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African Characins

GENERAL INFORMATION

About the African Riverine system

  • One of the best known of the African rivers is the Congo River.
  • The Congo (Zaire) River is the second longest river in Africa (after the Nile) at 4,670 kilometres (this is roughly equivalent to the distance from the Gold Coast to Cape York and back again) and among the longest in the world. It drains approximately 3,691 square kilometres.
  • The Congo River has its beginning in the south eastern region where it is called the Lualaba River. Tides effect the river up to 100 kilometres up stream.
  • The Congo/Zaire River basin is the largest river basin of Africa, covering over 12 percent of the continent, and is the second largest rainforest area in the world (only the Amazon is bigger).
  • It extends over nine countries, including Congo (Kinshasa) and parts of Congo (Brazzaville), Cameroon, Central African Republic, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, and Angola. It is also one of the most humid basins of Africa.
  • Because its many large tributaries drain areas with alternating rainy seasons on either side of the equator, the Congo has a fairly constant flow throughout the year.
  • Tributaries of the Congo include: Aruwimi River; Itimbiri River; Kwa River; Fimi River; Kasai River; Sankuru River; Kwango River; Kwilu River; Lomami River; Lualaba River; Lufira River; Luvua River; Lulonga River; Ruki River; Busira River; Momboyo River; Sangha River; Ubangi River; Bomu River; Uele River.
  • Altogether the Congo River comprises about 12,000 kilometres of waterways, which flow past varied topography including dense tropical forests.

The geography....

  • The sources of the Congo are in the highlands and mountains of the East Africa Rift, as well as Lake Tanganyika (the Lukuga River) and Lake Mweru, which feed the Lualaba River (considered to be the upper Congo River), which then becomes the Congo River proper below Stanley Falls.
  • The Lualaba River flows north over rapids and falls to Bukama, and across a vast plain and through a series of marshy lakes (Kabwe, Kabele, Upemba) to receive the Luvua River at Ankoro.
  • The names given to some of the cataracts and gorges, such as the Gates of Hell (a deep and narrow gorge ) in the upper part of the river reflect the difficulty in exploration.
  • The Congo flows generally west from Kisangani just below the Stanley Falls, then gradually bends southwest in a huge curve unbroken by falls or rapids for about 1750 kilometres to Kinshasa before running into the Stanley Pool.
  • The Stanley (Malebo) Pool, named after Henry Morton Stanley who was the first European to naviagte the length of the river and report on it, is about 35 kilometres long and 23 kilometres wide, and has an island (Bamu Island) at its western end.
  • The two Congo capitals, Kinshasa and Brazzaville, are on opposite shores.
  • The Pool is the beginning of the navigable Congo. From the western end of Pool Malebo, the Congo descends some 300 metres in a series of 32 rapids over a 350 kilometre stretch known as the Livingstone Falls, to the port of Matadi.
  • This geological narrowing has created a series of violent rapids, which are the home of a small number of endemic rheophilic (the word means “current-loving”) cichlids.
  • Below Matadi some 134 km inland the Congo is navigable by oceangoing vessels and, despite such hazards as the whirlpools of the Devil's Cauldron, shifting sandbars, and sharp bends in the river, forms one of the largest natural harbors in Africa.
  • The river is tidal to Boma, approximately 100 kilometres upriver. The Congo River enters the Atlantic Ocean between Banana Point, Congo (Kinshasa), and Sharks Point, Angola, and dredging is required to keep a navigable channel open.
  • The river is continued offshore by an 800-kilometres submarine canyon that is around 1220 metres deep.

    The history....

  • To Europeans, the Congo River has always been a romantic symbol of exotic central Africa, known to Victorians as darkest Africa. In the 1870s, explorers David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley travelled throughout the Congo basin. Shortly after their explorations, the novelist Joseph Conrad sailed along the Congo and immortalised the river in his novel, Heart of Darkness.
  • The river was also used by the ruthless Belgian King, Leopold II, who looted the region in the late nineteenth century. Tonnes of treasures including rubber, ivory and gold were floated down the Congo and shipped to Europe. This exploitation was enforced with the killing of millions of the people living along the Congo's banks.
  • The Congo and its tributaries are the traditional highways of African trade.
  • The Kongo people are believed to have begun settling along its banks in the twelfth century, eventually building a large empire with the river as its centre. The Kongo Kingdom survived for several hundred years, until the arrival of the Portuguese in 1483. The rise of the slave trade weakened the Kongo Stat further.
  • The Kongo did remained influential throughout the colonial era and today are a major ethnic group in both the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the former Zaire, and in the Republic of the Congo, often called Congo-Brazzaville.
  • In 1971 the country and the mighty Congo River were renamed Zaire by former President Sese Seko Mobutu.
  • The Congo River has also played an important role in recent political upheavals in both nations. In May 1997, deposed dictator Mobutu Sese Seko left Kinshasa, Zaire, and fled across the river to Brazzaville, in the Republic of the Congo to escape the army of Laurent-Désiré Kabila.
  • A few months later, the flight was in the opposite direction, as thousands of supporters of ousted President Pascal Lissouba used boats to avoid the army of General Denis Sassou-Nguesso, which had entered Brazzaville and proclaimed a new government.
  • Tody, the Congo is still a place of political tensions and disturbance, which hinders economic growth and development in the area. This turmoil, though, has had a positive influence on the river itself, as the Congo River is one of the cleanest rivers in the world.

Did You Know?

  • The word Characin (ka-RAH-sin) comes from the New Latin word characinus, which has its derivation from the Greek word kharax, meaning a kind of fish.
  • Characins are one of the oldest fish orders. Characins evolved before the land masses that made up Gondwana split around 80 to 150 million years ago.
  • The Congo River is the world’s second most important river for freshwater fish biodiversity, after the Amazon.
  • The Congo Basin contains a wide diversity of freshwater habitats, including swamps, lateral lakes, and floodplains, as well as the main channel habitats of the Congo River.
  • They have the most diverse and distinctive large river faunas in tropical Africa.
  • Rain falls nearly all year in the basin and averages an incredible 1.6 to 2.6 metres (5-8 feet) per year. This rainfall supports a the second largest equatorial rainforest in the world after the Amazon.
  • These waters are home to the Clawless Congo River Otter and Dwarf and Slender-nosed Crocodiles.
  • Endemic or near-endemic aquatic mammals include Giant otter shrew and Allen's swamp monkey.
  • The lush rainforests lining the banks are home to animals including the African Golden Cat (right), Duikers and Monkeys.
  • Threats include growing urban centres and the resultant increase freshwater pollution, logging operations (that impair water quality through sedimentation), and a few industrial-scale mining operations pose threats to these flooded forests.

The Fish

  • There are more than 700 fish species of which nearly 500 are endemic.
  • There are thirty-four rheophilic (current-loving) species that are adapted to survive in the highly oxygenated, swiftly moving rapids of the lower Congo River.
  • The spawning of many fish species is synchronised with the phenomenon of flooding in this ecoregion that also allows nutrients from the terrestrial environment to enter the aquatic food chain and support the high diversity of fish.
  • Local endemic fish species include several Knifefish genera; Malapterurus spp. (electric catfish), Campylomomyrus spp and Gnathonemus sp. (elephant-nose), Tetras and Minnows (Cyprinids).
  • Many cichlid species, such as Anomalochromis thomasi, Nanochromis sp, Pelvicachromis sp, Steatocranus sp and the Jewel Cichlids (Hemichromis lifalili and bimaculatus) are of great interest to aquarists in Queensland.

Family Alestiidae - African Tetras....

  • Number of genera: 18
  • Number of species: 109
  • Environment: Freshwater
  • Comments: This family was formerly a subfamily of Characidae. One member of this family Hydrocynus goliath of the Congo (this fish is not available) reaches a maximum length of about 1.4 metres.
  • The family Alestiidae was a subfamily of the family Characidae until they were given full family status in 1998.
  • The Alestiidae or African Tetra family is composed of, among others, the genera Arnoldichthys, Brycinus, Alestopetersius (Hemigrammopetersius), Hydrocynus and Micalestes (Phenacogrammus).
  • They are found only in Africa.
  • The Alestiidae family includes fish from a great range of sizes.
  • An adult Lepidarchus adonis only grows to around 1.5-2 centimetres, while the African Tiger fish (Hydrocynus goliath) reaches 1.5 metres.
  • The fish of this family usually swim in the middle water levels.
  • The tank size depends on the size of the fish. For most, it should be at least 80 centimetres long or around 120 litres in capacity.
  • The tank should be arranged in dark colours and have floating plants to diffuse the light.
  • Many fish of this family are quite shy, so plenty of hiding places should be provided.
  • These fish can tolerate a pH from 6.2-7.8, but prefer neutral water.
  • They like medium to hard water ranging from 4-18 dH, and need a temperature of between 22 and 26oC.
  • Most Alestids are peaceful, schooling fish that can be kept in a community tank with fish of similar temperament and behaviour.
  • However, there are exceptions, with the members of the genus Hydrocynus being extremely aggressive and predatoryfish. In Queensland, all members of the genus Hydrocynus (right - Hydrocynus goliath) are declared noxious for the purposes of importing and keeping.
  • In general, Alestids can be combined with Synodontis, Corydoras, and Loricarid catfish; some South American Characins, Gouramis, Mormyrids, and many West African Cichlids.
  • Most fish of the Alestiidae family are omnivorous and will eat most foods including live black worms, frozen bloodworm and mosquito larvae (live mosquito larvae as well if you can catch them), flake, tablets and small granules.
  • Several species have been bred, nearly all in soft water. Some are very prolific, laying up to 14,000 eggs at one spawning, while others may lay as few as 20.
  • No member of the Alestiidae Family uses brood care as part of their breeding strategy.
  • Breeding, if possible, is usually fairly difficult.
  • Except for fish of the genus Hydrocynus the fish of this family are fairly easy to care for, although frequent partial water changes are recommended for most species.

Available African Tetras

Alestopetersius caudalis (Yellow-tailed Congo Tetra)
Arnoldichthys spilopterus (Red-eyed Tetra)
Brycinus longipinnis (Long-finned Tetra)
Micralestes interruptus (Congo Tetra) 

Family Citharinidae

  • Number of genera: 8
  • Number of species:
  • Environment: Freshwater
  • Comments:

    Distichodus sexfasciatus

 

 

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