Aphyosemiom bivittatum
(Lönnberg
1895)
A.bivittatum
Funge male. Photo Courtesy of
Ed Pürzl
A.bivitatum
Funge female. Photo Courtesy of Ed
Pürzl
Two
Striped - bi = Two, vittatus = Striped. This characteristic is found more markedly
on females.
Löennberg
1895. Fundulus bivittatus
Notes
on Fishes collected in the Cameroons by Dr. Y. Sjöstedt.
Öfversigt
Kungl. Svenska Vetenskaps Akademiens Forhandlinger 3, Stockholm, 52, pages 190-191.
Paul
Arnold also wrote descriptions in Bl.Aq.Terr. 1908, p653, figures, & Woch.Aq.Terr.
1911, p601, figures.
5 cm. Total lengths of 9 cm have been recorded which
included the long filaments to the caudal fin.
n = 15 - 18 A = 20 - 23 (Scheel 1990)
In 1968 (ROTOW
1) Scheel reported:-
n = 18 (26) for a form collected east of the River Ndian & n = 15
(20) for a form west of the River Ndian.
Chromaphyosemion
A.bivittatum
Biafra.
Photo courtesy of Rudolf Pohlmann.
Funge.
Photo courtesy of Rudolf Pohlmann.
Funge
Photo courtesy of Maurice Chauche & the KCF website.
BKA
photo taken in the late '70's of the Funge population.
Funge - Black.
Photo courtesy of Rudolf Pohlmann.
Kwa River Falls.
Photo courtesy of Rudolf Pohlmann.
Mundemba CI 91.
Photo courtesy of Rudolf Pohlmann.
Mundemba
Mundemba CI 03.
Commercial import into the USA 2003.
Photo courtesy of Tony Terceira.
Biafra
Photo courtesy of Günther
Schmaus.
Biafra
circulating in the
BKA around 1982.
Funge.
This male was photographed in 1983.
Fungé - First imported into the
BKA by SIC in July 1980.
Kwa River Falls Plantation - Collected
by Wildekamp & Cooijmans in 1990.
Waterfall on the Ndian River.
Boulenger gives Calabar, Cameroon as the
type locality. Types in the Stockholm Museum.
The low coastal plain on either side of the Nigeria
/ Cameroon border. They have been found in the lower tributaries of
the Ndian River & also in some small coastal rivers.
Found on calcareous sediments. Thought to have a restricted range.
The
eastern border appears to be the population from Funge. This frontier population
borders with A.volcanum. Cameroon populations
are considered more colourful than those found in Nigeria. Western populations
have been found with more orange in the caudal fin replacing the usual blue found
in Funge.
Brooks & small streams, some being brackish. They
have been collected in well shaded pools which were rich in vegetation
& animal life. In 'A World of Killies Vol 1' by Ruud Wildekamp it
is stated that they are found in streams flowing over calcium bearing
soils.
In nature the habitats are fairly constant in temperature (24-26°C),
pH 6, DH 1.
Sympatric sp. include:- A.calliurum,
A.scheeli, Fp.sjoestedti,
Fp.gardneri, E.grahami,
E.sexfasciatus (group), Procatopus
similis.
of the sub-genus Chromaphyosemion can be difficult
to identify without first studying the individual colouration of each species.
A.bivittatum
can be seperated in the un-paired fin extensions which are yellow/orange. Many
populations lack the dark stripes in the male, although the Funge population shows
this marking quite clearly. Individuals from the Biafra population do not show
this marking in the males. It is not possible
to give an accurate colour description of these fish as colouration not only varies
between populations but from individuals within the same population. It has been
said that colouration varies depending on the mood of the fish & this seems
to be correct to a point.
Originally described by Lönnberg in 1895
as Fundulus bivittatus. The Type
specimen (a female) was caught by Y.Sjöestedt in a small brook
near Mundemba near a waterfall on the Ndian River.
In
1903 Bates collected this sp. & sent 15 specimens preserved to Boulenger in
London for identification. Boulenger described these as Fundulus
loennbergi.
First imported into
Europe by the firm Siggelkow from Hamburg in 1908. Arnold most likely used these
in a description in the German magazine 'Blättern' as F.loennbergi
from Warri, Nigeria. Meinken used this material for his description
of Aphyosemion multicolor in 1930. Also mentioned
were Fundulus arnoldi & F.gularis
'Yellow'.
Meinken, in 1930, had a strain from a commercial
import thought to have been collected in the Calabar region of southeast
Nigeria. He thought differed sufficiently enough to describe them as
a new species which he did & named them Fundulopanchax
bivittatus var.
coerulea. The fish in circulation at this time as bivittatum
were in fact bitaeniatum as we know
them today. Myers found the name 'coerulea'
to be already occupied & renamed them Aphyosemion
bivittatum hollyi in 1933.
In 1974 P.Winter collected bivittatum
from the type locality. These were distributed & may be the source
of the fish in captivity in more recent years being circulated as 'hollyi'.
Boulenger lists these collectors/contributors
in Freshwater Fishes of Africa:
This
sp. has, in the past, been distributed as A.bitaeniatum
& A.bivittatum hollyi. The later is invalid
but A.bitaeniatum as shown by Huber in Killie
Data 2000 is now a valid sp. (see A.bitaeniatum).
The
population from Funge was collected in 1978 by the German aquarist Armbruster.
This
sp. is a typical top spawner laying eggs in floating mops & plants. The
Funge population has given a few headaches in the past as many eggs seem to perish
when incubated in water. Dick Cox in BKA newsletter No. 200, April 1982 found
that it was more productive to lay eggs on damp peat for 15-21 days before wetting.
Stan Langdon is someone who has kept this sp
(Funge population) from May/June 1982. Tanks are well planted with Java
moss & Ceratopteris. Stan's
mix of 70% rainwater, 20% tapwater & 10% water from an established
tank was used. Water temperature 72-78°F. The fish were fed a diet
of white worm & flake.
A brown mop was used as a spawning medium. Eggs were water incubated
at a temperature of 72°F.
Andy Wyldes in BKA Newsletter No. 310, July 1991
put eggs on damp peat & stored at 70°F, wetting after 20 days.
All eggs hatched within 48 hours.
He also observed that this sp. would sometimes occur as having no stripes
along the body in both males & females.
Kadlec
in BKA newsletter No.248, April 1986, observed that on hatching the fry were 5·5mm
in length. At one month 2 horizontal bands will appear on the body & at 7
weeks the young will start to show sexual differences. At 11 weeks first attempts
at spawning were observed.
Although not seen these days names in the Chromaphyosemion
group have been doubled, i.e. A.bivittatum
bitaeniatum which is not correct. A.bivittatum
can only currently be called A.bivittatum
& nothing else.
The most often seen population is Funge.
It has been observed that at higher temperatures the fish will hang
near the surface.
The fish circulated as 'hollyi'
apearred very shy & would not come out of hiding.