Anatolichthys saldae · Salda Toothcarp

Overview

Anatolichthys saldae is confined to Turkey's Lake Salda. It has a slender body, angular lower jaw, and individually variable scale coverage. Dedicated care should reflect its alkaline mineral-rich water, cool winter, and the need to maintain separate breeding lines.

Distribution & habitat

Lake Salda lies in the southwestern Anatolian lake district. Its strongly alkaline water contains abundant dissolved minerals, including magnesium, and layered carbonate formations occur along the shore.

Higher aquatic plants are absent from the lake. Fish concentrate in shallow margins supporting diatoms, cyanobacteria, and other algae. Groundwater extraction and pollution have affected lake levels and chemistry. Contact with Anatolichthys anatoliae near some stream mouths has apparently led to hybridization, making source separation important.

Aquarium setup

Keep a group in at least about 120 × 30 cm of floor space. Fine spawning mops and filamentous algae provide both cover and egg attachment sites. A bare bottom or inert sand and gravel is suitable, with gentle filtration.

Maintain alkaline, mineral-rich conditions using marine salt at about 2–3 g/L. Ordinary fine-leaved plants may struggle in this setting. Outdoor keeping is possible where the climate suits, with several hours of natural light benefiting condition. Preserve a cool winter lasting several months: year-round heating may impair reproduction and longevity. Acidic conditions are unsuitable.

Diet & feeding

Relatives take small animal foods together with algae. Offer dry foods alongside small live or frozen brine shrimp, Daphnia, and bloodworms, particularly during demanding spring and summer reproduction. Include a spirulina-enriched product where filamentous algae are unavailable.

Behaviour & compatibility

Maintain a separate population with two or three females per male. Males are generally less combative than some relatives and several can usually coexist. Cover and space remain necessary, and temporary breeding territories still form.

Sexual dimorphism

Males have eight to eleven variable gray-black bars, dark tail markings, a whitish to yellow anal fin with a narrow black edge, and dark dorsal edging. Head spots may occur. Larger, plainer females show irregular flank blotches and transparent fins; receptive females may become yellowish.

Breeding

Repeated spawning usually runs from April through September. Males defend temporary territories. Eggs attach by fine threads to algae or spawning material, and adults may eat eggs and fry. Check the medium daily.

The eggs are particularly small. Transfer the material carrying them without touching the eggs, or exchange entire mops every few days. Match incubation water to adult conditions. Hatching usually takes fifteen to seventeen days. Tiny fry need infusoria-sized foods initially, followed by newly hatched brine shrimp or microworms as they grow.

Notes

Previously treated as a subspecies of Anatolichthys splendens, it is recognized separately in the recorded taxonomy. Reduced scales do not mean a fixed scaleless condition. Scale coverage alone cannot identify every individual, and related lake populations should not be mixed for breeding.