Elegant

Boulenger 1899.

Matérieaux pour la faune du Congo, Tomé I, Poissons nouveaux.

Annales du Musée du Congo belge, 1: 112-114, plate 47, figure 2.

5 cm

• D = 8, A = 14, ll = 30-32 (Boulenger 1899)
• D = 7-9, A = 14-15, D/A = +7-9, ll = 26-29 (Woeltjes 1984)

n = 10, A = 18 (Huber & Scheel 1981)

Aphyosemion

elegans

• Haplochilus elegans Boulenger 1899
• Panchax elegans Ahl 1924
• Aphyosemion elegans Myers 1933
• Aphyosemion elegans elegans Matthes 1964
• Aphyosemion NSC - 5 Baker-Carr 1975

• Boendé
• Bombala
• Dédrouillé (northeastern Congo)
• Ignoli (northern Congo)
• Inongo
• Lui Kotale
• Madimba
• Mbombokonda
• Mondimbi (central Zaire)
• Tshuapa - Boende region.?
• AVD 001
• KM14
• NSC 5
• JH 134
• JH 137

Aphyosemion affinis elegans

• Kwambila (A.cognatum)
• Sembe / Ouesso (a collection from between these locations in northern Congo)

Inongo - A German effort to get this population established but it failed before it was distributed.

Madimba - Collected by W.Wachters in 1979. Introduced to the BKA in 1980 by SIC where they were distributed as Aphyosemion sp. Madimba. In the UK they were also distributed as A.cognatum Madimba.

Lui Kotale - Collected by Ulrich Schliewen in 2002 in the Province of Bandundu, Democratic Republic of Congo.He also collected at Lompolé but these were not brought back to captivity. A yellow form was also collected at Km 14 which may be elegans.
Axel Schwekendiek broke the news to me on this collection...."The fishes were caught by accident near Boende, 35 km on the road to to Yaa (wherever that is). Two people in the DKG received fishes and also somebody in holland and belgium. Although the fishes were all very small (subadults), some larger males began to sex out. I really hope that we can establish the strain in europe soon."
In 2003 these were considered safe in the DKG.

Bikoro (Lake Tumba, Central Congo drainage) & Mbandaka, central Zaire. Also Coquilhatville, close to the Congo River (currently Mbandaka).

Line drawing of one of the male type specimens

Widespread distribution across the central Zaire River drainage.

Small, shallow streams & brooks. Also found in swampy areas of pools & along the shore line of lakes. Prefers shallow water with slow currents in forested areas.
Stomach contents of wild fish have showed that they live on ants & aquatic insect larvae.
Reported to live in still, quiet water which is shaded. Fish feed mostly from the surface on terrestrial insects.

The main distinguishing character of this sp. is regarded as the striated body pattern. The photo at the top of this page clearly shows this.
Scheel reported black outer margins on all unpaired fins.
Reported to have a slender body with long extensions to fins.
The populations from Bikoro, Boende & Coquilhatville have a red stripe in the dorsal fin. This band is lacking in the RPC 134 & 137 populations more notable in more northerly populations.
Whilst not a distinguishing marking Stan Langdon in BKA newsletter No.186, February 1981 commented on this sp. ability to 'raise & lower the dorsal & anal fins so that they look like furled flags at right angles to the body'.

Boulenger wrote in his work 'Catalogue of the Freshwater Fishes of Africa in the British Museum (Natural History)' -'Yellowish or pale olive, brown on the back, most of the scales edged with carmine; vertical fins with carmine dots & edged with carmine or dark purple'.
He does not mention the bars on the sides of males. This is also absent on the original drawing.

Boulenger described Haplochilus elegans from 3 (Types 1-3) specimens caught by Delhez at Bikoro on Lake Tumba in 1899.
His type specimens 4-5 were also collected by Delhez but from Coquillatville (present day Mbandaka).
He also identified 'aquarium fish' in 1911 as belonging to this species but later changed his mind in favour of A.calliurum. In 1911 - 1912 he also placed some individuals caught at Kondue, Kasai, Congo by Luja into elegans but these were probably used to describe Aphyosemion lujae.

Boulenger gives the following collectors / locations in his 1915 Catalogue.

• 1-3 (Types). Collected by M.P.Delhez at Bikoro, Lake Tumba.
• 4-5. Collected by M.P.Delhez at Coquillatville (present day Mbandaka).

Nichols & Griscom in 1917 reported fish caught at Medje, Faradje & Stanleyville as belonging to elegans. These fish were used by Myers in 1924 to describe A.castaneum.

In 1952 Poll reported having numerous fish caught in affluents to the left of the Congo (Zaire) River) (Mondimbi, Flandria, Eala, Kunumgu & Bikoro) & also from Genema, Ubangui drainage.

Matthes in 1964 had 82 fish from Lake Tumba.

J.Lambert collected them at Boende about 300 km east of the type locality. These were returned alive to Belgium. Some of this collection is preserved in the Museum of Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium. This collection was known to still be in the hobby in 1973.

Known to be circulating in the BKA in 1980.

Although they have been seen in auctions now & then they are reportedly a little harder to breed & maintain following generations.

Subdued lighting seems to be important.

Stan Langdon in BKA newsletter No.186, February 1981 gave the following breeding report. I know Stan, & he is does nothing but methodical.
A pair were set up in a 12x8x8" tank filled with two thirds rainwater, one third old tank water. A temperature of 72-74°F was maintained. Plants were added in the form of Java moss & Ceratopteris. A sponge filter was also added.
Eggs were laid in the plants but were mostly infertile. Females were observed to be predatory towards eggs & young fry. Stan fed these fish white worm which they were particularly fond of.
A water change was tried with the addition of salt but not the usual teaspoon to a gallon strength. Also added was 2 teaspoons of water which came from peat standing in water for a time which was very acid (between pH 3·7 - 4·2).
Egg production started to improve.
Ian Sainthouse commented to Stan that the fish need to be 8-10 months old before real egg laying occurs.
Stan placed a larger mop in the breeding tank as he considered females capable of eating eggs.
Eggs were collected & placed in rainwater, tank water & boiled tap water in glass & plastic containers but all fungussed. Another approach was tried using semi dry storage by squeezing a handful of peat until just moist & laying in a container. Eggs were placed on top of this & stored at 70-75°F for up to 4 weeks. A few eggs fungussed but the majority developed normally. After a week eyes could be observed in the eggs. After 14 days of semi dry storage a hatching was attempted. Old neutral rainwater was used. Fry started emerging in 3-4 days. When transferring fry to another container losses were reported as being heavy. Fry allowed to escape into a tank containing the same water used to hatch the eggs was found to be a success.
At 3 months of age males started to show red stripes. At 6 months sparing & breeding attempts was observed.
Stan also used this method with A.christyi to good effect.

At the 2003 BKA convention I had a talk with Ian Sainthouse on how the old BKA import of this sp. was bred & he informed me that eggs should be incubated on a bed of wet peat for success. Water incubation resulted in most if not all eggs disintegrating.

Care should be excercised in putting fish into new surroundings. A towel should be placed over the tank to keep it dark for a few days as this sp. seem to dislike new surroundings.

Males will extend finnage in fighting posture but damage between males has been reported as being minimal.