Fundulopanchax mirabilis mirabilis (Radda 1970)

Meaning of Name

Splendid or miraculous.
First Description

Radda A.C. 1970 (Aphyosemion mirabile).

Vorläufige zweier neuer Unterarten neuen Art der Gattung Aphyosemion Myers aus Westkamerun.

Aquaria 4: p 58-61, figure.
Size

6 cm
Meristics
  • D = 14, A = 16, ll = 32-33 (Radda 1970)
  • D = 12-14, A = 15-16, D/A = +4-5, ll = 32-33 (Radda & Pürzl 1987)
Karyotype

n = 18-19, A = 30 (Radda 1974)
Sub-Genus

Paraphyosemion
Group

gardneri
Synonyms
  • Aphyosemion mirabile Radda 1970
  • Aphyosemion mirabile mirabile Radda 1970
  • Fundulopanchax mirabilis mirabilis Lazara 1984
  • Aphyosemion (Paraphyosemion) mirabile mirabile Huber 1994

Populations

  • Korup National Park
  • Mbio
  • Takwai (now regarded as a seperate sp. - Fp.gresensi)

Male, Mbio, Cameroon.
Photo courtesy of Ed Pürzl.

Female, Mbio, Cameroon.
Photo courtesy of Ed Pürzl.

Type Locality

Near the village of Mbio on the road from Mamfe to Kumba, western Cameroon. They were caught in a small brook.
Distribution

Restricted to the upper Cross River drainage system, western Cameroon.
Habitat

Swampy areas of small rainforest streams some of which may be seasonal.
Distinguishing Characteristics Mbio can be distinguished from Takwai by outer marginal bands to the caudal fin. Takwai lacks any outer marginal banding to this fin & shows only a feint marking in the outer margins of the dorsal fin.
Takwai is somewhat unique in having a completely spotted caudal without any outer marginal bands.
Colour/Pattern Variability

Low

Yellow & blue phenotypes exist in this subspecies.
History

Originally collected by Dr.A.C.Radda from the type locality. A description appeared in BKA newsletter No.79, March 1972.

Later collected by G. Chiambeng, 12th January 2001 in Korup National Park, Cameroon.
Breeding Notes

I found this subspecies fairly easy to breed, laying eggs on bottom mops mainly. Eggs were taken out & placed in a seperate container. Water incubation takes around 21 days depending on temperature but can go to 35 days in cooler conditions. I placed eggs on wet peat which incubated for around 4 weeks.
Fry grow quite fast with sexual maturity being attained around 8-12 weeks.

B.Moore in BKA newsletter No.207, November 1982 gave a report as breeding them in a 12" square tank filled with rainwater with a teaspoonful of salt per gallon. Water temperature 72-74°F. Lighting was subdued & cork was floated in the tank. No substrate was put on the tank floor. A single brown floating mop was used for breeding. Eggs were laid at all levels on this mop.
Incubation can be water or semi-dried. Both methods produced fry in 3-4 weeks. Eggs on peat were harder to hatch & microworm was used to force them to hatch.
Fry are large on hatching but a liquid food was used for the first 2 days.

Diameter of Egg  
Remarks

A nice site on these subsp. can be found at http://www.aquaristik-online.de/aquaristikaktuell/97-5/mirabile.htm
I would recommend using the Google search engine & using the translate option to view this page.