Male Photo: Courtesy of Tony Terceira |
Female Photo: Courtesy of Tony Terceira |
Meaning of Name |
Really named after the 'beautiful' female. The Greek Goddess Hera. |
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First Description |
Huber J.H. 1998. A new Cyprinodont species with a uniquely-colored female, Aphyosemion hera n.sp. (Cyprinodontiformes, Pisces), from northwestern Gabon. Revue Suisse de Zoologie, 105 (2): 331-338. See this link for full description & photographs. |
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Size |
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Meristics |
D = 16, A = 16, D/A = +8 |
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Karyotype | |||||||||||||||||||
Sub-Genus | |||||||||||||||||||
Group | |||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms |
None |
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Populations
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GJS 00/29 Bengui 1-2 - Water temperature 23°C. pH 6·4 and conductivity 43 microseimens. Altitude was 10-20 metres. Mogens Juhl collected 2 trios here along with an electric catfish.
GJS 00/28 Bengui 3 - Mogens Juhl collected this code in 2000. I male & 4 females were collected. The females were collected by scooping the collecting net into the mud. TDK 97/29 - 45 km after the bridge over the Ogooue River in Lambarené. TDK 97/30 - 43 km after the bridge over the Ogooue River in Lambarené .
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Type Locality |
Collected by Romer & Krumenacker in July 1996. Benguié village appro. 45 km northeast from Lambaréné using the bridge over the river Ogooué (in Lambaréné) as a starting point. |
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Distribution |
Limited. |
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Habitat |
Shady, primary forest areas. In the summer of 1996 (the dry season) water was shallow & clear (20 cm deep) & 1-2 metres wide. The base was covered in dead leaves. Conductivity 20µs, pH 6, water temperature 21°C. Collected with A.gabunense, E.sexfasciatus & E.singa. Mogens Juhl collected them in very shallow water
over a thick layer of mud. |
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Distinguishing Characteristics | See remarks in colour variability below. | ||||||||||||||||||
Colour/Pattern Variability | Differences exist in the anal fin which can be yellow or pale blue with red spots in males. Females are quite unique in there colouration & patterning & not hard to seperate from other known species in the genus. | ||||||||||||||||||
History |
Discovered by Swiss Killie keepers Hermann Romer and Mr René Krumenacker in July 1996. Collected by Romer in 1996 in Bengui village.
Pascal and Robert tried to find this locality but could not find the
location due to a vague description by Romer. |
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Breeding Notes |
Romer in Killi-Data gives a breeding report. Fish were easy to breed on mops & kept to darker areas of the tank. Water incubated eggs hatch in 20 days at room temperature. First food was newly hatched brine shrimp. Growth reported as being slow. Sexing out started at 5 months with breeding at 7. Full size taking 12 months. Richard Sproson in BKA newsletter No.444, September 2002 gives a short report on breeding. Fairly easy to breed. Eggs are laid on mops & water stored for 20 days at room temperature. Fry take newly hatched brine shrimp on hatching. Growth rate is fairly slow with sexing out at 5 months & adult size at 12 months. First spawns occur at 7 months. Peter Uhlann in BKA newsletter
No.488, May 2006 reports not much breeding activity below 20°C.
No direct light above the tank as these are shy fish. Egg production
up to 15 per day. He noted that eggs were more yellow than other Aphyosemion
sp he had bred.
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Diameter of Egg | 1mm or slightly larger. | ||||||||||||||||||
Remarks |