After the city of Monrovia, Liberia.

Roloff, E. and W. Ladiges 1972

Roloffia monroviae spec. nov. Beschreibung einer reuen Roloffia-Art aus Liberia.

Aquarien und Terrarien-Zeitschrift v. 25 (no. 9): 299-301.

8 cm

D=15·8, A=18·2, D/A=2, ll=33·8

n=23

• Roloffia monroviae Roloff & Ladiges 1972
• Aphyosemion monroviae (Roloff & Ladiges 1972)

• Harbel (Liberia)
• Monrovia (Liberia)
• Paynesville (97 / L)
• Robertsport (Liberia)
• RL 65 - TP 82

Harbel - Also distributed as 'Harbel Red'. Collected by Etzel & Putz but I have no information on the year of collection.

Monrovia - Roloff collected in this area in 1972 & Etzel also collected here in 1978.

Forest pool about 25 miles from Monrovia.

This chart appeared in BKA newsletter No.100, December 1973 in an article by Hans van Es from data supplied by Ton van der Velde in 1972. It concerns the rainfall & temperatures over a 12 month period in the area of Monrovia.

Call.monroviae is found sympatrically with Scriptaphyosemion liberiense (then referred in the article as Roloffia calabarica).
In Monrovia 3 colour forms exist - red, blue & yellow. All 'live in the same waters'. Females were observed to be identical for each colour form. Reports suggested that the yellow form was the hardest to fix. Some breeders crossed the red & blue forms to get a yellow form whilst others dismissed this practice.
It was reported that in maturity some females take on the colouration of males but this was regarded as a rare occurance. This was also observed in the sympatric 'calabarica' (liberiense).

Introduced into the KFN around 1970 as an import from Peter Busink. At first these were considered to be Roloffia occidentalis but a difference in colour patterns was later used as a seperator between these sp.
In 1972 Ton van der Velde imported this sp. from Monrovia.

First introduced to the BKA through Fred Wright towards the end of 1972.

A blue population was distributed in the BKA to breeders team members in October 1973.

Red, Blue & yellow forms were imported into the USA but it seemed only the blue form could be found in year 2000.

Fred Wright reported that eggs first received in the BKA hatched out after 5 and a half months of dry storage.

A breeding report from BKA newsletter No.100 stated that fish were kept in a community of other large killies endemic to west Africa. When females were ready for spawning they were placed in a tank at least 24" long with a peat substrate of at least 2". Plants were added as cover for females. Water conditions were regarded as not critical & even wild fish were tolerant in this regard. Trios were used for spawning. Fighting may ensue & can lead to the death of either sex. Fish are left in this set up for a week & then taken out. The peat was then taken out & dry stored for 12 weeks. The peat was wet in water at the same temperature used for breeding. Fry hatched rapidly & growth rate was regarded as very good.
First signs of a difference in sexes occured at the 1" stage where a darkening of the outer margins to the caudal fin showed males coming through.
Females were regarded as being ready to spawn at 3" but it was considered better to leave them until they grew larger. Males were regarded as reaching 5-6" in length.

This sp. is regarded as a heavy eater. When fully bloated they later resume normal body proportions but have been observed not to eat again for some time.