Among the Nothobranchius species, one of the more spectacular is N. eggersi. It is found both in the wild and in the hobby in two basic color forms (red and blue) and in a transition form.
This species was most recently collected from the wild in 1995 by Brian Watters, Ruud Wildekamp, and Ian Sainthouse.
There has been, and continues to be, some confusion regarding the various strains of this fish, some of which have deteriorated badly during their maintenance within the hobby. The original strain of N. eggersi (red) was never a pure strain, and has now deteriorated and exhibits unusually stubby bodies. Viability of the blue form has also deteriorated, with many deaths reported among the young stock.
According to Brian Watters, the fish known originally as N. eggersi (Red), N. eggersi Rufiji River Camp and N. eggersi (Red) Selous Game Reserve all belong to the same strain. This strain was never pure; the aquarium strain began with a male N. eggersi (Red) and a female of the Ruhoi River strain (Blue), since no females of the Red form were available.
The original N. eggersi Ruhoi , also known as N. eggersi (Blue) was a pure strain.
On their 1995 collecting trip, Wildekamp, Sainthouse and Watters were able to collect the Rufiji River Camp (Red) form, to recollect the Ruhoi River (Blue) form, and to find a dominantly Blue form in the Rufiji River Camp area. Collected and subsequently introduced to the hobby were:
N. eggersi Rufiji River Camp TAN 95/7 (Red);
N. eggersi Rufiji River Camp TAN 95/8; and
N. eggersi Ruhoi River TAN 95/11 (Blue).
Since confusion does exist regarding the populations and strains of these fish, and since there is a very real possibility of producing sterile “hybrids” if populations are mixed, it is very important to maintain the strains pure, and retain all collection code information through subsequent generations. GCKA Newsletter, October 1997