Back from Central Africa

[WhistlingBadger]

There are other people who pay good money for 'natural' fish pictures, you know.

On a related unrelated note, a lot of these fish that were breath-takingly colourful in the net are just pretty in tanks. Every collector says it, and they are right. I think I need skylights or a somehow heated greenhouse, if I can't get my own sun to install in the ceiling. I'd better pick up a lottery ticket.

Some fish need the light hitting them from the side to show their best colors. I always felt that way with pearl gouramis. I actually installed one of those little LED tubes on the front of my old SE Asia tank to light up the pearls. It helped, but it wasn't as dramatic as when the sunbeam hit them.

 

[Back in the fold]

Pictures are money. I have to pay for the trip somehow!

I'll link to the videos once they're up and running.

I knew it . Capitalism strikes again .

 

[GaryE]

Got me with the guilt. I'll hold my African photos, but snapshots of some of the fish I was fortunate to bring back are fair game.

Up first, Enteromius jae, a very variable fish that is probably a complex of unstudied species. It came from a dark, small creek with very soft acidic water in northern Gabon, near the borders of both Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. Adults reach 1.5 cm or so - a true micro-fish.

 

[GaryE]

This is the first individual killifish I ever caught, a male Epiplatys huberi. They are notoriously hard to breed, but I brought back 4 pairs, so wish me luck. It's a lurker - a bug predator (look at the upturned mouth). They were living in a fast moving creek, in the plants that hung over and into the water from the stream bank. They came from the south of Gabon, near the coast, close to a town called Tchibanga.

 

[GaryE]

This is Aphyosemion citrineipinnis, caught in a shallow creek at the base of a series of small waterfall drops. When caught, it had a spot on its gills, and some scarlet markings on its body that I no longer see. It came from my favourite habitat - the place was incredible.

It shared its habitat with a very famous, hard to find killie, Aphyosemion joergenscheeli. That fish is a very ancient ancestral species that's also hard to keep and breed. I caught three females and my friend caught two males, so we decided he'd keep them all and send me eggs if they work. He has a friend who has bred them for years, so we figured he could get hands on advice. I was shocked when I realized the first Aphyosemion (my favourite group of fish) I had ever caught was a joergenscheeli. It's a privilege just to see that fish, and many killiekeepers have hunted in vain for it.

 

[Colin_T]

There are other people who pay good money for 'natural' fish pictures, you know.

On a related unrelated note, a lot of these fish that were breath-takingly colourful in the net are just pretty in tanks. Every collector says it, and they are right. I think I need skylights or a somehow heated greenhouse, if I can't get my own sun to install in the ceiling. I'd better pick up a lottery ticket.

LOL