platys (X. milleri) and they are unchanged after many generations here. A few more spots, a few fewer - just individual variation.

 

[Innesfan]

Do the platies in the wild ever come with slight colouration, like a feint orange, blue or white? I know they can have black/grey spots.

More than 'slight.' Wild X. maculatus can be very colorful. There are blue and red forms that are very attractive. And there are dazzling wild populations of X. variatus. Here's a wild form of X. maculatus from Belize.

 

[Innesfan]

@Innesfan Evolutionary Significant Units indeed.

My bad. I left out a syllable. The taxonomists call it "Evolutionarily Significant Units."

 

[gwand]

ESUs for short.

 

[GaryE]

I have not evolved to type carefully. Shared bad....

 

[anewbie]

I'm confused.

 

[SammyTargo]

More than 'slight.' Wild X. maculatus can be very colorful. There are blue and red forms that are very attractive. And there are dazzling wild populations of X. variatus. Here's a wild form of X. maculatus from Belize.

Does the same thing happen with the wild swordtails?

 

[Back in the fold]

@Innesfan The well known and often seen Epiplatys dageti is a fish I wouldn’t mind acquiring and , yes , Epiplatys do share many traits with Aplocheilus species .
@GaryE With the fish you caught recently do you have your own personal location code for them ?

 

[Innesfan]

Does the same thing happen with the wild swordtails?

Yes. Many gorgeous populations, especially of X. helleri. . Here's a helleri population from Yucatan. As @GaryE suggested, @emeraldking keeps some stunning wild populations and has posted photos on this forum.

 

[anewbie]

Yes. Many gorgeous populations. Here's a X. helleri population from Yucatan. As @GaryE suggested, @emeraldking keeps some stunning wild populations and has posted photos on this forum.

View attachment 378815

Xiphophorus 1 | emeraldking-aquatics

www.emeraldking-aquatics.com

 

[SammyTargo]

Yes. Many gorgeous populations, especially of X. helleri. . Here's a helleri population from Yucatan. As @GaryE suggested, @emeraldking keeps some stunning wild populations and has posted photos on this forum.

Yes, I do remember @emeraldking being very knowledgeable about all livebearers, and the articles he has written. Is there a way to aquire these wild fish locally, or in general without going myself to collect the specimens? Hence budget, and I still think the whole border declaration and flying with the fish in checked luggage which gets thrown around.

 

[anewbie]

@GaryE did you take any water readings on your trip. I found this variation when looking at kribs quite extreme:


from: https://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/features/the-regional-variants-of-pelvicachromis-kribensis/

Furthermore, these streams have shallow water levels, ranging from 15 to 50cm (6-20”) in depth. A layer of sediment, frequently topped with a blanket of fallen leaves, covers the substrate. In some biotopes, aquatic plants are also present, including aquarium favourites Anubias, Bolbitis, and Crinum.

Because of the geographical separation of the different P. kribensis populations, water conditions vary between locations. At the time of visiting I recorded the following at each habitat, but these are likely to change throughout the year.

Moliwe River had a temperature of 27.2°C (81°F), a pH of 7.6 and conductivity between 130 and 289μS/cm.

Ndonga River also had a temperature of 28.2°C (81°F), a pH of 6.21 and 25.4μS/cm.

Muyuka River had a temperature of 26.7°C (82.8°F), a pH of 7.16 and 93.5μS/cm.

Nyong River had a temperature of 27.2°C (80.1°F), a pH of 5.29 and 17.7μS/cm.

Lokoundjé River had a temperature of 26.9°C (80.4°F), a pH of 5.37 and 21.4μS/cm.

Kienké River had a temperature of 26.5°C (79.7°F), a pH of 5.21 and 20.1μS/cm.

Lobé River had a temperature of 27°C (80.6°F), a pH of 6.5 and 6μS/cm.

So we have extreme acidic water (blackwater conditions) to rather plain alkaline conditions for these closely related species. Though all the temperatures were around 80 - sadly the article does not indicate if this is the warm or cool season and how much the temperature varies through the year. Still I found the contrast in water parameters from Muyuka to Kienke interesting for extreme for what is essentially the same species which might explain their robustness compared to south american counterparts.