Pseudocrenilabrus philander is arguably one of the most underrated fish species found in the aquarium hobby, albeit rarely. In nature, it is known from a wide range of habitats, including streams, lakes, and ponds and some populations are even known to exist in slightly brackish waters¹. The species is found in biotopes across the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Angola, Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania, Botswana, Mozambique and Swaziland and the population featured in this article were collected and photographed just this week along the Hex River near Rustenburg, South Africa by aquatic researcher Russell Brian Tate. Research has …
Biotopes of Zambia | Neolebias lozii, a critically endangered fish from the Barotse floodplains
Neolebias lozii, also known as the Banded Neolebias is a species of critically endangered Characin in the Distichodontidae family. The two sites where the species has been found are less than 2 km apart and the streams meet <5 km downstream, and the area of occurrence consists of only a few km of streams 1 to 2 m wide in the dry season. In terms of the alien invasive threat, the streams are classified as a single location, but would be classed as two separate locations in the event of an agricultural chemical pollution event or road tanker spill. The …
Biotopes of Cameroon | Aphyosemion ahli | Ahl’s Killifish
Aphyosemion ahli Myers, 1933 is a Lower Guinea endemic found in the Wouri River in western Cameroon and southward to the Rio Benito drainage system in western Equatorial Guinea. It occurs in swamps and quiet parts of brooks under forest cover in the coastal lowlands (Wildekamp et al. 1986). It also inhabits flooded pools in the coastal rain forest and is usually found in shallow water; it is a benthopelagic, non-migratory species. (IUCN Redlist 2010) This individual was collected from a coastal swamp biotope north of the city of Douala in Littoral, Cameroon, within the Mungo River drainage area. The Mungo …
Biotopes of Sierra Leone | Epiplatys annulatus| The Clown Killifish
The Clown Killifish or Banded Panchax (Epiplatys annulatus) is a species of fish in the family Nothobranchiidae, an African rivuline, native to freshwater habitats in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in West Africa. (Fishbase) The climate across its range is hot and wet with a pronounced wet season between April-May and October-November), and most rivers tend to run perennially. The water is generally warm, soft and acidic but much primary rainforest has been destroyed with surviving pockets existing as protected forest reserves in many cases. Kasewe is one such reserve in Moyamba district, Sierra Leone, and comprises an area of …
Biotopes of Sierra Leone | Erpetoichthys calabaricus | The Ropefish
Ecology The Ropefish, also known as the Reedfish is the only species in the genus Erpetoichthys, and is an incredibly hardy, nocturnal species. Due to its poor vision, the Ropefish relies on its excellent sense of smell to locate food. It’s closely related to the Polypterus genus and both these are some of the last surviving relatives of very ancient species. Fossils of earlier relatives have been found that date back to the Triassic Period, which occurred during the early development of the dinosaurs, more than 200 million years ago. This species is a freshwater species also found in brackish …
Biotopes of Cameroon | Pantodon buchholzi, the African butterflyfish
The freshwater butterflyfish Pantodon buchholzi (Peters, 1886) are found in lightly acidic, water bodies in West Africa. Typically, they are found in habitats with slow current or standing water with high amounts of surface foliage and/or riparian vegetation for cover. They have been observed in Lake Chad, the Congo Basin, throughout lower Niger, Cameroon, Ogooue, and upper Zambezi, and have also been seen in the Niger Delta, lower Ogooue, and in the lower Cross River. The Eastern distribution limit of the species is reported to be the Ouémé River in Benin, although it is also noted to be found in …
Biotopes of Cameroon| Benitochromis nigrodorsalis
Benitochromis is a small genus of cichlid fishes that are endemic to riverine and lake habitats in Middle Africa (Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, including the island of Bioko). Several of these species were originally assigned to the genus Chromidotilapia. The genus Benitochromis was erected by Dr Anton Lamboj in 2001 and currently contains six species: B. finleyi, B. batesii, B. conjunctus, B. nigrodorsalis, B. ufermanni and B. riomuniensis. It is also possible that there are a number of other Benitochromis species yet to be described. Benitochromis nigrodorsalis is a benthopelagic, non-migratory species typically occupying habitats with a pH range from …