After giving my talk this weekend to my club here in Charlotte, NC, I posted this on our forum to simplify the meanings of P.taeniatus, and thought it might be of interest here. Granted, these groupings are not an attempt at taxonomy, but more a reflection of how I look at what to purchase from dealer lists and why. Forgive me for my mistakes and please help me increase my knowledge if needed! The locals of Pelvicachromis taeniatus can be a bit overwhelming especially when you are looking at dealer lists. What ARE you getting and do you really need to get ALL of them? In my opinion you do NOT have to get all the locals to get the gist and beauty of this wonderful species. However, you can base your breeding collection around the local forms ALONE and have a wonderful fish collection without losing your house and going broke on your power bill. I have kept or seen most of these varieties in person and I will simplify them here for convenience. NIGERIA/BENIN/TOGO: Green and Yellow- different from each other and YOU do want both! The red form is a TANK/captive form that does have some Cameroon breeding. Cameroon: These are all grouped by color and pattern differences, though they also happen to occur in the same geographical area. I will only describe out the most relevant points- which are in the male caudle fins on most of these fish. these might their own species soon. Moliwe/Muyuka/Nodonga/Nijanje ( Nijanje has been hypothesized that it could be Muyuka): Upper half of caudle fin on males- gold with black spots- boarded in clear or white circles and then black circles, depending on local and fish. All of these have a similar look other wise, so you just need one form of them in your collection if youre on a budget. Northern Cameroon. Lobe and Nyete: I think they should be ONE form since the Nyete river is a tributary of the Lobe. Males have NO spots on caudle fin, just iridescent blue and red spangles. Both males and females tend to have more yellow on bod Lokoundje, Kienke/Nange, Bipendi, Banderwouri, Makoure: Almost identical- I mean REALLY identical! Males have 2-5 black spots on upper half of caudle encircled by gold/yellow. Some specimens the entire upper half is like a Northern form but not usually. Lokoundje fish usually have a more pronounced yellow border on the lower half of the caudle fin in males. I have noticed that the Makoure fish I have kept have been more intensely colored than others in this group. Southern Cameroon. Again, if you have one of these forms, you have them all- more or less. The Nange form does not count at all as it is the same thing as Kienke as pointed out in Antons book, yet is mentioned here for reference. Dehane and Edea: They look EXACTLY like the 5 locals described above, YET males have red blotches on their cheeks- which is unmistakable in ANY light conditions. Both of these locals are VERY hard to find on the market, and are reportedly more difficult to breed than others. Wouri: it might be its own species very soon. Females are the most spectacular, with orange blotches on body with solid gold caudle, dorsal and anal fins bordered in brown. The male looks rather plain at first but one soon gets hooked on his intricate caudle fin pattern that resembles a Nigerian fish. Unfortunately it is not an easy fish to breed.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 20:25:51 +0000
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