Allotoca goslinei

SMITH & MILLER, 1987

    Allotoca goslinei male 3 small.jpg (25405 bytes)  Allotoca goslinei female small.jpg (24484 bytes)

Found in the Rio Potrero Grande, a tributary river of the Rio Ameca approximately 10 kilometres west of the town of Ameca nearby the road to Atenguillo, Jalisco, and Mexico.The species is not distributed over larger areas of the Ameca basin. The first import to the UK was by Ivan Dibble in the early 1990s. The English name "Banded Allotoca" was coined by SMITH & MILLER who indicated the species has got black spots that are fairly regular and look much like vertical bands. Apart from that the colouring of the fish is rather plain but by no means unattractive.

Habitat at Rio Potrero Grandae 1 copy.jpg (38848 bytes)

 Allotoca goslinei reaches a size of only 6 centimetres but sexual maturity will be reached long before that when they are about half grown. A higher number of vertebra and rays in the dorsal and anal fins distinguishes Allotoca goslinei from other species of the genus. The males not only have an andropodium but also their dorsal fin starts further forward on their bodies.  In recent years, one has only been able to find the Allotoca goslinei in shallow mountain streams or shallow pools under plants; in a depth of about 15 to 30 centimetres.  considered a seriously threatened species. At the end of the drought there was only little water left, which was very cold.
The water temperature in this part of the Mexican uplands rarely rises above 20°C. This must be considered a seriously threatened species. At the end of the drought there was only little water left, which was very cold.Allotoca goslinei is a greyish brown coloured, extended fish with (and this is its main characteristic) a small black spot in the middle of the males body.  The species is omnivorous but if you are going to stand a chance of breeding it then you should give it a well balanced diet which must contain a fair amount of a nutritious live food and some vegetable matter. To my knowledge apart from the lab at Morelia only one other person successfully bred this fish in 2003,

Habitat Rio Protero Grande 1 2003 Smallcopy.jpg (44766 bytes)

Cyprinodon sp, Rio Protero Grande 1 small .jpg (43451 bytes)

Ilydon Ameca Rio Protero Grande 1 small .jpg (33931 bytes)

Habitat Rio Protero Grande 2 2003 Small-copy.jpg (51775 bytes)

 it was an American who got the fish from us last year. He bred them in an outdoor tub during the summer bringing them in at the end of September. The pictures surrounding this text were taken at the only known site for this fish, on and expedition by the "Fish Ark Project" out of Morelia in 2003. As you can see it is to be found together with Ilyodon ameca on the right above, and a Cyprinodon species. Here on the left you can see members of our survey party preparing the Electro fishing equipment for use on the Rio Potrero Grande.

 
At this point as you can see the river is little more than a stream, and in these conditions the fast moving Allotoca goslinei move so fast and hide so well under the rocks in the habitat that they only really successful way of catching them is with the Electro gear. On this occasion thought as the habitat was so inaccessible that we had to use the extension leads for the first time. Regrettably someone had forgotten to water proof the connections and so very soon water got into the connectors and blow the transformers up.   

Habitat at Rio Protero Grande 5 2003 small .jpg (50627 bytes)

Habitat Rio Protero Grande 3 2003 small-copy.jpg (39747 bytes)

 And so the lads had to go back to the old time honoured ways, but this was much slower.

 

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