Chestnut body colouration.

Myers G.S. 1924

A New Poeciliid fish from the Congo, with remarks on Funduline genera.

American Museum Novitates 116, 2-4, fig 1-2.

Aphyosemion

Populations

• Kisangani
• 11 km west of Kisangani
• Lobaye
• Wani Rukula, 65 km southeast of Kisangani
• HZ 85 / 7
• HZ 85 / 8
• HZ 85 / 20

Kisangani (then Stanleyville).

This sp. was for a long time thought to be A.christyi but in a paper by Van der Zee & Huber (2006) the name A.castaneum was shown to be valid.

Myers described the sp. from 9 specimens collected at Stanleyville & Medje in the northern area of the Central Congo drainage. He considered them sufficiently seperated from related sp. due to a lack of red spots on sides & red markings in fins 'except for the anal fin which had an orange line close to the outside edge'. Scheel in ROTOW 1 p.149 considered that the red pigmentation may have been lost due to bad preservation.
In 1930 Pellegrin reported the sp from Liboumbi, Upper Ogowe area. Poll, in 1952 considered castaneum to represent a synonym for schoutedeni. In 1961 Lambert considered schoutedeni as a synonym for christyi. He also suggested that christyi might be a synonym for lujae.

Collected by Paul de Walgeneer an AKFB member on an expedition to the Congo in 1991.

Biotope measurements taken on the 2nd August 1991 were - water temperature 20'C, pH 5.6, DH & KH less than 1', air temperature 25'C. Sympatric sp. included Epiplatys multifasciatus.

In Ruud Wildekamp's 'A World of Killies' they are shown as A.aff.lujae (Oyo, eastern Congo). Two collections from the same drainage are known, (Boundji being the other) north of the Zaire River. The known range for A.lujae is south west of there locations over the Zaire River.

This paper suggests A.sp.Oyo be placed in castaneum - Van der Zee, J. R., & Sonnenberg, R. (2011). Aphyosemion musafirii (Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae), a new species from the Tshopo Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with some notes on the Aphyosemion of the Congo Basin. Bonn zoological Bulletin, 60(1), 73-87..

• RPC 91/8 ( Oyo )

Aphyosemion species Oyo RPC 91/8. T.Lenormand & R.Lamy Chappuis. KCF Killi Revue No.04/99. September 1999. 6 pages including colour photograph.

'A World of Killies' Ruud Wildekamp. See pages 222-224 on A.lujae.

Female photo (Gary Bartell's site) - http://www.garysfishroom.us

May 2000 : Maintained in our tanks. Also in various elegans group projects especially Europe.

Fairly easy to breed in rainwater. Water changes appear to be important. If left without a change for 4 weeks egg production dies off dramatically to the point where no eggs are layed at all. This, despite a heavy growth of floating Ceratopteris. Cause is probably a build up of hormones in the water as Nitrates are used up by the vegetation.

It is interesting to note the low pH reading of 5.6 taken in there natural habitat. Perhaps a peat filter or substrate may help if fish refuse to spawn. When collecting eggs, try putting them in a peat extract solution to reduce the spread of fungus.

Fry have been observed to grow on in the parents tank. Fry hatched in containers are very small & I find infusoria a valuable food to keep in the fry tanks. I moved a batch of one week old fry to a 3 gallon (14 litre) tank filled with rainwater, with a good growth of algae & they seemed to grow on OK.

Breeding report supplied by Ian Fitch 31st October 2004.....Thanks Ian.

I age my water in a holding tank for at least 4 to 5 days before doing water changes and the amount exchanged is 30% for the 2 and 1/2 gallon tank and 20% for the 10 gallon tank. These water changes are done weekly and the fish do not lose their appetite or act shy afterwords.

1st. Pair: 2 and 1/2 gallon tank at 74°F. pH 6.2-6.4 GH 60-80 ppm light dusting of peat on bottom and a nylon bag with peat in tank (baseball size). No salt used in this tank. Water is tannin rich with a sponge filter is bubbling fairly quickly but water is fairly calm. There are no plants and no lighting for this tank except for some light from a window that is close by. Parents are usually sedentary and do not swim around the tank often, the female lays eggs in a black acrylic bottom mop. Parents fed commercial frozen food at least twice a day, mostly Bloodworms, Glassworms and ocasianally Brineshrimp.
Result: Eight eggs found on mop each of the last two weeks. Eggs apear to be fertile and several are eyed up.

2nd Pair: 10 gallon tank at 76°F. pH 6.6 GH 80-100 ppm. No peat is used and the tank has a very fast bubbling sponge filter and a power filter. 1/2 Teaspoon of salt added per gallon of water. Water is somewhat turbulent and both fish swim around occasianaly swimming into the stream of bubbles. This tank has 28watts of flourescent light (12 hours a day) and is heavily planted with Duckweed covering the surface and with several species of plants in the sand substrate. The fish seem to be spawning on the base of a small Red Melon Sword plant. This tank is not tannin rich but there is about five pounds of African rootwood that tends to acidify the water.
Parents fed the same diet as first pair.
Result: frequent spawning behavior, especially by the sword plant but I havent torn apart the tank to look for eggs.

Both pairs seem to get along well with each other and are not shy. The female in the 10 gallon did have a very small tear in her caudal fin that healed quickly.