After Dr.A.C.Radda

Scheel J.J 1975.

Another new species of Aphyosemion from the Cameroons

Journal of the American Killifish Association (9): p 259-263, map.

4.5 cm

D = 10-13, A = 14-17, ll = 31-34 (Scheel 1975)

n = 16, A = 22 (Scheel 1975)

Mesoaphyosemion

cameronense

• Panchax pictus Meinken 1932
• Aphyosemion aff. obscurum Radda 1971
• Aphyosemion meinkeni (non Myers 1933) Radda 1974
• Aphyosemion cf. meinkeni sensu Radda 1973
• Aphyosemion raddai raddai Scheel 1981

• Bondjock (This population has no yellow pigment in the unpaired fins. It is found at the southern end of the distribution of the species).
• Boga (Has very dark sub-marginal bands in the caudal fin)
• Log Bako'o (Collected by Eberl, Legros & Vlijm 1990)
• Manyay
• Matomb
• Medouneu
• Modé
• CAM-JU
• C 89 / 28 Matomb
• CMM 84 Modé
• EMS 90 / 1
• HAH 98

C89/28 - Collected by Eberl et al. Gravel bottomed stream. 15 females & a few males collected. 3 adult pairs were collected in a nearby location which was stagnant with marsh gas.

AM-JU - Scheel & Clausen collected a fish in 1966 which was identical with 'meinkeni'. Live fish were brought back & this code was applied. Sympatric sp. included Epiplatys esekanus.

HAH 98 (Possibly Eseka Road) - http://www.inkmaker.net/Fish/cameroonPIX/pages/RADDAI2.htm St.Louis Area Killifish Association

A brook to the south of the Eseka-Edea-Yaoundé road junction of west-central Cameroon.

The slopes of the southern Cameroon Plateau in an area between the Sanaga & Nyong Rivers.
Scheel mentioned on his collection in 1966 that they are found in the lowlands north of the Nyong River.

Rainforest brooks where they inhabit quieter areas.

In 1930 a batch of fish were received by Platy-Tischrunde of Hamburg. In a bag containing Aphyosemion cameronense an unknown form was found, a pair of which were sent to Dr.Norman of the British Museum (Natural History), London.
Norman examined these fish & concluded they were not A.cameronensis. A detailed description can be found in BKA newsletter No.92, April 1973. These fish were named Panchax (Aphyosemion) pictus after the bright lively colouration which looked as though 'they had been taken from a painters palette'. The name Aphyosemion pictus was found to be pre-occupied by Panchax pictum Cuvier & Valenciennes 1846 & the fish was given the name Aphyosemion meinkeni by Myers in 1933.

In 1932 Meinken created the name Panchax (Aphyosemion) pictus for some fish being kept in Germany at the time. These were imported by Platy-Tischrunde of Hamburg in 1930. Meinken sent 2 preserved individuals to Norman at the British Museum

Myers, in his revision of 1933, found the name pictus to be preoccupied with Panchax pictum & redescribed them Aphyosemion meinkeni Myers 1933.

Collected by Scheel & Clausen in 1966.

In 1973 Radda collected them on the Edea-Eseka-Yaounde road junction. He had doubts these were A.meinkeni (the name of the sp. at this time) & sent material he collected to Scheel who considered they were a new sp. & named them Aphyosemion raddai. Some fish had already been distributed in Germany at this time under the meinkeni name & this caused some confusion.

Regarded as fairly difficult. I have raised a few fish up. Breeding was accomplished in cooler tanks set up on the bottom row of the fish house. Eggs although few were collected off top & bottom mops. Water incubation is around 14 days although Sterba in Freshwater Fishes reports 12 at the earliest.. Regarded as being quite fast growing although mine seemed a little slow. Sexual maturity is regarded as taking around 6 months.

John Buytaert wrote an article in the Belgian association newsletter which was reprinted in the BKA newsletter No.157, September 1978 where he considered the females to be avid egg eaters & only one female should be used for breeding.
Water conditions were reported as being not critical & a DH between 4-10 suited. Eggs were found to be large & deposited in fine substrate & floating mops. Egg yield increased after a water change. The article quotes a water depth of 5cm but I'm not sure if this was a typing error.
Hatching occurs in about 14 days using the water incubation method & 3 weeks if stored in damp peat. On hatching the fry will take newly hatched brine shrimp. Growth was reported to be fast but a halt was noted in the growth rate as they grew. Sexual maturity was attained at 6 months with full size after 1 year.
John considered this sp. to be 'not easy to breed'. He observed that some pairs produced only males whilst others produced only females.