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".