After Mr. E.Chaper the original collector.

Sauvage M.H.E. 1882.

Notice sur les poissons du territoire d'Assinie (Cote d'Or) Mission Scientifique de M.Chaper).

Bulletin de la Société Zoologique de France 7: p 323-324, plate 5, figure 4-5.

7.5 cm

• D = 7, A = 15, ll = 25 (Sauvage 1882)
• D = 7-8, A = 14-15, ll = 25-27 (Rachow 1928)
• D = 9-12, A = 14-17, ll = 25-28 (Arnoult & Daget 1964)
• D = 8-11, A = 14-16, ll = 25-30 (+1-2)(Berkenkamp & Etzel 1977)

n = 25, A = 28 (Scheel 1974)

Epiplatys

chaperi

• Haplochilus sexfasciatus (non Gill 1862) Günther 1866 (in part)
• Epiplatys infrafasciatus (non Günther 1866)Cope 1870
• Haplochilus chaperi Sauvage 1882
• Haplochilus senegalensis (non Steindachner 1870) Garman 1895 (in part)
• Haplochilus infrafasciatus (non Günther 1866) Günther 1899 (in part)
• Panchax chaperi Regan 1911
• Epiplatys chaperi Myers 1933
• Panchax sexfasciatus (non Gill 1862) Pellegrin 1933
• Epiplatys sexfasciatus (non Gill 1862) Daget 1951
• Aplocheilus chaperi Radda 1971
• Epiplatys chaperi chaperi Berkenkamp 1975
• Epiplatys sp. GH 1/74 Berkenkamp 1975
• Aplocheilus chaperi chaperi Scheel 1990

• Abra (southwestern Ghana)
• Afiénou
• Angona (southwestern Ghana)(Spelling has been noted corrupted as Agona).
• Awaso
• Aiyienas Nzima,' 94,Ghana
• Badou
• Densu River
• Donpen S-6h
• Halfassini Road, '94, Ghana
• Kouakouro (southeastern Ivory Coast)
• GH 1/74

Angona. First brought into the UK by the BKA from a David Blair collection around 1970. Imported again by BKA Species Import in June 1974.

Kouakouro (southeastern Ivory Coast)

A species endemic to the coastal lowlands of the east of Ivory Coast into Ghana.

http://homepage.uibk.ac.at/homepage/c102/c102mr/epiplaty/chaperi.htm

Shallow areas of swamps, brooks & rivers in rainforested areas. They have also been collected in savannah biotopes

Collecting locality of E.chaperi chaperi near Awaso, Ghana.
Photo: Courtesy of Ed Pürzl

In 1882 Sauvage described the species as Haplochilus chaperi from 8 specimens collected at Couacrou which is situated at the base of the Assinie Lagoon, eastern Ivory Coast.

E.chaperi & E.dageti have often been confused in the past partly due to Boulenger mis-identifying fish collected at Monrovia, Liberia ( 1908 ) as E.chaperi when they were E.dageti.

Boulenger gives the following collectors / locations in his 1915 Catalogue.

• 1-2. Collected by J.P.Arnold in 'Sierra Leone'
• 3-5. Collected by J.P.Arnold in Liberia.
• 6-7. Material input by Boulenger from Liberia.
• 8 (One of the types). Collected at Assini, Gold Coast by M.Chaper & a source noted as the Paris Museum.

In 1964 Daget & Arnoult examined the type material in Paris & determined Sauvage's true identity for E.chaperi.
Clausen sent Scheel live fish collected at Angona & Abra, southwest Ghana in 1962.

An easy species to breed. Water incubation takes around 14 days. Sexual maturity comes around 5 months.
Sterba in Freshwater Fishes reported their spawning period to last several weeks & recomended using 2 males to 1 female. Young hatched after 8-10 days of incubation at 25°C.

A report in BKA newsletter No. 86, October 1972 covered the first introduction of the Angona population. Males were found to be very aggressive towards each other. Larger tanks than normal should be used for breeding. Males were observed to be hard drivers on females. Eggs were amber in colour & hatched in 14 days at a temperature of 20°C. Fry were large & able to take newly hatched brine shrimp. Growth rate was fairly rapid but sex differences were not easily observed until they reach 5-6 months of age.