Going fishing in West Africa - a journal

[GaryE]

Again, with the exception of the Ndonga population, which also has a P pulcher, these P kribensis aren't the hobby krib. It's a smaller, more colourful species.

I don't have the water analysis yet as one of the other guys took that info. I'll post it when it comes.

This really plays into the Evolutionarily Significant Unit idea. Anton Lamboj did meticulous work on the different kribensis populations when he revised the Genus. There was no reason to see them as separate species. But the Lobe form cited last comes in 2 colour forms, a beautiful yellow and blueish, and a red one. When I had them, they needed very softwater to breed. They were not easy to get young from.
Moliwe, from volcanic soil, would produce large broods in my medium hard, slightly alkaline water. When I had better access to softer water, the brood size increased significantly. To me, that says they've adapted to their rivers around Mount Cameroon, but that kribensis is a soft water species. Muyuka and Moliwe are outliers, occurring over different geology.

It's maybe a bit like Apistogramma from black or white water. I had a nice Apistogramma gibbiceps that I bred once in my pH 7.4, 140ppm water at the time, no problem. A few years later, they came in again and I got some I simply couldn't get to breed. I was told these had come from blackwater, and when I tried it, bingo. So there can be different needs and subtle adaptations within species.

The more I keep fish, and the more I get info on them, the less I know I know.


For the killies - if I manage to breed and distribute them, the code will be BDEL - Benin and the family name initials of the three of us. That will let breeders keep track of which ones they are. I need to get the GPS coordinates and then we can decide on what identifiable village or feature is closest.

It's unfortunate, but my last few egg exchanges with USA hobbyists have never arrived - from there and to there. US customs seems to snag them and I guess destroy the packages, even the ones bound for Canada. It's been several years since anything got through that gauntlet. I can easily send eggs to Europe, and that's the route I'll have to take. I'd love to be able to share this wealth with US Americans, but it would be easier to send illegal products than killie eggs, it seems.

 

[GaryE]

The thread is swirling around, but I can see why. The diversity of platy species, of swordtail species, of Cichlids, of killies - it's all the same puzzle. These creatures are in the same process as we are, and it's fascinating once you put a little energy into trying to understand what is happening. That is again what I like about keeping wild type fish from identifiable capture locations, like with the killie codes, over fish caught in various places and dumped in together at export installations or fishfarms. The subtle changes that may or may not lead to things long after we're gone gets erased.

I don't think I have ever seen a common platy - X maculatus. I've kept fish given that name, but our hobby platy began to be hybridized in the 1920s. It has X variatus, X maculatus, X helleri and possibly other Xiphophorus genes in there. It was made larger, given various colours, and sometimes had its shape changed. The same process has been done to a lot of aquarium fish, especially easy to breed livebearers. I used to be able to get local varieties and species of mollies, and they were beautiful - often far nice in colours than the store hybrids. There were so many different fish, dropped into a blender by the aquarium hobby.

For @SammyTargo 's question, when it was still friendly for fish at the US border, I tried very hard to get maculatus type platys through the American Livebearer Association. I found many other rarer livebearers, but the widespread in the wild maculatus platy? No chance. @emeraldking went and got his own. If I'm ever going to see that fish in my aquariums, I fear I'll have get some while on vacation in Europe, or I'll have to go to Mexico or Belize.

 

[Innesfan]

For @SammyTargo 's question, when it was still friendly for fish at the US border, I tried very hard to get maculatus type platys through the American Livebearer Association. I found many other rarer livebearers, but the widespread in the wild maculatus platy? No chance. @emeraldking went and got his own. If I'm ever going to see that fish in my aquariums, I fear I'll have get some while on vacation in Europe, or I'll have to go to Mexico or Belize.

I agree about ALA. It's not the resource it once was. There are frequent offerings on Aquabid for wild populations of livebearers, including X. maculatus. The sellers are in the USA so I guess that doesn't help you folks in Canada. Here's one recent listing for a wild X. maculatus.

And X., evelynae:

 

[emeraldking]

Well, to start with the following in relation to wild platies: There are several wild platy species besides the Xiphophorus maculatus and Xiphophorus variatus. But these two are mainly used to create all the breeding forms of platies these days. And also Hellerii swordtails (Xiphophorus hellerii) have influenced the many platy breeding forms. I also have to mention that the first breeding forms were linebred from mutations within the original strain itself. Later on variatus platies and Hellerii swordtails were used to extend the color and shape diversity in breeding forms.

The question whether wild platy species have coloration and/or pattern, the answer will be yes. There are wild species that are dull in coloration and with pattern or without. And there are platy species that are brightly colored with or without any pattern. One of the markings in the caudal penducle is what we nowadays know as Mickey Mouse pattern by the commercial trade. But this pattern and a number of other markings on the caudal penducle are no results of breeding forms but they're wild markings. The socalled Mickey Mouse marking is actually called the "moon" marking. They can occur in wild species.

Also when it comes to swordtails in free nature, they all differ in coloration, color intensity and markings. And wild swordtails (especially from the Hellerii line) can be really colorful. Other wild swordtail species than Xiphophorus hellerii are mostly less bright colored. And not all wild swordtail species carry swords when it comes to males. And there are wild platy species where those males carry a sword.

The location of a population of one species can already result in a different phenotype in comparison to the same species at another location. But even within one population of one specific species multiple phenotypes are at hand. But close enough to specify them as coming from one specific population.

And yes, I myself am keeping and breeding wild platy and swordtail species for years now. A number of those wild platies were also collected by myself.

 

[Innesfan]

And yes, I myself am keeping and breeding wild platy and swordtail species for years now. A number of those wild platies were also collected by myself.

The wild X. variatus you showed us a while back were hands down the most gorgeous X. variatus I've ever seen. No domestic strain rivals it in my opinion.

 

[simonas]

What a thread Gary E I enjoyed reading that. Sounds like an exciting yet grueling trip and you described the difficulties with terrain, weather and the people brilliantly.