I obtained a pair of fish that were identified as wild-caught Scriptaphyosemion chaytori from a local fish dealer/distributor a couple of years ago. I now have several breeding colonies of this very beautiful fish that are producing lots of young. I am trying to positively identify this fish. I have viewed pictures of both S. chaytori and S. geryi on the Internet and would like to know of any way to distinguish between these two species taking into account the variability in these fish.

Hello,

I think it was decided that they are in fact a Geryi location, and a fine one! I think that the distinguishing characteristics of A. chaytori are a strong checkerboard pattern to the spots on the sides of the males. Of course the strongest evidence in my mind is the presence of the Zig-zag pattern on the females.

Hope that helps,

Thanks Brian,
The males do have a very strong checkerboard pattern in reds and blues and the females have a zig-zag pattern especially in the rear half of the body. All the fins have wonderful patterns of red dots/blotches on a blue background with yellow markings and distal horizontal red lines. The caudal fin has upper and lower edges of yellow and/or blue-green. I currently have 5 tanks dedicated to this species. I also keep S. cauveti which is also quite striking but these fish are my favorite of the Script/Chromaphyosemions that I keep. They produce very well in a natural setup. I usually like to have a location for the species I keep but the original pair of fish was so striking that I couldn't resist them. They were fully grown when I purchased them in November 2001 and are still producing young.

My second love, after Lampeyes, would have to be a this group. There are SO many nice looking forms, I just find them endlessly fascinating! The area of the world they come from is hopefully on the brink of having peace break out, so perhaps we will see more fish of this group in the near future. The form you are referring to has been simply called the "Guinea" location. Fish imports from this region have come mostly from this country of late. Geryi has a pretty widespread distribution, so it is understanable that we can still get these in spite of the upheaval over the rest of it's range. I'm not sure if the "Roloffia Homepage" is back up, but if so, it is worth a visit.

Best,

Brian Perkins
West Linn, OR

Brian,
I have visited the Roloffia Homepage and viewed both S chaytori and
S geryi. The fish I have most closely resemble S geryi CI 97 or TAAG 2002/03. They have very dark wine colored barring on the caudal peduncle and the area of the caudal fin between the upper and lower
yellow/blue-green bars is reticulated with large areas of dark wine red on a blue-green background. The chaytori have a caudal fin with a large blue-green field containing red dots. Also, the chaytori females are described as having small red dots on their sides which is a primary characteristic in distuinguishing between chaytori and geryi. The geryi females are described as having the zig-zag pattern on their sides as mine do. As I purchased my fish in November 2001 I don't think that they
could be TAAG 2002/3 as I assume that these fish were collected in 2002?
__________________

Regards,
Richard

Those fish with the TAAG designation were imports coming into the UK only, so the chances of them getting over here yet are pretty remote. Have you surfed into Tim Addis's site Killies of West Africa? If you haven't, you are in for a treat! I'm pretty sure what you have are the Guinea collection from '01.

I have a pair too and they really are nice!

I also have some young from the A. cauvetii Sp. ETZ that are just sexing out. A quartet: one male and three females that will be the basis of a breeding group one day! I hope.........

Best,

Brian,
I did surf to Tim's site. It is a great source of information. I checked my notes and when I purchased my fish they were listed as A. chaytori/(geryi?) "Guinea". I think you are right and that they are CI 2001 Guinea. Gorgeous and prolific. Besides cauveti, the other "roloffia type" that I currently have is nigrifluvi. I purchased two pair from Norm Ruebsamen in May 2002 and lost both pair shortly thereafter. He was also having problems keeping them going and I was not able to purchase any more. But my pair had spawned and I currently have two males and one female and hope to build up a population. They are very aggressive towards one another. Lots of fin nipping even in a planted 15 gallon. Beautiful dark blue coloration. I have been trying to find a good line of Umudike. I have purchased fish from two prominent breeders who sell on Aquabid but have not been impressed with the fish. I have pictures of this strain in books and old TFH magazines that are just spectacular. Fish that live up to these standards have eluded me to date as has a good line of Funge. Thanks again for all your help. ____________________________________ Richard Meany Pocasset, Massachusetts