Re: [Killietalk] Aphyosemion striatum

[Gary Elson or Mary frauley <fraulels at videotron_ca>]

wusong wrote:

> Quick question -Can one safely assume this widespread species is much like A. australe, in that there is little genetic divergence between the varying populations?  
>
>
> -Dave 
> Dave,
I'm not sure that can be said about australe. Certainly, the 
artificially selected orange version gets traded around with no 
"history" attached to it, but recent collections of australe have been 
shown the same attention and respect as other killies. A. striatum 
Libreville looks quite different to me from a Lambarene fish, and I 
suspect that if I kept australe I'd see the same variation between 
populations whose location data has been respected.

I think what we have with striatum, australe and a couple of others is a 
"familiarity breeds contempt" approach. They were kept in the earlier 
days of the hobby, before codes, and some assume codes are useless for 
them. I know of older killiekeepers who see population codes for any 
fish as a joke, and who refuse to even write down which population they 
have, viewing any fish in captivity as an "aquarium population". I 
disagree with their approach, but I think it remains entrenched for fish 
that have been around aquariums for a long time. Look at the Blue 
Gularis (as I dodge spelling that Latin name...), and how much variation 
there is between populations. And yet, blue gularis rarely carry codes 
because they are blue gularis. In the cichlid world, Pelviachromis 
taeniatus generally has a population marker, while the old-timer 
Pelvicachromis pulcher (the krib), with similar distinct geographic 
variety to taeniatus, rarely has a marker on its name. It's just a krib 
(or a gularis or an australe). That's our loss, especially if we like to 
figure out how our fish are distributed in nature.

Gary Elson


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