West African Fundulus species
By Paul Arnold, Hamburg.
With a color table after a watercolor by the author (In No. 35).
Part III: Fundulus gularis Boulenger var B. yellow.

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From the Siggelkow'schen Import com September 1, 1907, as already mentioned, I also received a parcel of another Fundulus type, which I have described, in a compartment of the aquarium, next to the blue one Fundulus gularis . When I got the fish, the male was 3 1/4 cm long, the female 3 cm; With good care they developed in the same way as the blue Fundulus gularis and were almost fully grown by the end of December 1907.

Just a few weeks after I had these two Fundulus species in my possession, I had to move them into two separate aquariums, where they could no longer see each other, because in their sturdy container, where both parches only pass through a pane of glass

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separated from each other why, the animals did not come to rest. Both the males and the females of the two species drove off as soon as they saw each other, wittily at each other and would no doubt have done themselves badly if the glass pane had not inhibited their thirst for action. With their gill covers protruding far from the head, with the gill skin protruding like a ruff, the men stood facing each other for a while, their heads firmly pressed against the pane of glass, then both made half a wedge and wrapped their hindquarters and caudal fin against them Glass pane; one saw the anger which they females expressed with one another in the same, "friendly" manner. From this I came to the conclusion that genus relatives of this Fundulus cannot be kept together. So this Fundulus is compatible with other fish, e.g. B Haplocheilus, Rivulus and also live-bearing carpenterlings proved that they are so quarrelsome and rowdy with one another. Initially torn fins and finally the death of the weaker were the sure consequences of holding together several of these West African Fundulus Species be; Also, for breeding and keeping a species together, one should use specimens that are as equally strong as possible, otherwise one can easily learn that one drives the other to death.

In their new home, a box aquarium of 42x28x25 cm, the little parade soon felt at home. The basin was densely planted with Vallisneria spiralis and Ludwigia palustris and gives the female ample opportunity to evade the male's stormy commercials; only the center of the aquarium above the heating capsule was free of plants. It was here that the games of love usually took place, which lasted so long until the male became intrusive and the female fled from him. In the love games, which began when I reached sexual maturity around the end of December 1907, the male is much more excited and passionate than with the blue Fundulus gularis . The love games of this Fundulus kind are very reminiscent of those of the Fundulus arnoldi Blgr. the peculiar jerky movements of the head and the front body, usually when the body is a little crooked, which are supposed to invite the female to a dance of love, are effective so strange that you often have to laugh out loud. everything lives and trembles about the little fellow in his zeal for love; sometimes he folds his fins, sometimes he spreads them, whereby the wonderful coloring and the peculiar drawing come into their own. "She" watches all of this with indifferent calm until her husband's pantomimes degenerate into action, then she escapes into the thicket of plants and has calm in front of him until he has found her after a short or long search. During the time of love games, which precedes the spawning period, you have to get the food to your right, because many people intimidate them so that they no longer dare to eat and lose weight in the process. During this time I had to repeatedly separate the parcel from each other with a pane of glass, in order to bring "them" back upright with strong lining. In the event of a solcenary breakup, she soon realizes that he cannot follow her through the window and feels quite safe in front of him. in the end he almost fades with longing and stays near the partition all day, and that's when it happens occasionally pretends that she "shows her teeth", that is, she confronts him with inflated gill covers. When she had completely recovered, I removed the partition and the old game began again. Only when it was fully mature to spawn did she show herself inclined to his courtship, whereby she formally hugs him. Spawning can then be expected in the very near future. According to my notes, I observed spawning for the first time on January 25, 1908 in the afternoon. The pairings take place in the same way as with the blue Fundulus gularis , only that in this species the male, favored by the peculiar shape of the dorsal and anal fin, firmly clasps the rear part of the female. Also with this Fundulus -type at each mating only one egg is released and fertilized by the male at the moment of emergence. Perhaps it was because the layer of mud covering the ground was only very thin, or that the blow of the male's tail fin at the end of the individual pairings was not enough to loosen the layer of sand accordingly, the eggs were all visibly scattered everywhere on the ground, one that they are from the old ones who I after leaving

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spawning in aquarium left, been eaten the eggs, which were about 1 mm in diameter, were greenish yellow and transparent, Already on the second day a turbidity made itself and I had the same problem with the eggs. picture as two years ago with my Fundulus arnoldi; also here again the usual coloration up to the underchsichtigen milk white and the eventual dissolution. In intervals of three or four weeks. these Fundulus still spawned successfully like the first time. I estimate the number of the each time spawning mounds to be to 60 - 80. From the large number of of eggs that I have seen on the following four the microscope on the four days following spawning not a single one proved to be fertilized. Since also with this Fundulus the male surpassed his female in strength, I liked to assumed that the eggs before full maturation have been laid. After spawning the female was very dull each time and in the first two times the female was it took a lot of effort on my part, until I found the separated from the male through all kinds of to the normal state of strength by all kinds of tidbits by all kinds of delicacies. After the third laugh, however, all efforts failed. The female was so weak that she was unable to food any more, heavy breathing it hig close under the water upper fish, - a bad sign with the Fundulus-species, that almost always in nachstersterster close the the bottom - and after three days the animal was a corpse. The male died at the end of April. After the queue of the female what it became very quiet, only rarely let itself be and ate very little. It seemed to me almost almost as if the fish was in a truce for its female, because in the beginning it often roamed around the aquarium, as if he was looking for her. So was the Parchen had gone, without his earthly purposes with me.

(Conclusion follows.)

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From Mr. G.A. Boulenger, F.R.S., London, to whom I had sent first the female and later the male under the female and later the male with the watercolor, I received, as a result of his examination of the fish, that it was Fundulus gularis Blgr. I was not a little surprised about this news little astonished, I had, with the large difference in the shape of the body and the fins, as well as the coloration with certainty that it was a different species. I sent Mr. Boulenger again the picture of my blue Fundulus gularis to Mr. Boulenger again and pointed out the great external differences differences; Mr. Boulenger wrote that there were no anatomical differences between the two fishes.

In order to avoid misunderstandings in the future among keepers and connoisseur circles in the future, I would like to suggest I would like to suggest that these two varieties of Fundulus gularis Blgr. with var A (blue) and var. B. (yellow); a designation which I have already applied for my present work. The coloration of the fish can be seen in the color chart (in No. 35), so that I do not need to go need to go into more detail. Also the shape of the fins is faithfully reproduced in the illustration. The dorsal and anal fins are peculiarly "fringed". At first I had believed that this peculiar formation of the formation of the fins was due to the consequences of biting of the fishes, but when in the course of time, even after prolonged solitary confinement of the male, no change occurred, even after a long period of solitary confinement, there was no change, the fins continued to develop in the same way, I must consider the shape of the mentioned fins as a characteristic of the var. B. of Fundulus gularis.

So far Fundulus gularis var B (yellow) has not been imported again; hopefully the importer from Ruhr, Mr. Carl Siggelkow, will make this colorful fish available again and that success in its breeding occurs so that it can be spread worldwide among enthusiasts. As already at the end of the second part. Fundulus gularis var. A (blue), it has been noted that the keeping of the Westafrican Fundulus species makes very high demands on the fishkeeper; but this is just what will attract the advanced enthusiasts will be attracted to, to deal with these fishes in more detail. There are still a number of unsolved riddles, mostly in relation to reproduction and breeding in the indoor aquarium. According to the reports of an acquaintance who spent a long time in tropical West Africa. the average temperature of the water in the larger rivers is 25 celsius in the larger rivers; in the calm shallow waters, such as pools and ponds and ponds, as well as in the flooded ones, such as yam plantations the average may be higher. A strong cooling of the waters during the night does not take place during the night, because the hot soil the hot ground retains the warmth and the dense fogs and the dense fogs coming out of the sumps prevent the prevent the heat from escaping. I keep therefore my West African Fundulus species at a water temperature of 22-30 celsius without aeration - I add 1-2 per cent. of North Sea water because even if the ponds, in which the in which the Fundulus have been caught, according to the the statements of the catchers contain only fresh water, the places where they were found lie in the area of the sea winds, which always carried with them some finely divided seawater with them, which they which they release into the areas they sweep and thereby thereby increasing the salinity of the waters. increase. In addition, we don't yet know where the Fundulus species are found during those Periods at which they are staying at the ordinary Fishing spots are not found; perhaps they periodically live entirely in the Brackish or sea water and only rise to Spawning time up the rivers. But these are only conjectures. Such determinations can only be made on the spot by scientific investigation with a stay of at least one year.

As can be seen from the literature, there are there are still a number of Fundulus species in Africa,

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which are still awaiting introduction.