PRONOTHOBRANCHIUS KIYAWENSIS
Article compiled and authorized for publish in NMG Web for Tim Addis (B.K.A.)
MEANING OF NAME
Pro refers to the latin before. Nothobranchius is an east African genera. When an 'ensis' is placed on a sp. naming it generally refers to a point of origin. In this case the Kiyawe River in northern Nigeria.
FIRST DESCRIPTION
Ahl E. 1928b. Description of Two New Cyprinodont Fishes from
Nigeria.
Ann & Mag. Nat. Hist. 10 (2): p600 - 602.
Description of Aphyosemion
seymouri....
Loiselle, Paul V.
& Blair, David 1971.
A New Species of Aphyosemion (Teleostomi: Cyprinodontidae: Rivulinae)
From Ghana, and a Redefinition of Subgenus Fundulopanchax Myers, 1924.
JAKA Vol.8 No.1, Winter 1971 / 72.
MERISTICS
D/A = +3-4.
SYNONIMS
POPULATIONS
Pronothobranchius
kiyawensis. This photo labelled by the
synonymous name Aphyosemion
seymouri.
Photo: Bob
Heap. BKA photo from an I/P dated
1972
Pronothobranchius kiyawensis.
Photographed in 1975 from fish received from the
German Democratic Republic.
Photo courtesy of Ed Pürzl
Pronothobranchius
kiyawensis BKA import 1969/70 (formerly
Aphyosemion BKA U1)
BKA Photo
German Import 2001? 2 males..Photo courtesy of Alan Green.
German Import 2001? distributed in Europe..Photo courtesy of Alan Green.
Female of the German import 2001.
This is notably different to the 1968 import being noticeably spotted on the
body.
Photo courtesy of Alan Green
Karsten Mody Electro fishing for Pro.kiyawensis..Photo courtesy of Karsten Mody.
Male collected by Karsten from Comoe National Park..Photo courtesy of Karsten Mody.
Female collected by Karsten from Comoe National Park..Photo courtesy of Karsten Mody.
I presented Karsten's material in BKA Killinews No. 476
(May 2005). These 3 photos were presented. I put below a paragraph from the
piece..'Comoe National Park - I found P.kiyawensis regularly (but not in high densities) in
some ephemeral ponds in the savannah as well as in the gallery forest. The
majority of ephemeral ponds were, however, not colonised by this species. I have
never found it in many ephemeral or any permanent running waters.'
Little is available online from this area but
try....
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/227
http://sea.unep-wcmc.org/sites/wh/comoe.html
http://www.affordabletravel.org/africa/ivorycoast/comoenationalpark/
This link provides a direct link to book airline tickets to
Comoe.
TYPE LOCALITY
The Kiyawe River in Northern Nigeria..The type locality for N.gambiensis is the banks of the Gambia River, Gambia
DISTRIBUTION
Known to inhabit the river area of the Kiyawa to the
north of Katagum, northern Nigeria, & the area of the upper Gambia
River.
This is a rather extensive distribution area.
Reports have
suggested that material is deposited in the American Natural History Museum
being collected in the Central African Republic.
HABITAT
The type locality is situated on the Accra
Plains. This was a very small pool in a swampy area close to one of many
intermittent streams. These flow into small coastal lagoons. During the dry
season these are reduced to small isolated pools with the surrounding marsh area
dried out.
This area has 2 rainy seasons each year. A long period of rains
from mid-March to mid-July & a shorter period between September to
November.
In 1970 the locality was a pool 100 metres long, 4
metres deep & 1·5 - 10 cm deep, densely overgrown with Nymphaea (lilies) at it's deep end & emergent
grasses at it's shallow end. The base was loose clay 4 cm thick over a compacted
sub surface. The water was an opaque grey/green.
No data was recorded in this
pool but another pool 2 km away was recorded as pH 6·8, DH 1, surface
temperature 26°C, bottom temperature 24·5°C. These readings were taken on a cool
morning & probably below average in the 2nd half of the rainy season which
was exceptionally dry with about half a metre at the deepest part.
At 14.30
hrs the temperature was a uniform 28·3°C in 8 cm of water.
Caught in rain water swamps not influenced by the main river. They
were found with Procatopus species only.
Temperature ranged from 24·5 - 31°C. Johnels reported that this species
reproduced as an annual in isolated swamps which dry up during the dry
season.
The paper describing A.seymouri
gives details of other aquatic organisms present in the biotope including water
striders, water scorpions, dragonfly & mayfly(?) larvae, 'giant water bugs'
& several sp. of diving beetle some of which were notably predatory on fish.
No mosquito larvae were found in these pools.
In August 1970 isolated pools
in this area were checked out & mosquito larvae were present but no A.seymouri (P.kiyawensis).
Stomach contents of 6 individuals
contained a large part of Cladocereans, small hemipterans & adult
dipterans.
Large dragonfly & predatory diving beetle sp. were observed to
attack fish in a collection seine.
Ghana sp. known to be sympatric include
Petersius intermedius (Characin), Barbus macrops (young), Barbus atakorensis (young), Barbus leonensis (young), Hemichromis bimaculatus, Tilapia
guineensis, Tilapia melanotheron
(young & adults).
Also collected in an intermediate stream in the Shai
Hills, 30 miles north of Accra on the Accra - Akosombo road.
Distribution of this Accra collection would appear to be
concentrated to the west of the Densu River. To the east the Volta River. South
by the coast & north by the Shai Hills.
David
Blair in 1970 & John Hughes from 1969 onwards have searched for this sp. in
the area of Katagum, Northern Nigeria but have failed to find it.
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS
A west African Nothobranchius look-alike. Pugnacious, aggressive head.
Unpaired fins have a red outer margin with a blue submarginal band followed by a
yellow band inside this. Few spots on sides.
Photographs are rare of other
populations to offer any comparison between them. I hope to load any new
material as I receive it. The above pattern may not hold as a constant reference
with regard to future material.
COLOUR/PATTERN VARIABILITY
Unknown due to insufficient material from which to
study.
With recent (2001) imports from an unknown source which were quite
colourful I still would not like to say how variable this sp. is.
HISTORY
Ahl described the species in 1928 from one male & one
female collected in the Kiyawa River by Lt. Lloyd near Katagum, northern
Nigeria. This location is found some 125 miles east of Kano.
Svensson had a
single female in 1934 collected from a rain water swamp on MacCarthy Island in
the Gambia River.
On the 19th & 20th of
November 1950 Johnels caught numerous specimens but
only 5 were available for his redescription.
Daget collected the sp. in 1954
in a nearly dried out rice field near Diafarabe, Upper Guineé.
Blache reported this sp. from Lake Chad in 1964.
Milton also reported them from this area in 1966.
Kluge
reported collecting a 'Nothobranchius' form
near Lome.
BKA representation of N.gambiensis. Male, from Johnels illustration of 1954. Female from Svensson's illustration & description of 1933. Drawings by Bob Heap.
In 1969 Radda made a very vague description proposing a
sub-genus of Pronothobranchius of the genus
Nothobranchius & placed within it Pro.kiyawensis & the later synonymised N.gambiensis.
Collected by David Blair in June 1968. The BKA reported the first
import on the 28th June 1970. The original description for A.seymouri however states that they were sent to the
BKA in 1968 & 1969. These were distributed as Aphyosemion BKA U1. They were collected 55 miles
southeast of Accra on the Accra - Ada road. This import arrived in poor
condition but the fish settled down & exhibited anchor worm & other wild
parasite infestation. Although they were distributed to BKA breeders the wild
fish were lost due to these parasites. Eggs were obtained though & these
provided a temporary stable brood stock. These wild males had to be seperated in
fighter jars as they were very aggressive.
Specimens from this collection
were also sent to Scheel for study who considered they should be placed in
Aphyosemion on the basis of cephalic
squamation of egg type.
Bruce Turner in the AKA was sent this sp. by Ted
Seymour in the form of eggs. These were incubated for 6 months but the next
generation was just belly sliders. Some eggs were given to another AKA member
but these also failed to produce a future generation.
Bruce also mentions
seeing preserved material in the American Museum of Natural History recorded as
N.rubroreticulatus collected in the Central
African Republic. These were reportedly 'large'.
Following this import one year later Blair & Loiselle
described them as Aphyosemion seymouri in
honour of E.J.Seymour (Ted), a former well respected technical editor of the BKA
who had recently passed away.
Another import was received on the 10th of July
1970.
In 1971 this sp. was collected to the west of Niamey, the capital of
Niger.
In 1974 Scheel placed this sp. in Nothobranchius in the sub-genus Fundulosoma. In
the years following Fundulosoma was regarded
as a full genus however with one representative - thierryi.
A collection trip by Dr.Fritz Fröhlich was
made in October? 1977. Photographs showed an area which had dried out. Also in
September 1979 by Dr.Fritz Fröhlich in the Dobo swamp. The 1979 collection
yielded a pair 30 mm and numerous individuals 15-20 mm long. In all 44
individuals were caught. Symptric species included Hyperolius spatzi & Rana
occipitalis. The biotope in this area was in long grasses.
This
collection was distributed in Germany as Aphyosemion
seymouri aus Ghana.
In the 1980's Alan & Barbara Brown
collected this sp. in Gambia & brought live material back to the UK. These
were collected on the north side of the river in an area known as Dobo swamp.
This naming is to be considered suspect as translators on this expedition were
not to be fully relied on.
The area of collection was a flooded grassy
area rather than a swamp.
The returned material were bred & distributed
but incubation periods would extend to 10 months. After a short period this
collection died away through difficulty in
breeding.
Rob Odijk collected this sp. at the end of May 1982 at several
locations between Accra & Ada, lying on the right bank of the Volta River.
(See DATZ July, 1983, pp.252-257).
The sp. was imported into Germany in 2001
& found there way to the UK shortly after.
There seems to have been a great hole in imports of this sp. from
the wild. The next import I could find information on was in 1998/1999 where a
German killie keeper had them.
BREEDING NOTES
The first breeding report for this sp. appeared in BKA
newsletter No.49, September 1969. They were reportedly spawned on a layer of
submerged peat. They were not seen to bury their eggs. Water used for breeding
was pH 6·6, 'trace hardness', temperature 68-73°F.
Another report in
newsletter No.51, November 1969 regarded hatching eggs. The breeder noticed one
fry eyed up & trying to get out of the egg after 37 days of incubation. He
wet the peat & the fry, measuring three eigths of an inch emerged. Four
other fry emerged with a further one trapped by the head in the shell. All fry
lay at the base of the tank & ignored brine shrimp. Despite their size all
fry were lost within 48 hours.
In newsletter No.52, December 1969 a further
report on breeding observations appeared. Scheel reported using water incubation
successfully & hatched out a small number of fry after 6 weeks of
incubation.
Another breeder reported using dry incubation varying from 9
weeks to 6 months.
Another breeder reported the fry 'small enough to require
infusorians & stated that even after 5 months many eggs failed to hatch. The
concensus of opinion seemed to favour between 9-12 weeks of dry incubation.
Breeders reported finding eggs just below the surface of the peat but the
majority were well buried.
Roloff gave an account in TFH January 1974 where
he reported receiving a shipment from Blair in 1970. All fish were sick with
bloody boils on the flanks apart from one pair which were healthier. This pair
was selected as brood stock but all others died.
40 eggs were laid in a 2
week period before both fish died.. Eggs were kept in water at 75°F. Six fry
hatched which were all belly sliders. No data is recorded as to what age in
water they hatched at.
Breeding data : water temperature 73 - 78°F, pH 6·5 -
7·5, DH 8. Eggs maintained at 75°F.
Despite every
effort these sliders only grew to 1" in the biggest case with most being
considerably smaller.
At 3 & a half months the fish were set up in a
breeding tank with 2" of water over a peat base. Three such spawnings resulted
in 20 fry which were healthy & grew to the size of the original import.
There were only 3 females in this brood stock.
Pairs were put into seperate
breeding tanks at 4 months of age & kept together for 1-2 days before being
seperated. This was repeated on a weekly cycle.
Peat was dried for 4 weeks
& fry removed with an eyedropper. After 1 day the peat was redried &
rewetted in 1 week intervals.
21 spawnings were recorded which produced few
fry (12) in an interval of 4-9 weeks. In 3 cases only 1-2 fry hatched at 11
weeks.
This 4 week incubation was considered unsuccessful & a future
experiment of 6-7 weeks proved the most successful.
None of these fish
exceeded 7 months of age.
On a trip to Liberia all his stock was distributed
to experienced killie keepers but after 6 months none survived.
Walter Kessel
gave a breeding account in JAKA Vol.9 No.12 reprinted from a DKG journal where
he used a peat based tank, water temperature 72-74°F, pH 6·4 - 7, GH 5 - 15. He
found that 90% of eggs were infertile. Eggs were taken out after 3 days of
laying but this had no effect in getting better eggs.
Roloff suggested a dry
incubation period of 6-7 weeks whilst Morgner tried 8-10 weeks & hatched 28
fry, 18 of which were belly sliders. The peat was rewet after 10 days which
yielded a further 5 fry, 3 of which were belly sliders. These could not be
raised. The peat was redried to a total dry incubation period of 6 months but
all eggs turned white with no noticeable development.
One breeder we know has kept eggs in dry storage for 30+ years
& has hatched good fry in small batches.
DIAMETER OF THE EGG
2 mm. Eggs from the original 1968 import to the BKA were reported as being 'clear, pale yellow'.Eggs I bred from the 2001 German import were red.
REMARKS
Reference sources:
http://www.killi.co.uk/SpeciesDetails.php?ID=462 2 photos of
interest.
JAKA Vol.8 No.1. Winter 1971-72
JAKA
Vol.9 No.12. December 1976
TFH. January
1974