Due to limited resources (i.e. participating breeders), we cannot focus in any breeding program on all the known or available species and/or populations of killifishes. Therefore, the core species selected for our programs include only a small but manageable number of killifishes. The selection of populations to be included in the program is made by the IKCP according to suggestions from the national coordinators and representatives of the independent groups or by the ESP committee.
For any participating member or interested person it is very important to understand the difference between a) the IKCP b) the ESP (Emergency Survival Program). They have in common that they will focus on a small amount of selected candidates but the direction of focus is different, and complementary. We will give a short introduction to both to clearify this point.
The IKCP is devoted to long term species maintenance. This means, the selected species/populations should be most representative for the respective genus. These populations will be maintained over decades by the program participants and there is not much change expected after a primary consent has been found. Regardless of their endangered status in the wild or in the hobby, selections for this program should be based more on issues like availability of unrelated breeding stocks, ease of breeding, interesting behaviour and appealing color patterns. For further information please read the Manual provided by Roger Langton.
WE ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR MORE AND NEW BREEDING STOCKS FOR THE POPULATIONS LISTED TO BROADEN THEIR GENETIC BASE.
The purpose of ESP is to respond to emergency situations where killifish species are in immediate danger of extinction. As in the IKCP, one or more candidate species are selected. However, after these species have been successfully rescued, they may be no longer qualified as candidates for the ESP (but may instead switch over to the IKCP). When this happens, a species drops out of the ESP freeing resources for others to drop in. However, the decision on updates and new additions of the ESP list depends mainly on the availability of suitable resources and will be made by the ESP committee. Due to the nature of the focus of the two different programs, the ESP list ist much more variable than the ICKP list. For further information please read the Manual provided by Roger Langton.