After the Ndian River.

Scheel J.J. 1968. (Aphyosemion ndianum).

Rivulins of the Old World.

TFH Publications: p 455-456, figures.

7 cm

• D = 14-16, A = 15-18, ll = 31-35 (Scheel 1968)
• D = 14-16, A = 15-18, D/A = +4, ll = 32-35 (Radda & Scheel 1974)
• D = 13-16, A = 15-18, D/A = +4 (Kamden Toham 1992)

n = 20, A = 28 (Scheel 1968)

Paraphyosemion

ndianus (has previously been placed in the gardneri group)

• Aphyosemion cameronense (non Boulenger 1903) Lambert & Géry 1968
• Aphyosemion ndianum Scheel 1968
• Fundulopanchax ndianus Lazara 1984
• Aphyosemion (Paraphyosemion) ndianum Huber 1994

• Dibeng
• Nsan village, appr. 40 km N. of Calabar, Nigeria.
• Obudu
• Osombo (has been seen by the corrupted name - Osomba)
• So ( Nigeria)

Obudu - This population was collected by John Hughes in July 1973 with the Fp.gardneri population Obudu. Unfortunately all ndianus did not survive to start a captive breeding group.

http://www.nakashima.org/gaphyo_ndianum.htm

Caught near Osombo, eastern Nigeria near the southern part of the Mamfe - Eyomojok - Calabar road. Also given as different locations in other references :-

• Scheel (1990) - Osoma, in the Akwa-Yafe River drainage system, Oban Mountains, Nigeria
• Teugels, Reid & King (1992) - Awsawmba.

South eastern border of Nigeria & neighbouring Cameroon. They were caught originally in the Akpa-Yafe Rver drainage area, eastern Nigeria. This area is 10 miles west of the Ndian River. These rivers are short & rise in the Oban Mountains, joining the Rio del Rey east of Calabar.

Rainforest swamps & swampy areas of brooks.

Described by Scheel in Rivulins of the Old World in 1968. These original fish were caught by Clausen in February 1959. These were taken to Scheel in Denmark in 1959. These were bred but not distributed. They became lost in 1965. Schiötz also caught them in April 1959 & June 1965. All these collections were caught in various localities near Osomba which is on the southern part of the Calabar-Eyomojok-Mamfe road.

In 1966 Scheel collected them in many localities east of the Ndian drainage from Mbonge west of Mt.Cameroon to Kribi.

First mentioned in the BKA newsletter in No.98, October 1973. A further report was contained in BKA newsletter 103.
In 1973 John Hughes collected this sp. from a locality close to Obudu, southeast Nigeria but these fish died in transit.
First recorded entry into the BKA came in the early part of 1973 where W.Wachters of Belgium sent semi-adult stock which settled in quickly.

I have had this species on two occasions. They were both a little more difficult laying well for a time & then nothing for months. I did find out a useful method in inducing them to spawn by keeping them cool (around 60-65°F).

Eggs are layed in bottom mops or peat substrate. I didn't try sand at the time but I would think this could also be used. Eggs incubated in water take 3-5 weeks to hatch. Laying eggs on wet peat or dry incubation takes about 6-8 weeks. Fry are capable of taking newly hatched brine shrimp as a first food. Growth is quite fast with sexual maturity being attained around 6-8 weeks.

The first breeding report in BKA newsletter No.98, October 1973 concerned a then undistributed form of Aphyosemion (later to identified as Fp.ndianus). Eggs were taken out & put into a seperate container & allowed to develop for 10-12 days. At this stage first signs of development were observed. They were put into damp peat at a consistency wetter than that used for true annuals.
Experiments were undertaken with a 4-5 week dry incubation period where the eggs were wet in 2-3" of cool tank water. No fry emerged. This formula of 10 days in water from picking, 5 weeks in dry storage & a wetting period of a further 3 weeks produced 3 fry. It was then estimated that a dry storage period of 12 weeks would have been more suitable.

Another report by Fred Wright in the same newsletter gave another account of experiences where he water incubated the eggs for 25 days & had a 100% hatch rate. Fifteen eggs were used in this experiment. No fungicide was added.
He dried the next batch for 25 days & had 90% hatch rate after the peat had been immersed for 3 days. Another attempt was undertaken with a 6 week dry incubation but only 3 fry emerged within 24 hours & no other fry hatched out over the following week. Eggs were examined & some were seen to be fully developed whilst others only partly so. All attempts to force hatch failed. Another attempt was made with a dry period of 9 weeks but the results were similar.
Another batch were laid on very moist peat & stored for 40 days. On wetting 96% hatched OK.

Further to this article Fred Wright also put a piece in BKA newsletter No.103, March 1974. He tried water incubation at 72°F & found first hatching occurred after 25 days of incubation with a complete hatching at 28 days. Some eggs were dry stored at 75°F for 40 days but results were not too good. Longer periods were tried in dry storage but this did not improve the hatch rate. It was found the longer they were stored the harder they became to hatch.
It was found that young fish layed eggs which hatched well in water incubated methods whilst older fish tended to lay more resting eggs. This was observed in a breeding tank with young breeders. Fry were observed in the tank but were not attacked or eaten by the parents.
Growth rate was observed as being rapid with first signs of sexing out being seen at the 1" stage. Males at this stage show a faint reddish marking along the belly region.

Ken Dosser in BKA newsletter No.207, November 1982 tried to breed them at pH 6·8, DH 5, temperature 72°F without success. He increased the temperature to 75°F, still without success. After inadvertantly leaving the fish house roof window open overnight resulting in a drop in temperature in the tank down to 66°F. This resulted in many eggs being laid in mops. He maintained the tank at 68°F afterwards with more success.

A fish called Aphyosemion 'Korup 01' was caught in the Korup National Park in 1992 by André Kamden Toham close to the Ndian River. Wildekamp 1995 regarded it as being close to ndianus & called it Fundulopanchax sp.aff.ndianus.This fish had a 'stripey' appearance with 2 red lines horizontally through the body & 2 horizontal lines on the anal fin, one at the margin, the other in the centre of the fin. The dorsal fin also had 2 horizontal lines, one on the outer margin, the other close to the body.
The collector reported the meristics of this fish as D = 16-17, A = 16-17, D/A = +4.
See Fp.sp.Korup.