Wild male collected near Yabassi.
Photo courtesy of Ed Pürzl.

Wild female collected near Yabassi.
Photo courtesy of Ed Pürzl.

After Franz Werner an eminent killifish keeper from Detroit, USA.

Scheel J.J. 1971.

Aphyosemion franzwerneri & Aphyosemion celiae, Two New Rivulins from Cameroon.

TFH Magazine. January 1971, pages 61-66.

4.5 cm

• D = 9-10, A = 13, ll = 29-32 (Scheel 1971)
• D = 9-10, A = 13, ll = 29-30 (Radda & Pürzl 1987)

n = 11, A = 22 (Scheel 1971, 1974). The length of the longest chromosome arm suggests this sp. belongs to an ancient group. Reportedly an ancestral relative of the A.calliurum group.

Mesoaphyosemion

franzwerneri

None

• Bonépoupa
• Cellucam
• Ndokama
• Song Makak
• CMG 13 / 4 - Makia
• C 89 / 23 - Cellucam, 10 km North east Edéa
• CCMPT 84 / 15 - Bonépoupa, 3·9 km Douala-Edéa
• EMS 90 / 18 - Ndokama, PK 15 to Yabassi,
• HLM 99 / 18 - Ndokama Belongo

15 km north of the Douala - Edea - Yabassi road junction, Cameroon. High, humid forest on sediments of the Cretaceous series.

Western Cameroon. In the lower Sanaga & Wuri River drainages.

This sp. was discovered in a small pool one foot wide which was connected to a small brook one foot wide with a water depth of an inch or less. This brook is part of the Dibamba drainage. The small pool had a base of very coarse brownish sand reported to 'ooze' from a dense growth of tree roots.

Sympatric sp. include Aphyosemion riggenbachi.

Difficult to confuse this sp. with any other Aphyosemion sp. They are long, elongated in shape & have great difficulty in swimming in mid water, always sinking rapidly. In the wild they are regarded as Mudskippers.

Colouration wise the caudal fin has a wide outer margin at the bottom & a smaller outer margin at the top.

Originally caught by Scheel in January 1969 at the type locality.

We had this sp. briefly some years ago but failed to reproduce it. It is reportedly a very difficult sp.

Males are aggressive. Eggs are layed on the bottom in very shallow tanks (with high oxygen content?). Eggs reportedly take 12-16 days to hatch. Growth rate is slow with sexual maturity not being attained until they reach 8-10 months of age.

Friedrich Bitter (BKA newsletter No. 303, Dec 1990) reported that fish should be kept in shallow water with the bottom covered with peat fibre. Fry will appear in the tank if the parents are kept well fed. He reported that this sp. is not prolific.

This is a drab looking species which will not become popular in the hobby. Nevertheless they are still a very rare fish & remain a challenge to killie breeders.