There are many concerns about the freshwater eco systems under threat in Mexico and Central America from agriculture , pollution , human disturbance etc . What are your biggest fears and are we too late for some River systems . Media Luna is one such eco system of concern ?
Hybrid Herichthys labridens yellow ( background )
Media Luna is an ecological disaster with the introduction of Tilapia and the hybridization from the introduced Herichthys carpinta . Southern Mexico ( in particular Villahermosa area of Mexico and Rio Chacamax in Chiapas , Mexico ) now have introductions of plecos that are slowly but surely destroying natural habitats and quickly displacing the native fishes . Is some areas over 1 million plecos can easily be viewed simply by walking along the rivers . Long term effects are still not known but early projections indicate large losses of fishes .
Since many hobbyists don ’ t get the opportunity to make field trips , let ’ s talk about the Central American aquarium hobby . Your fish house being an impressive setup is quite an understatement , could you tell us a little more about your setup and how many tanks and fish your currently maintaining ?
Lee , the fish house is an outbuilding constructed purely for fish . It is approximately 1400 square feet and has 52 windows and numerous sky lights , geothermal heating and air conditioning , about 90 tanks and over 5000 gallons . Daily automatic water changes are built into each independent aquarium , The larger display tanks ( 265 gallon Perfecto Aquariums ) are designed with lots of rocks and plants creating as natural an environment as possible . The windows allow ample lighting and the entire house is temperature controlled to mimic the fishes habitat in the wild . During the winter months the temperature drops into the low 70 ’ s F and in the Summer the temperature increases to low 80 ’ s F ., consequently , the fishes only breed during the warmest months ( May to August ). I feel this significantly helps the
Herichthys labridens is evaluated by the international union for the conservation of nature in the iucn red list of threatened species as ( EN ) endangered ( 1996 )
If you get the chance to keep pure specimens of these cichlids , I would highly recommend dedicating a tank for them !
aggression of the fish in aquaria for I firmly believe a resting period ( the cooler months ) is vital to the long-lived existence of the fishes in captivity .
We all have a favourite genera or species of cichlids , currently mine are the Herichthys complex with H . bartoni my favourite , what ’ s yours and why ?
Thorichthys because they are only mildly aggressive and excellent parents .
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