Orange. Circulating in the USA 1974
Photo courtesy of Tony Terceira
| Meaning of Name |
South of the Equator. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| First Description |
Haplochilus calliurus var. australis (Rachow 1921) Rachow, A. 1921. Die Zahnkarpfen oder Karpflinge. Teil 2. Die eigebarende Zahnkarpfen (Cyprinodontidae oviparae). Die Gattung Haplochilus. pp 26-27. In: K.Stansch, Bibliothek fur Aquarien - und Terrarienkunde, Braunschweig, no 16. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Size |
6 cm. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Meristics |
No data available for type specimens. D = 9-11, A = 14-16, D/A = +7, ll = 29-32. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Karyotype |
Variable - 15-17 (19). | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sub-Genus |
Mesoaphyosemion | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Group |
A.calliurum | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Synonyms |
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Populations
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Cape Esterias - Sometimes
this location & Cape Lopéz are confused. In fact a distance
of 100 miles as the crow flies separates the 2 Capes.
Cape Lopéz - Many old spellings can be seen for this location - Kap Lopez (German), Cap Lopez (French), Cabo Lopez (Spanish).
Doré -
Gamba -
Gold -
Mayumba - A town/small city
on the coast of southern Gabon. Brought into the UK early 1980's.
Aquarium strain probably derived from Huber's collection in 1979 -
JH 204 - 1 km east of Mayumba at an unloading dock in a small
brook with little running water with stagnant zones.
Park Mondah - I think this
is in the Akanda National Park, north of Libreville, Gabon. Mondah
is the bay on it's coastal border. This is an area of Mangroves going
into rainforest. Access is difficult & probably done by boat from
the bay. Islands of dry land appear in the swampy areas.
BSWG 97 / 24 - Introduced to Germany & Switzerland in 1997 EBT 96 / 27 - Introduced in February 1996 from the same location as LEC 93 / 25.
LEC 93 / 25 - Introduced to Belgium & Germany January 1993.
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| Type Locality |
Cape Lopez. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Distribution |
A coastal strip from south west Cameroon through Gabon & Congo into northern Angola. Thought not to range further than 20 kms from the coast. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Habitat |
Found in swamps along the coastal regions of
Gabon & Congo. Prefers small stagnant pools to running streams.
Collected in pure, soft water over dead leaves (Raffia/palm sp). Decayed
vegetable matter causes the water to be brown in colour. Base can be
mud or whitish sand. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Distinguishing Characteristics |
Many 'man-made colour strains exist in aquaria, these being; Chocolate, Gold, Orange & Albino. Wild caught males have a deep brown body colour. Variability between wild populations is small. This is a sp. which is often confused with it's close relative A.ahli which differs from A.australe in the anal & caudal areas. The anal fin of A.ahli has a wide yellow outer margin which does not occur on A.australe whose outer margin is usually more orange/brown. The caudal fin in A.australe is also more flared than A.ahli. This fin in A.ahli contains vertical red/brown bands in the centre of the fin in most populations (Kribi for example but is not always present in other populations. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Colour/Pattern Variability | Low in wild populations but high in aquarium bred fish. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| History |
First imported into Germany in July 1913. This consignment was said to have been caught in the Cap Lopez area of Gabon. In 1913 Arnold & Cramp described these specimens as Haplochilus aus Kap Lopez. These fish were brought in by an unknown sailor & purchased by Wollmer (sometimes referred to as Wolmer). In 1921 Rachow proposed the name Haplochilus calliurus var. australis. In 1924 Ahl described Panchax polychromus from 27 specimens said to have been collected in the Cap Lopez area of Gabon. Later investigation proved them to be an aquarium population of A.australe. Öser collected this sp. in 1928 whilst travelling on the German merchant ship Waganda. The ship stopped at Port Gentil. It is considered that he collected them further inland though. These fish were brought alive to Germany. Meinken described an orange fish in 1953 as Aphyosemion australe hjerreseni. This proposed sub-species could not be valid as it was merely a colour variant of the regular A.australe which was named after the breeder Hjerresen. This gold strain originated when Hjerresen found a female with a white head in a batch of regular A.australe youngsters. The female was crossed with one of her brothers. Out of the 100 offspring produced from this match 4 developed well into the now familiar yellow/gold colouration. A pair from the 4 new gold fish were spawned & specimens from this spawning were sent to Meinken in 1953 who named them A.australe hjerreseni. Collected by Stauch in 1962, 1963. These were deposited in the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris under the name of cameronense. Collected by Radda & Huber in 1976 at Cap Estérias. History of Panchax polychromus Ahl 1924 Ahl described the species
from 27 specimens reportedly being caught from Cap Lopez. It was later considered
that this material was aquarium bred stock as the fish was known as 'Haplochilus
from Cap Lopez' since 1913. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Breeding Notes |
A.australe
will lay their eggs in top or bottom mops, also plants (floating & submerged)
& even a gravel base. Water incubation takes 10-20 days. Fry can be fed newly
hatched brine shrimp on hatching although infusoria can be offered for the first
couple of days. Their
is a secret to breeding this sp. which I will now tell:- | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Diameter of Egg | 0·9 - 1 mm (Kadlec K/N 281), 1·2mm (Huber KilliData). | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Remarks |
A sp. commonly seen at auctions & aquarium shops. Ideally suited to beginners as they are easy to maintain. A population from Mayumba was distributed in the early '80's. Wildekamp in 'World of Killies' Vol 1 reported that it was thought current fish in our tanks have been bred through stock caught before World War I. This is obviously very difficult to confirm but suffice it to say, they have been in captivity for a long period of time. Some populations have been found to be genetically different & possibly future research may yield new sp. |
