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Cross River Dwarf Cichlid

Randall

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
1,164
Location
New Jersey, USA
Dear Friends,

Last night, Thursday, Oct. 17, I attended my first, but not last, North Jersey Aquarium Society meeting. The NJAS is one of the oldest, most well known aquarium societies in the country. It's membership includes such illuminaries as Dr. Paul Loiselle and Rosario LaCorte.

My principal reason for attending was to hear Dr. Ronald Coleman speak. Ron was flown in from California, as part of the ACA speaker's program, and discussed the evolution of parental investment in broodcare. Although many fish were included in his presentation, both fresh water and marine, he focused on cichlid species from Costa Rica and Nicaraqua. It was truly a fascinating program.

Also attending was Dr. Paul Loiselle. We had the opportunity to discuss the formation and follow up of species maintenace programs, but more on that subject later.

Following the program, I was able to purchase of bag of fry, for very little money, that was donated to the society by Dr. Loiselle. These fry are F1 "Tilapia" sp. from the Cross River in southern Nigeria which is located near the Cameroonian boarder. This undescribed dwarf cichlid was featured recently on the cover of the July edition of TFH Magazine as a new cichlid species with no name and is a delayed mouthbrooder. When this fish is scientifically described, a new genus will most likely be created for it.

The fry were bred by Dr. Loiselle himself from wild caught stock originally imported by Oliver Lucanus.

I'll keep the Forum posted as developments unfold.

Thank you.

Randall Kohn
 

Cichlids1

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
240
Location
Central Ohio
It's been almost 24 hrs and we still haven't seen a picture of these guys! Geesh! :roll: :wink:

How do they look compared to some of the other tilapia? Are these a dwarf also?
 

Randall

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
1,164
Location
New Jersey, USA
Dear Ken and Company,

At in and around 3+ inches, according to the TFH article, the Cross River cichlid is truly a dwarf. Generically, it is supposedly related to both Tilapia and Tylochromis, pending a formal scientific description. As for photos, please refer the the July edition of TFH.

Thank you.

Randall Kohn
 

Neil

New Member
Messages
1,583
Location
Sacramento, Ca.
Randall,
I know some Tilapia(ie, T. busamana) can be pretty small in certain bodies of water or locations (Rainforest) and then fairly large in others(lakes or large rivers). I am assuming that it comes from the Cross River. If so, how large of a river is it? And, is it related to Tylochromis or Tysochromis? If Tylochromis, that is a genus I have not even heard of.
Neil
 

Randall

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
1,164
Location
New Jersey, USA
Cross River Cichlid

Dear Neil,

As far as I know, the Cross River is located in the Nigerian State of South-Eastern just west of Cameroon. It is about 50 miles long and egresses into the Bight of Biafra. I don't know how wide this river is, but it does widen considerably near its end.

Tylochomis Regan, 1920, contains numerous species. The genotype was originally Paratilapia (Pelmatochromis) jentinki Steindachner, 1894, and is valid currently as Tylochromis jentinki (Steindachner, 1894). I'm not completely positive on this, but I believe several species are found in Lake Tanganyika. T. polylepis (Boulenger, 1900), however, is from Central and South Africa and found in rivers in DR Congo and Zambia.

Thank you.

Randall Kohn
 

Sam

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
73
Location
Austin, Tx
If you don't want all of the fry, I'd be more than happy to take a few off your hands, hehheh. Please email me about those or any other dwarf tilapiines that you might not want. Thanks!
 

Randall

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
1,164
Location
New Jersey, USA
'Tilapia' sp. "Cross River"

Dear Fogelhund,

Hey, I like your name.

The Tilapia mamfe depicted on Oliver Lucanus' site is not the Cross River cichlid to which I refer; although, the wild fish bred by Paul Loiselle were originally furnished by Oliver.

A scientific description prepared by Dr. Melanie Stiassny and company is currently in press and is due out any day now. I understand that a monotypic genus has been created for this cute little fish.

If you have access to the January 2003 issue of "Cichlid News," this dwarf cichlid is featured as the "Mystery Fish" on page 4. Please note, however, the "Cichlid News" photo does not do the fish justice. It doesn't depict very much of the red coloration on the unpaired fins.

Randall Kohn
 

Fogelhund

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
127
Location
Ontario, Canada
Sorry for the mixup Randall, I had run a search on Cross River Tilapia, and that was the only picture that came up.

I do look forward to seeing pictures, once you have something for us to look at. :D

Fogelhund - Well, if you hadn't figured out is Bird Dog, we keep a German Short Haired Pointer, so this is where the nick came from.
 

Randall

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
1,164
Location
New Jersey, USA
Cross River

Dear Friends,

In an earlier post, I stated that the Cross River is located in the Nigerian State of South-Eastern just west of Cameroon. Although this is true, the river flows into Nigeria from western Cameroon, where it originates east of Mamfe. Just wanted to correct myself.

When more information is available about the new Cross River dwarf cichlid, I will advise the Forum accordingly.

Thanks!

Randall Kohn
 

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