Progress with Aphyosemion primagenium

We have a young pair of Aphyosemion primagenium. They live in a 10 gallon tank of aged, softened peat water. The tank has tight lid, a gravel box filter and two mops.

The male is above. He is very shy and rarely swims in the front of the tank. Here he has seen me and his red dots have faded, but he is very bright when courting the female. The female is very tame, and hangs out in the front of the tank much of the time.

Currently we are raising several cohorts of young, totaling 33 juveniles, and have several dishes of viable eggs. I'm getting overwhelmed with A. primagenium and have slowed egg collection. The parents don't bother their young.

When the fry hatch out we keep them in labeled pyrex bowls, about 4" diameter  x 1.6" deep, with a few sprigs of Java Moss. Each plant has been visually checked with a magnifier to make sure there are no mature Hydra on them. Snails are also not included in the fry bowls.The bowls are checked each day, and half the water is changed with a turkey baster. Removed water is put into a plastic dish to be sure no fry are removed with the water.

If young  Hydra are seen the water is dumped into a clean labeled bowl. The hydra stay behind, attached to the glass of the old bowl.  The old bowl is cleaned with scalding hot water,  then wiped with a new paper towel. That's the end of the Hydra.

 The A. primagenium fry can eat freshly hatched brine shrimp immediately, and they grow fast.

Aphyosemion primagenium is considered "Vulnerable" on the IUCN redlist, here:
http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/181645/0. Vulnerable is the next level below endangered.

The IUCN reviewers write:
"Aphyosemion (Mesoaphyosemion) primigenium is known from maximum five localities from between Mouila and Bdede-Lebamba [Lebamba] in the Ngounie and Nyanga Rivers in southwestern Gabon."

Above is the Ngounie River, a tributary of the Ogooué River, as it flows past Mouila.

Above you see the Ngounie mapped from Mouila toward Labamba, and A. primagenium also extends into the Nyanga watershed, shown here at balloon "A". The river runs about 90km between the two towns, which are about 50 miles apart as the crow flies. The trip from Mouila down N1, then northeast to Labamba, is 114 km long.

Here the two towns are shown in Google Earth. Note the scale.

Why Aphyosemion celiae is endangered

Aphyosemion celiae is on the IUCN list of endangered species.
http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/183090/0

According to IUCN, its range is restricted to the Mungo River watershed in western Cameroon.

A better map is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mungo_River,_Cameroon

Scheel (1990) noted that Aphyosemion celiae occurs just east of Kumba (top map) but that Amiet told Scheel that A. celiae also occured in the Bakaka Forest Reserve east of Loum volcano (Mt. Kupe). That drainage is generally considered to be part of the Mungo River watershed, because of a connection in the delta. See the map here:
http://cameroon-tour.com/geography/drainage.html

The worry is that erosion and pollution from  plantations upstream could kill the species in the lower part of the watershed. see this link for a description of the many plantations from Nkongsamba to Loum along N5, then on to Kumba along N16.
http://www.ibike.org/bikeafrica/cameroon/west/11-Kumba.htm

Agricultural runoff in the river would cause the death of fish species, despite Forest Preserves such as Bakaka.

People maintaining an endangered species distribute offspring to other aquarists they know. Usually pairs are formed with individuals from different parents, to avoid inbreeding, but from the same locality, to avoid hybrids.

Progress with Aphyosemion celiae

I have a breeding pair of A. celiae in a 10 gallon aquarium filled about 2/3rds with aged peat water. The fish eat flightless Drosophila melanogaster and brine shrimp. The tank has a hinged glass Versa Top lid, with scotch tape covering the airline entrance. The water has had the Calcium and Magnesoum ions replaced with Sodium ion via an ion-exchange resin, and so is moderately soft. In the tanks are two light green mops made of synthetic yarn; they are long enough to extend over the floor of the Aquaeon All-glass aquarium. Also in the tank is a pyrex dish with 1" of peat; the peat was  boiled prior to introduction. Both of those media are in the back of the tank.In the foreground is a shallow tray of large pebbles, say 1/2 centimeters in their long dimension. The tank also has a small Penn-Plax box filter from Walmart; it has gravel in it.

I check the eggs in one mop every other day. Checking only one at a time provides cover and minimal disturbance. The eggs are amber, probably from the peat. Usually I'll get 5-8 medium sized eggs; not a lot, but enough for me to process before work. By contrast the A. primagenium and Epiplatys dageti produce about 15 eggs per batch.

I remove the mop eggs and place them on top of previously boiled peat in a shallow pyrex bowl, cover the dish with an opaque top, and slide the covered bowl onto a shaded shelf near the floor of the fishroom. I can see the eggs with my reading glasses; the idea is to hatch them later and get a brood all the same size. Stay tuned. Meanwhile babies from eggs I did not remove swim around happily with their parents.

A local friend who gave me the pair has a different approach. He covers the bottom of the tank with 2mm gravel. After the pair have been in the tank for a while he siphons up the debris between the gravel grains. The water, debris, and eggs are dropped into a pail. Later he stirs up the water, and finds that fry have hatched out.

We breed wild type Zebrafish over marbles, a similar technique. The sexes are separated for about a week, heavily fed, then put together in a shoebox over a single layer of glass marbles after dark, usually 3 males to one female very full of roe. We remove the parents and then the marbles to find many eggs. Large batches of small fry are raised in shallow plastic trays with aeration. They are fed Paramecium until they are large enough for newly hatched brine shrimp nauplii.

With this and my friend's technique in mind I removed the pebbles in the A. celiae tray, one at a time (347 pebbles) to find no eggs. My fish seem to prefer the mops.

Daily Fishroom Routine

Our fishroom gets early morning light, and the fish do some of their breeding then. We collect eggs after breakfast, then feed the fish live foods such as brine shrimp nauplii, washed black worms or tubifex worms, occasional Daphnia, flightless Drosophila, etc. Large fish can take small bits of earthworms. Fry get infusoria or newly hatched brine shrimp, depending on their size. On occasion we feed Vinegar Eels to the fry.

Blackworms and Tubifex are washed until clean and in good shape prior to feeding. These have to be chopped for small species, and are not fed to young fish.

After feeding we make new batches of Brine Shrimp, then check every container of eggs. Fungused eggs are removed, fresh water added, and Methylene Blue adjusted.

When the eggs develop mature embryos, we transfer them to larger containers, and when they hatch, to 1 gallon critter keepers with an airstone, some floating plants, and some infusoria. When the fry are large enough we add baby brine shrimp

Water changes are usually done at night, or weekends. We use a venturi attachment on a garden hose bib to remove the water, then add fresh water pumped from the 55 gallon aged water tank. A 30 gallon tank with new tapwater is generally aged by water change days, and after all water changes are complete the 30 gallon's water refills the 55 gallon aged water reserve, and the 30 gallon is refilled with tapwater and sealed for three days.

Aphyosemion celiae

Male Aphyosemion celiae in a breeding tank

We keep a breeding pair of Aphyosemion celiae (Scheel, 1971) in our fishroom. We feed them brine shrimp, Drosophila, Bloodworms, Vinegar Eels, Black Worms, Tubifex, small earthworms, and Daphnia.

A video from our fishroom is here:


"CEL" is from Cameroon. Scheel (1990) gave two localities. The type locality is east of Kumba at North 4 deg 38 min, East  9 deg 29 min. Scheel (1990, p 188) adds that Amiet told him of an additional locality about 45 km away, from Bakaka Forest Resrve, east of the road from Loum toward Nkongsamba, East Cameroon. Take road N16 from Kumba to Loum, then N5 to the river floodplain east of the Loum volcano.

Keep in mind these roads can be difficult going. You need a 4 wheel vehicle with a winch, one with a great deal of clearence under the drive train. Here is a video of a portion of N16:

Kumba to Loum Road

However the Loum to Nkongsamba highway is better. Amiet's locality is east of the Loum volcano, under the clouds just north of Loum in the center of the Google Earth picture above.

You see the Loum Volcano in 3-D. Amiet's locality seems to be the floodplain of the river to the east of the road, N5.

A video from another user along the Loum to Nkongsamba road is here:
Loum to Nkongsamba highway

Our own water drains two basaltic ridges and runs through laterite soils. This is the reason we decided to take CEL as a conservation project. We have uniform water throughout the fishroom, and select species who evolved for similar water.

The type locality is a rural area of pastures and fields east of Kumba, and will be gone soon as Kumba grows. Note the rural appearance of the type locality N4.63 E9.48,  and the approaching town. CEL is in need of help.

Our killie fishroom now and in 1970

When Sue and I were first married, there was a great pet store in New Brunswick, NJ, called Jersey Pet Supply. They had everything, including killies. On top of that, there was a local killie club, MAKA, with very knowledgeable aquarists, including a famous author of fish breeding books. We kept killies in 5 gallon tanks, on shelves in our tiny apartment closet. We helped when our chapter of AKA hosted the national convention. Visiting dignitaries from Europe slept on our couch.

Here is our male Nothobranchius rachovii male in one of our tanks in 1970. Sorry about the poor focus.

In the house we have now,  we have several rooms in our basement. One is dedicated to fish. Basements are a great place for breeding fish, because they are warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

Killie basics

Killifish can live in small bodies of water, but in wet forests can jump out of the puddle and flip downhill to better water without suffocating.

Don't believe it? Watch this video, killifish in their natural habitat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sy3R3f_GCY

Thus killies can be kept in small tanks, but need clean water, safety, and a tight fitting lid.

When the fish are not being intensively bred, we keep them in 5 or 10 gallon  aquariums. The tank has a box filter with gravel and peat moss, a thermometer, a mop, and a few floating plants. The water is about 2/3rds full, and has a very tight fitting lid. The fish will lay a few eggs every day as long as they are fed well. We change a third of the water twice a week.


To breed them we separate the sexes into side-by side tanks, so they can see their mate. We feed them heavily with live foods for 2-5 days. After the females fill with eggs we  place pairs  in 2 1/2 gallon breeding tanks with an airstone and a nylon mop with a cork for floatation. Again, the water is about 2/3rds full, and has a very tight fitting lid. You can expect more than 10 eggs a day, and most will be fertile. When the female's belly flattens or she has bite marks on her fins, remove her immediately.We put her back in her isolation tank which is heavily planted.

In the watercolor above, the male A. E. Dageti chases the female. Note her ragged tail fin.


Label a dish and lid  to receive the eggs and take the mop out. Let the excess water drain, don't squeeze it.

Dad is past retirement age and needs strong reading glasses, left, to see the eggs. These may be purchased for a few dollars at Walmart. They are strength +2.5.

The mop is synthetic  "Acrylic" or Nylon yarn wrapped around a book. Th book is the size of the depth of the water, plus one inch.  Once you have enough wraps, then tie the strands at one end, cut at the other, and finally tie the mop to a cork with a groove cut around the center. We label  cork with the species name to identify the mop.

Gently survey the surface of the mop and then systematically search the interior for eggs.

Above an A. Epiplatys dageti egg is near the curved tip of the eyedropper

Gently pick the egg up with very clean fingers, with no soap or anything else on them.

Then drop it in the water. I use aged aquarium water in petri dishes with partitions. Some add a little Methylene Blue or Salt to discourage fungus.


Here is a video of the process.

We place the eggs in labeled covered petri dishes on a dark shelf. The

camera flash makes the shelves seem bright, but usually they are in the shade.

Toothpicks hold the upper lid open a little for air. When the embryos darken you can see the fish in the egg with a magnifying glass; at that point the ripe eggs are trasfered to 1" of water in pyrex bowls

Once they hatch we place them in a clean tank (above left) and add infusoria,

then newly hatched brine shrimp when they seem large enough (right). Notice that the water is left shallow for the smallest fry on the left.

Above left and center is the brine shrimp station, right are Daphnia.

For brine shrimp  put 3 Tablespoons of  Sea Salt per gallon of water, then add about 1/2 teaspoon of brine shrimp "eggs". We do this in the center jug, which sits on a rubber terrarium heating pad. After 24 hours  transfer the mix of nauplii and shells  to the inverted bottle, with its bottom cut off. We place it in a coffee pot to hold it, as shown. You can also use a 2 liter soda bottle; Cut off the base, put the shrimp in the inverted top, use the cut off base as a stand.

To collect the newly hatched shrimp remove the aeration and shine a light on the neck. In ours we covered all but the neck with tape. The brine shrimp naplii are attracted to the light at the neck of the inverted bottle, the only part not darkened by tape. A turkey baster removes the shrimp, and these are squirted into a very fine "brine shrimp net", then dipped into fresh tank water and fed.

As the babies grow  raise the water level (tight lid!) and add fine powdered dried food and  vinegar eels.

At 1/2 inch of length, transfer them to a 10 gallon tank for growing out, about 10 fish to a tank.

When they can be sexed, match individuals with the opposite gender, making up  pairs who are not sibings . This avoids inbreeding. This tank pictured above contains 8 Aphyosemion primagenium, one of our conservation projects.


Here is a watercolor of the A. primagenium male.