Every year in autumn we receive the “harvest” of the season from our goodeid breeders. Because of the extraordinarily long and mild summer, this year it was the end of October. As is well known, it does these fish extremely good in permanent breeding if they are temporarily maintained and bred under outdoor conditions. However, they have to overwinter indoors.
Among the species we were able to get hold of this time is Skiffia francesae, the Golden Skiffia. This beautiful fish was already considered extinct in the wild in 1978, when it was scientifically described. In 2007, a previously unknown population was discovered, but its habitat had also dried up completely in the meantime. It is very nice that dedicated aquarists have managed to keep this fish in the aquarium for over 45 years now. Fortunately the trade with the animals is not subject to any restrictions, otherwise it would be to be feared that the animals would become extinct also in the aquarium because of bureaucratic hurdles.
The Goodeid friends are very meticulous about keeping the locality populations pure. The (few) fishes we can offer right now belong to the old strain (Rio Teuchitlán). In any case Skiffia francesae should not be kept together with the closely related species S. multipunctata, because the two species can interbreed. We have also been able to obtain some specimens of S. multipunctata (see https://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/18-toothcarps-killis-and-livebearers/skiffia_multipunctata_en/).
For our customers: Skiffia francesae has code 455323 on our stock list. Please note that we only supply wholesale.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
