GH 06

Ghana 2006

John Rosenstock and Jesper Enemark

Ghana is situated in West Africa, to the south bordering The Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean, to the north to Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) to the west to the Ivory Coast and to the east to Togo. It is almost rectangular, stretching 536 kms from east to west and 672 kms from north to south. Its area is about 240.000 square kms, approximately the size of Great Britain.

It was a Danish colony from 1642 to 1850, where the Danish possessions were sold to the British, who already was a colonial power in the other parts of present day Ghana. Several Danish fortresses and possessions are still visible, and the Ghanaian parliament is housed in the former Christiansborg.

Ghana is generally flat and its highest point is just 900 meters above sea level. The closeness to the Equator means tropical climate. Day temperatures over 30 C. is usual, and the night temperatures almost as high, in the least in the closely populated southern part of the country along the Atlantic coast, where also the capital, Accra, is situated. The rainy season stretches usually from March-April until September, May-June being the most rainful.

In the eastern part of the country, near the Togo-border, is the Volta River, that constitutes part of the Lake Volta, that constitutes the main part of the country’s energy supply. Broadly speaking, the eastern part of the coast is warm and relatively dry, the western part of the coast is warm and humid, whereas the northern up-country part is warm and very dry (savannah). The vegetation is considerably more robust and denser in the western part, as reflected in the respective killi-species. Formerly, tropical rain forest was widespread, but it has had to give way for logging, crops, and habitation, and the remnants are nowadays visible only in National parks.

Killis in Ghana

The African rainforests close to the Equator is divided in a western and eastern part of the “Dahomey Gap” – a strip of savannah, stretching over Benin (until 1975 called Dahomey), Togo, and the eastern Ghana. The Dahomey Gap has thus stopped the distribution of the Aphyosemion- and to a great extent also the Fundulopanchax-species – towards the West. And even if you can find both Fundulopanchax and Epiplatys-species on both sides of the Dahomey Gap, you won’t find the same species on both sides (except the savannah-living Epiplatys bifasciatus and Ep spilargyreius, both stretching over a 5000-kilometer-long belt near the Equator).

15-20 killi-species are known from Ghana

Fundulopanchax walkeri is the only Fundulopanchax found west of the Dahomey Gap. The type locality is Bokitsa Mine in Ghana and the distribution area is Ghana and the Ivory Coast. It can also be found in a cross-striped variety, by some regarded as a sub-species (Fundulopanchax walkeri spurelli). Both forms are relatively common in the hobby.

Pronothobranchius kiyawensis live in the savannah and has a wide distribution area – from the Gambia in the westernmost West Africa over Ghana, Nigeria and possibly Tchad. It is a quite variable species and has consequently been described as three separate species: as Nothobranchius kiyawensis by Ahl in 1928 (from Kiyaee River, Nigeria); as Fundulus gambiensis by Svensson in 1933 (from The Gambia), and as Aphyosemion seymouri by Loiselle & Blair in 1971 (from Ghana). The species constitutes an intermediate between Nothobranchius and Fundulopanchax (in spite of the name, it is actually genetically closer to the latter). It is a very popular fish, that has been in the hobby from time to time (latest record is from 2001), but is has proved difficult to maintain and has usually disappeared from the hobby after a few generations. (Note to Stefano, ult August 2025: Kiril announces Pronothobranhius seymouri-eggs at Aquabid late August 2025)

Fundulosoma thierryi is a small fish (ab. 3 cm), to some extent sharing both biotope and distribution area with kiyawensis. A collection from Ghana (Gh 94/1) some times pops up at killishows, but the species is relatively rare in the hobby.

Archiaphyosemion petersi belongs to the former “Roloffia”-species. It has a quite limited distribution area in the border-area between the eastern part of the Ivory Coast and the western part of Ghana. The location “Banco Park” from The Ivory Coast is presently in the hobby.

Epiplatys is represented by the formerly mentioned Epiplatys bifasciatus and Ep spilargyreius, both quite widely distributed. Ep. dageti, found in the three neighboring countries Liberia, The Ivory Coast and Ghana, and Ep.chaperi (Ivory Coast-Ghana-Togo). Some authors acknowledges subspecies of chaperi such as Ep. chaperi sheljuzhkoi, Ep. chaperi schreiberi and Ep. chaperi samborskii. Finally, the following species can be found in Ghana: Poropanchax normani and rancureli, Micropanchax pfaffi, Rhexipanchax schioetzi, Aplocheilichthys spilauchen and possibly Foerschichthys nigeriensis (formerly called Foerschichthys flavipinnis – until it became clear that flavipinnis, described by Meinken i 1932, already had been described three years earlier by Brüning as nigeriensis).

There is thus a lot of interesting species for a killi-enthusiast visiting this area.

Why we were there

Jesper Enemark was stationed in Ghana for The Danish Handicap Association ultimo 2005, living in the capital, Accra. He is a former aquarist and has maintained his interest in the hobby. He lived in Ghana together with his wife, Katja, a daughter of John Rosenstock. They lived in Ghana from December 2005 until September 2007.

John Rosenstock, a former chairman of the Scandinavian Killifish Association, has travelled often in Africa and brought many species home, in particular Nothobranchius. He visited his daughter and son-in-law twice in 2006.

During the first visit (in February 2006), we contacted a local export company. They showed us a long list of species they were able to supply, inclusive some of the above mentioned, e.g., Fp. walkeri for a cost of 2 $ plus transport costs, if buying 100 or more. We visited the company, consisting of two rows of double concrete basins outside with a light cover. He had, however, only a few species during our visit and no killies. He has subsequently changed his entire business to salt water species.

What we found

During Johns first visit in February 2006, we prioritized to look for kiyawensis, thierryi and walkeri. The first place to visit was the Nature Reserve Shail Hills, about a one-hour drive north of Accra, where kiyawensis was reported found. However, everything as very dry and it was hard to find anything containing water in Shai Hills. The ranger accompanying us had never heard of kiyawensis.

At a later time, Jesper found Ep. bifasciatus at two localities near Shai Hills (GH 06-1 and GH 06-2). Biotope GH 06-1 was a road underpass under the main road from Tema to Akosombo, at the foot of Krobo Mountain, at km-stone 54. The waters pile up there during the rainy season, and the depth was pretty deep, around 2 meters, varying across the year. Around the water was grass and a few small bushes, but hardly any shadow above the surface. The hole was about 20 square meters in surface area. Apart from bifasciatus, there were some barbs and small cichlids.

Also, biotope GH 06-2 was a road underpass, about 10 kms aerial view from the GH 06-1 locality. This one seemed to be of a more permanent character, as it was traversed by a small stream. The sides were heavily vegetated with water lilies and other aquatic plants, providing lots of cover for the fish. Around the hole was some trees, yielding shadow and some bird life. The hole was a little bigger than GH 06-1, maybe 30 square meters, but seemed deeper, maybe up to 3 meters. Apart from bifasciatus the catch consisted of a few cichlids, barbs, and one unidentified elephant fish (Myrmidae).

Both biotopes were easily accessible and visible from the road. The only equipment needed was a pair of rubber boots.

In February 2006, we also tried to find Bokitsa Mine, supposed biotope for both walkeri, chaperi, and petersi. It turned out that he now closed mine covered an area of several square kms with a net of crossing dirt roads, and it was impossible to identify the original biotope. Our scattered fishing attempts gave nothing but Tilapia.

Often, the locality names give an exaggerated sense of precision. Another walkeri -locality is Kumasi – but Kumasi happens to be the second-largest city in Ghana with more than 1.5 million inhabitants, so it is not easy to know where to search.

Another walkeri-locality, Kutunse, maybe gives associations to a creek in the rain-forest. We visited Kutunse, that turned out to be a suburb of Accra, marked by a broad highway. We found a small, shallow creek with gravel bottom, 50-100 cm wide, at a road underpass close to the Kutunse-sign, but we found Tilapia only, and walkeri was one of the species we never succeeded in collecting.

After John’s return to Denmark, Jesper continued the search for killies. There is highway from Accra to the east to Volta river and the Togolese border. This highway passes through the area called Accra Plains, a up to 80 kms broad belt along the coast from Accra and almost to Togo. Here, Jesper collected Fundulosoma thierryi. He sent some to Denmark, but the males died in transport. Later, he found kiyawensis at the same place. We visited the spot together in November 2006, but the pool was reduced to about 20 square meters, extremely muddy and with no vegetation in the pool. DH less than 3, pH about 6.4, water temperature 32 C. (at 10.30), air temperature 35 C. Twenty minutes of fishing only yielded two males. Jesper has later found thierryi more eastwards along the Accra-Ada-road between Sege and Koluedor, appr. 52 km. from Tema. We visited the place again on November 2006 and found many thierryi. It was a quite long pool along the main road, appr. 3-5 meter wide and 100 meter long, heavily overgrown with water lilies. At 11 a.m. was the water temperature 28 centigrade, air temperature 37 C. Apart from thierryi, we also found some barbs in this pool.