Soda lake fish

[moneywastedonfish]

Hey all,
i was wondering if anyone has kept Oreochromis alcalicus grahami before?
Does anyone know if its possible to keep these or other soda lake fish?

They live at a pH 10 with a temp of 30 - 45 degrees C.
Are these conditions achievable in the home aquarium?

 

[Sye]

Are you sure the pH is ment to be that high, sounds very high....where did you get the info from?

 

[moneywastedonfish]

yeah the pH is that high there sort of freaks. hence the name soda lake for lake magadi.

 

[semper fi]

you could probably get it that high, but the work and maintenance would be very taxing. i wouldn't recommend it. better to keep fish at the ph of your local water. the less monkeying around the better

 

[CFC]

The conditions are achievable and with proper care can be maintained but i dont think you will find any soda lake fish in the trade, short of heading for Africa and collecting your own i really doubt you'll ever see a live specimin

 

[semper fi]

am curious though as to what made you want to keep these fish? i was unable to find any information on them on the net or in books.

 

[SirMinion]

Managed to find a little info about this species of cichlid which lives there:

Oreochromis alcalicus grahami, a small cichlid fish, is found in the  shallow peripheral lagoons of the volcanic Lake Magadi of Kenya.
The temperature may be as high as 46°C, pH 10 and the oxygen levels shift from virtual anoxia (none) at night to supersaturation during the day.
The lagoons are undoubtedly some of the most severe environments inhabited by a vertebrate.
Adaptively, the gills of O. a. grahami have a relatively more extensive respiratory surface area, a thinner water-blood barrier and a significantly greater number and more specialized chloride cells.
Among fish, the diffusing capacity of the gills of O. a. grahami for oxygen is only exceeded by those of the highly energetic tuna.
The characteristic behaviour of skimming the surface of water with the mouth open allows the gills to be passively ventilated with well-aerated water and the air-bladder to be filled with air, a strategy that maximizes oxygen acquisition at night when the water is virtually anoxic.
By adopting multiple respiratory and osmoregulatory adaptive strategies, O. a. grahami has been able to thrive in an extremely severe habitat.

Blimey!

/EDIT/ and here's the fishie hero himself, on fishbase... oreochromis alcalicus grahami

 

[moneywastedonfish]

no iwasnt planning on keeping them. lol. just curious if anyone has, personally or a museum or some such.
I was just interested in such an extreme example. It was hard to find any info so i thought id ask here.
Awesome info sirM

 

[duendecillo]

Reading the info, it seams the fish rather has less extreme conditions, so it would indead be possible to keep them I guess...
They would even be ideal for my tapwater (quite a high ph)

 

[freddyk]

They live in 'up to ph 10' water, meaning this is a max. Most of the time they probably live in water less then that. Just like while Africans live in water with a ph as high as 9.5, they also live in water as low as 7.

Remember that the higher the ph is, the more poisoness toxins like ammonia and nitrite become, and at 10 even the smallest levels can become fatal. I would never keep it nearly that high no matter what fish I was keeping.

 

[moneywastedonfish]

the fish live in a soda lake so i doubt that they would ever experience water lower than pH of 9. They do have the ability to store urea in there blood and to store heaps of urine which allows them have a fairly similar composition to their surroundings which lets them put up with such conditions.
once again i would never keep such a fish too much work, but it would be cool to see it in an exhibition or something.