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Introduction
Herichthys deppii has been a rather overlooked
species in its time. Originally discovered by Fer-
dinand Deppe around 1829 and described by
Johann J. Heckel as Heros deppii, there appears
to have been some confusion over its de-
scribed status. Perhaps it’s because the fish
never really had much commercial success,
that certainly it had been over looked and al-
most forgotten.
“Aqualog South American Cichlids book 3”, has
two colour photos and the fish listed as
Herichthys sp. “Rio Nautla”. Strange that the
book didn’t list the accepted nomenclature
Herichthys deppii.
Renewed interest of this cichlid was when Eric
Hanneman and party set out to Rio Nautla in
search of the elusive fish, this was early 2000.
Successful in their pursuit, Eric managed to
bring a small group of deppii back and spawn
the fish. Again in around 2007/2008, Rusty
Wessel and Juan Miguel Artigas set out, photo-
graphed and collected specimens for the
aquarium hobby. The fish were spawned and
then F1 offspring were made available to fish
keepers in the UK. As of the current status of
deppii stocks, that’s where the story begins.
Rio Misantla, Mexio
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Photo © Fransisco Gutierrez Franco