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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