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.

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 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.