Killifish Breeding : Making a species-specific water plan

There is little point in attempting the breeding  of difficult species without knowledge of their home waters. For example, consider  two of the killifish species we will  raise this year.

1. AMI The first  species is Fundulopanchax amieti from Gerald Lofstead. It has a reputation for being difficult to breed, hatch, and raise among nearby friends with similar water to ours. Fundulopanchax amieti is a semi-annual killifish from Eastern Cameroon.

Aside: Semi-annual means, among other things, that the eggs can rest in drying mud and plant debris for a short time, say weeks, and then hatch when the rains return. It is common to find this ability, where there are two rainy seasons about evenly spaced in the year, as in Cameroon. By contrast annual killies, for example Nothobranchius,  can tolerate much longer dry periods say six months.  Non-annual species can still arrive at remote puddles by swimming upsteam, then jumping across wet forest floor during a rain, or in the mud clinging to the feet of wading birds.


Fundulopanchax amieti is an IUCN Endangered species.

This link is to the  IUCN Red list page for Fp. amieti:   https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/182209/7831690

As you see from the link, Fp. amieti is  "...  found in ... tributaries of the larger Sanaga and Dibamba River drainage basins.. All known populations, except one, are from the area to the north of the Sanaga River in southwestern Cameroon."

Here is a photo of our larger  male:from Gerald Lofstead.

In the wild they live in water temperature 24.8C ~ 76.6 F, pH 6.5, DH 0.2 according to
The West African Killies page for Fp.amieti

and here is a look at the area north of the Sanaga River in southwestern Cameroon"

2.SPP The second species is Aphyosemion splendopleure Tiko Green from Bill Hodgekiss. Tiko is the type locality and Scheel (for example, 1990) considered SPP a synonym of of A. bitaeniatum This is a  species we have been successful with in the past.

Other than the fact that the fry are small, and so may require a smaller first food (Banana Worms, Paramecium, Rotifers, San Francisco  Bay brine shrimp not the larger Utah strain from Brine Shrimp Direct), they are fairly easy. We use mops and hatch the fry in their parent's water as usual.

.Here is the Google Earth view of Tiko, Cameroon and vicinity.

The AKA writeup is here:

http://www.wak.aka.org/Ref_Library/Aphyosemion/A.splendopleure.htm

As you see, Scheel  in Rivulins of the Old World (1968, page 126) writes the Tiko ... "population lives in the rather hard, alkaline water of the volcanic area."

This would explain why we do well with this supposedly difficult species. Our own water has those characteristics, draining the Watchung flood basalts (solidified lava) and then passing through  laterite soils formed in a once tropical forest. Both the lava and the red laterite soils formed 200 million years ago. Our water is just what SPP evolved in.

Tiko sub-division is indeed adjacent to Mt. Cameroon, see:

https://www.science.gov/topicpages/m/mt+cameroon+volcano.html

where item 2 says that "... Buea, Limbe, West Coast, Tiko and Muyuka [are] sub-divisions adjacent to Mt. Cameroon."

Below is the google Earth image showing the proximity of Tiko to Mt Cameroon/

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Conclusion: These two species will do best breeding in different water chemistry. AMI has evolved in soft, mildly acid water, SPP has evolved in "hard, rather alkaline water".

Killifish Breeding : What is the point? Human survival.

Most of the West African killifish are important predators of mosquitoes.  Both killifish and mosquitoes breed in temporary waters, for example roadside ditches and streams that form in the rainy seasons.

As mosquito predators, many Killifish are much more important than other fish, because they can survive drying out of isolated pools.  These species with eggs resting in dried mud are called annual or semi-annual killifish, and they live through much of central Africa, and also South and Central America, in places where mosquitoes are a serious risk to the population.

Again, some killifish are present in remote temporary pools because their eggs survive in the mud when the water dries up. When the rains return, the eggs hatch, and the fish grow rapidly. Killifish are locally called rainfish for this reason.

In some browsers you must CLICK TWICE

 Changes in West Africa climates are already happening, and dramatic ecosystem changes will cause extinctions in the wild to the fish that eat mosquitoes. Read the link below.

Climate Change Assessment for West Africa

Under the conditions the wild fish evolved in, they can reproduce well and consume most of the mosquito larvae. However, these wild fish cannot tolerate very high temperatures or large changes in Sodium, Magnesium, and Calcium ions in the water.  If these fish do not survive, parts of West Africa, for example,  may be uninhabitable in the near future. That's where captive breeding helps.

Groups of scientists and volunteers around the world are cooperating in captive breeding programs to ensure the survival of  these small fish. Breeding pairs or eggs are exchanged between small labs and amateur hatcheries, along with small water samples from the aquariums in which they were bred and raised.  Since the local water varies, strains are developed which can tolerate new conditions in West Africa as they arise. We are creating a living archive to face climate change as it happens.

Killifish breeding: Start of the season 2019

We just spent last week cleaning tanks (with boiling hot water), buying a few new tanks and shoe boxes, etc. We kept a few pairs from last season, and have put them in 2 1/2 gallon tanks with mops. We also made a wish list of species we want to raise. On the way are eggs of Aphyosemion exiguum, new to me, and Aphyosemion striatum, which Sue and I have been breeding since 1970 in our first apartment. We will also get more A. splendopleure (Tiko green) from Bill Hodgekiss, some Fp. sjoestedti from Jim Kostich , E. dageti  from Martinez Moreno, and a few others.

Me, our son Phil, Sue, and Phil and Rachel's daughters.
Photo by Rachel.

                                               

Our son Chris, Jen and their kids.

Now its May, and we have just started the 2019 West African Killifish breeding season. In addition to familiar species, we also raise IUCN endangered and vulnerable species and distribute them to other labs.

 A link to a 2017 video of young fish from some of the past species bred is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oJVodG6_hM&list=PL5tisTQEgG_L3U7Bjka21aMz45UPT5cq0&index=12&t=0s
It shows cohorts of Aphyosemion australe, (for the grandkids) , Fundulopanchax gardneri  Innidere (for Phil), A. celiae, A. splendopleure Tiko Green from Bill Hodgekiss, and Epiplatys roloffi. We also raised Aphyosemion primigenium, seen in another video on our site. See the link below. We didn't make any new videos last year, but plan to this year.

Since our tap water is a little hard and alkaline, we sometimes add small amounts of RO/DI water  before we use it. We don't go to extremes for most species however; instead we keep species whose water drains off of basaltic volcanoes and runs through laterite soils. This is the case for many West African species. Luckily, our water also runs through basalt and then runs over laterite soils. Our rocks and soils are just older, 200 million years older if you want to know.

Our sons raised fish when they were young. Chris raised Zebra Danios  for local pet shops,  and Phil still breeds goldfish, as does my wife Susan. We start the kids young, here is our
oldest granddaughter helping in the fishroom.

Our oldest granddaughter  looking at her tank of Tetras

Her tank, Neons and Glowlights.

Our grandsons also have fish room jobs when they visit. The babies are welcome when they are older.

The kids also like to feed Susan's ornamental goldfish, which she raises in our pond, a good source of infusoria, sphagnum moss,  and rainwater.

Susan's Pond

Her father Phil raises ornamental goldfish in a much larger pond.

Anyway, here are photos of the species we are setting up so far. These are my photos or are cutouts from my videos.

                                         Aphyosemion australe (xanthic form) for our grandkids.

                                            Fundulopanchax gardneri for Phil, his favorite. 

Aphyosemion splendopleure Tiko Green from Bill Hodgekiss

In the past we have raised and distributed several IUCN species of concern and distributed them, including those below.

                                                         Aphyosemion celiae .ENDANGERED

Epiplatys roloffi ENDANGERED

We also raise Aphyosemion primigenium. These are so active its hard to get a picture:

A primigenium VULNERABLE

A blurry video (we put in chopped grindals to coax them to the front of the tank) is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_LLXA--DRw&list=PL5tisTQEgG_L3U7Bjka21aMz45UPT5cq0&index=10

This year we will raise Aphyosemion splendopleure Tiko Green SPP and possibly Fundulopanchax amieti AMI. The latter is IUCN ENDANGERED.