Aquarium Conservation Programme

Over the last few years aquarists have progressively witnessed an ever rising number of difficulties in acquiring certain species of freshwater fish. Some of these are now known to be extinct in their natural habitats; others have been classified as “endangered” or “protected” species.

The difficulties in acquiring these species present a number of issues for the hobby and the hobbyist alike. To mention but a few, the hobby gets limited as our ability to access and host certain species gets limited. Information about the role particular species hold in maintaining the natural equilibrium in their habitat gets difficult, if not impossible, to collect. Our contribution to the long term survival of these species gets minimized as we can no longer monitor and record ideal or preferable living conditions, compatibility and so on. Maybe one of the biggest contributions of the hobby to natural preservation, the awareness and understanding of different species of fish, gets minimized as these fish are no longer available for people to acquire and observe.

Anton Lamboj, in co-operation with MCH,  invite you to join an Aquarium Conservation Programme as a first step towards countering the negative effects of the current situation on the hobby, the hobbyists and the fish alike:

Some thoughts about a Fish Preservation program

Discussion Forum I

Structure of the project

Next step - I

All species shown are on the Red List or restricted to trade. From left to right, top to bottom: Paretroplus menarambo (photo by G.J.Reclos), Betta rutilans, Characodon aurax, Cyprinodon nevadensis, Stomatepia mariae - breeding female (photos by Anton Lamboj), Hypancistrus zebra L046 (compliments of Hans-Georg Evers).

If you would like to participate in this project, please e-mail us at mail@malawicichlidhomepage.com stating "ACP" in the subject line