Fundulopanchax fallax (Ahl 1935)

Fifinda - ADK 09 / 301
Photo courtesy of Christian Cauvet

Meaning of Name

After the latin - fallax, meaning deceptive. This refers to the resemblance with Fp.gularis.
First Description

Ahl E. 1935. Aphyosemion (Fundulopanchax) fallax.

Beschreibung zweier neuer Süsswasserfische aus West Afrika.

Zoologischer Anzeiger 110 (9-10): p 251-253.

 Line drawing from original description.
Size

13 cm
Meristics
  • D = 13-14, A = 15-16, ll = 34 (Ahl 1935)
  • D = 16, A = 18-19, ll = 36 (Scheel & Radda 1974)
  • D = 16-17, A = 16-17, ll = 32-33 (+2-3) (Radda 1975)
  • D = 16-17, A = 17-19, ll = 32-36 (Radda & Pürzl 1987)
  • D = 14-15, A = 15-16, ll = 30-33 (Seegers 1988)
Karyotype

n = 18, A = 29 (Scheel 1990)
Sub-Genus

Gularopanchax
Group

 
Synonyms
  • Fundulus gularis (non Boulenger 1911) Krüger 1913
  • Fundulopanchax spurelli (non Boulenger 1913) Schreitmüller 1933

    Line drawing used in Schreitmüller's description.

  • Aphyosemion (Fundulopanchax) fallax Ahl 1935
  • Aphyosemion fallax Arnold & Ahl 1936

    Line drawing used in Arnold & Ahl's description.

    Line drawing of Yellow gularis (deltaensis) Arnold. Note lack of extentions in anal fin rays.

  • Aphyosemion gulare schwoiseri Scheel & Radda 1974 See Link
  • Aphyosemion schwoiseri Radda 1975
  • Aphyosemion species 'Gulare' Harvey, Radda & Tabatt 1979
  • Fundulopanchax fallax Lazara 1984
  • Fundulopanchax schwoiseri Lazara 1984
  • Fundulopanchax kribianus Lazara 1984
  • Aphyosemion fallax fallax Frey 1992
  • Aphyosemion fallax schwoiseri Frey 1992
  • Aphyosemion fallax kribianum Frey 1992
  • Aphyosemion (Gularopanchax) schwoiseri Huber 1994
  • Aphyosemion (Gularopanchax) kribianum Huber 1994
  • Aphyosemion kribianum Radda 1975

Populations

  • Elogbatindi (western Cameroon)
  • Fifinda (Imported as Orange & Yellow forms)
  • Fifinda - ADK 09 / 301
  • Kribi (southwestern Cameroon)
  • Kribi - ADK 10/ 322
  • Malende (western Cameroon)(schwoiseri)
  • Mbebe (65 km north of Kribi. Females are reported to have a variable background colour ranging from metallic green to orange).
  • Mouanko ( Corrupted - Mouanco )
  • Mouanko Blue
  • CI 98
  • CI 99
  • OD 11 / 03 (USA Commercial imports seen as orange & green forms)

 

 

 

Fp.fallax (kribianus). Wild male collected at Kribi.
Photo courtesy of Ed Pürzl.

This fish distributed in the BKA as A.fallax early-mid '80's

Aquarium strain circulating in the BKA late 1990's.

Fifinda - Personally I consider Fifinda, CI 98 & CI 99 to be the same collection. All commercially collected & shipped out. Obviously their is going to be a variance in colouration & pattern. We know an orange & a yellow variant exists. Commercial collectors have said they caught both in the same pool of water.
I doubt these came from the same source. We need a better organised collecting trip to collect from this area.

Fifinda Orange, wild fish imported to the UK in 1998.

Fifinda Orange taken in 2004.

Fifinda Yellow male. Taken in the UK 2004.
Photo courtesy of Roger Gladwell.

Fifinda Yellow photographed in Germany.
Photo courtesy of Günther Schmaus.

 

Fifinda Yellow Wild male. (not a great photo, the yellow is a daffodil yellow & the darker areas are purple)

Fifinda Orange.
Photo courtesy of Martin Fourcade

Fifinda Yellow male. US import I took in 2004.

Fifinda Yellow female. US import I took in 2004.

Fifinda Yellow circulating in the US in 2003.
Photo courtesy of Bill Shenefelt.

CI 98 Photo courtesy of Martin Fourcade

CI 99 import from the USA.

CI 99 import from the USA.

 

Fish distributed as CI 98 originating from Germany. Caught in '98, same year as the Fifinda import. Both forms were probably shipped at the same time. Photo: Courtesy of Bill Schenefelt

 

 

ADK 09 / 301 Fifinda - Circulated in France 2010. This collection (from photos seen) has an anal diagonally split with upper orange & green lower in some specimens whilst others are fairly clear. Other photos show this orange to a much lesser degree. Body patterns follow the Fifinda imports into the UK from commercial sources.
The blue form should be called ADK 091301 Blue Form. This is quite similar to the Fifinda yellow form we distributed in the UK in the '90's.
It's interesting in females that the ADK collection & commercial imports into the UK show a feint orange band in the outer margin of the dorsal fin. Also 4 lines of red spots running horizontally along the body with the upper 2 running to the first ray of the dorsal fin whilst the lower 2 stop about at the pelvic fin.
Females are often ignored in identification of a species or population.


Fifinda - ADK 09 / 301 Blue Form
Photo courtesy of Christian Cauvet

Mouanko - This population was well known in Fp. circles. Photos exist of a blue form taken in France. This is a slate grey/blue looking fish. It's not that colourful so probably will not stand the test of time in hobbyists tanks. This one should be called Mouanko Blue.
Chauche & Poliak have crossd the Mouanko & Malendé populations & found them viable up to F2.

Mouanko
Photo courtesy of Günther Schmaus.

Mouanko Blue
Photo courtesy of Maurice Chauche & the KCF
Type Locality

Given as the Gold Coast, now Ghana. Types were used from aquarium material where the exact collecting location was unknown. Ahl quotes the Gold Coast as the type locality but this is considered to be an error as the Niger Delta is the probable correct location.

See also Fp.deltaensis
Distribution

Coastal western Cameroon from Malende in the north to Kribi in the south.

Habitat

Swamps & swampy areas of brooks in humid rainforest.

Collected by A.C.Radda in December 1974. He reported - "in water holes of a swampy spring area of a brook about 3 km upstream. The brook crosses the Kribi-Campo road about 7 km south of Kribi near the ferry across the Lobé River, East Cameroon. After an exhausting upstream march of one hour across fallen trees, I was lucky enough to catch one female and three males... I suddenly realized that I had lost my bearings. Again after climbing over cross-lying trees and penetrating very dense vegetation, being bitten by ants and stung by many mosquitoes and flies, I found my way back and arrived completely wet... from my involuntary bath in a deep pool... On seeing my car again, I felt quite relieved."
Distinguishing Characteristics Heavily spotted fish on flanks & dorsal & anal fins. Spots of dark red to purple. Caudal fin is distincly split with the upper third heavily spotted.
Colour/Pattern Variability Fairly high. Blue morphs are known in the wild & have been collected at Fifinda & Mouanko.
History

First documented reports of this sp. were given by Schreitmüller in 1933 where he mentions being informed of a 'yellow Fundulus' arriving from the Gold Coast. He had some pairs from Härtel of Dresden. They considered them sufficiently different from the then gularis & sent some preserved specimens to Norman at the British Museum who identified this material as spurelli (Fp.walkeri). This species had not been imported as an aquarium fish at this time.

Arnold, in 1934 had 2 preserved specimens from this importation supplied by O.Scholze of Berlin who considered them to represent Nothobranchius gularis. Arnold considered they were closest to batesii. He compared them with Schreitmüller's notes & figure & found them to be comparable. These were sent to Norman at the British Museum & were identified as gularis.

In 1935 Schreitmüller realised Norman's identifications were not in agreement & he asked him for an opinion to which he replied that Arnold's fish originated from the Niger Delta. Schreitmuller sent two preserved specimens to Ahl in Berlin who considered them to represent a new species & named them Aphyosemion (Fundulopanchax) fallax.

Sterba considered this sp. to come from Ghana in his work Freshwater Fishes of the World.

I was talking to Alan Green who remembers getting fish with no colour in wild imports in the '90's so the blue form has been in the UK - it's just not been bred here.It seems to be a commonly recurring thread in collections commercial & private of these blue/colourless forms.

History of the synonym Aphyosemion schwoiseri Scheel & Radda 1974.

Initially described as a subspecies of A.gulare in 1974. Radda raised it to species level in 1975.
First collected by Schwoiser in 1974 between Yoke & Malende, south of Kumba. Radda & Pürzl gave information from Mbonge in 1982. Monin later visited the locally & Amiet (December 1984)

History of the synonym Aphyosemion kribianum Radda 1975.

Collected in the early part of 1973 by a large group of German aquarists collecting in the Kribi area. They collected only one male of this sp. The biotope was a rainforest brook close to the ferry crossing on the Lobe River. This male died in transit.
In 1974 another collecting trip found them 1-2 miles from the above location. All collected specimens also died in transit to Europe.
Radda collected in the area specifically to find this sp. & collected 4 individuals. These all arrived safely in Austria but failed to produce any offspring. These wild fish formed the preserved material used to describe Aphyosemion kribianum in 1975.
Probable first introduction into the BKA was in 1981.
Breeding Notes

Males can be aggressive & a larger aquarium is recommended for spawning with plenty of cover for female/s in the form of mops &/or plants. Salt should be added at the rate of 2-3 teaspoons per gallon. The water should also be acid (pH 4·5 - 6·0 maximum). The bottom can be covered in silver sand or peat depending on how you prefer to collect eggs. I found the best way was to remove the fish every 2 weeks & stir the sand up. On settling swish a net in a figure '8' pattern through the water to collect the eggs. Repeat this 3 times to collect the majority of the eggs.

These eggs should be placed in clean rainwater & left for 7-10 days discarding any fungussed eggs. The colouration of the egg will turn a murky white & many an egg has been discarded at this stage thinking they had gone bad. A great way of detecting bad eggs is to use 'chelated iron' this also makes the water more acid & removes phosphates.

Place these eggs onto damp peat/coconut fibre or place in this medium in a bag & leave to incubate which takes 5-8 weeks. Some eggs will resist this initial hatching & the peat should be re-dried for a couple of weeks before wetting again. Fry can take newly hatched brine shrimp as a first food. Growth is rapid with sexing out starting after about 4-5 weeks. Larger fish should be moved on to another tank as they can eat smaller fry.

When first imported to the UK (early '70's) it was thought the eggs needed 8 weeks dry storage. Later it was found that 5-7 weeks was a better incubation period.
A report of breeding these first imports is contained in BKA newsletter No.88, December 1972. Fred Wright used an 18 x 10 x 10" tank. Water depth was 8". pH & hardness didn't seem too critical but a pH 6·8, DH 4 was suitable. Temperature was 74°F. Peat fibre & peat was used (the peat being one & a half inches). Egg yield for females in good condition was reported as being 10-15 per day. The spawning season was quite lengthy.
Eggs can be harvested from the peat & fibre & put into containers containg a fungicide for 24 hours after which time they can be stored in damp peat. Fred wet peat as early as 5 weeks storage with no problems.
Fry were easily raised but velvet could be a problem. It was found that taking out the peat as soon as possible after hatching reduced the chances of this disease ocurring. Sexing out was observed at an early age. Young males did not appear to be aggressive towards each other.

Water incubated eggs kept slightly warmer (around 80'F) with a very slight aeration in the container take 7 weeks to hatch.
Velvet is a common killer of fry & should be looked for. The rapid removal of peat from the fry tank seems to lesson the chances of the disease occuring. Fry/young fish mortality has been observed by over feeding over large food.
Young fish are sexable at an early age.

In e-mail correspondance with a BKA member who had the Fifinda Orange form he informed me that the parents ignored mops, fibre & peat to spawn in but favoured the roots of the plant Java Fern. Hundreds of eggs were found here.

When I bred the CI 98 population I set up 2 x 3' tanks, one containting 2 trios, the other the remainder of the group comprising about 10 males & 5 females. In both tanks a container of peat was added. Also, in both tanks it was observed that females would position themselves inside the peat containers & wait for a passing male to show interest in spawning.
Some eggs (about 10) were collected in the silver sand base.

Paul Carter in BKA newsletter No.536, May/June 2010 gives a breeding account - Fish were set up to breed at 4 months of age. Males were 4" excluding tail. Two large containers of peat were added, one at each end of the tank. No eggs were found in this peat (probably due to low temperatures of 18-20°C) until the peat was taken out when the fish were 9+ months old. The fish were kept in a fish house with a clear roof. As it was going into summer the older fish were in warmer water & this is thought to be the reason for a greater number of eggs. A lot of eggs present which were eventually hatched at 8-10 weeks incubation
Diameter of Egg Quite large.
Remarks

I have found that large, older males of the Fifinda population are vulnerable to shock very easily. This is not as a result of old water I have observed. They will play dead by curling up on the tank base & to all intense & purposes stop breathing with no movement noticeable on the gill plates.
This can be caused by walking past the tank, lifting the lid, putting your hand into the tank or moving the fish I have observed.
Sometimes they will come round & be perfectly normal but older fish normally die.

The Fifinda varieties were widely distributed in an effort to conserve them in the hobby. In 2002 both yellow & orange were still being maintained in the USA.

My personal opinion is that if a line is bred long enough a few blue/colourless forms will crop up. This shows through in collections from various collection locations. A gene 'crack' is perhaps a common thing with this sp.

References - KCF Newsletter No.3/2010, May/June.