Reseña

por Juan Miguel Artigas Azas, 03-jun.-1996.

The second of this anual series, intended to be and update on the newest cichlid information available, includes in 98 pages information about the biology, taxonomy, evolution, aquarium keeping and more on cichlids around the globe.

Photographs are mostly underwater and top quality. The book is presented as a collection of articles by several authors, separated by groups.

Descripción

The yearly publication on the world of cichlids.

Introducción

No less than eighteen authors have put together the second volume of the cichlids yearbook. It was pleasing that almost all contributors to the first volume were able to write down another piece of their knowledge and experience in this one. In addition eight new authors have written for this volume. Another pleasing fact is that Horst Walter Dieckhoff (Lake Fish, Herten, Germany), the famous underwater photographer, is back in "cichlid business". For this volume he has provided some of his photographs but we have made some plans for the near future .....

The "new" authors are briefly introduced in the same order as their articles appear:

Hans-Joachim Herrmann (Hamburg, Germany), a Tanganyika specialist and known for his book on these cichlids, describes two new variants of Simochromis, which he has collected himself.

Another book-author and Malawi specialist, Dr. Andreas Spreinat (Gottingen, Germany), deals with the genus Cynotilapia and relates his experience with some other cichlids as well.

Edwin Reitz (Aquapport, Ronnenberg, Germany), a professional and very experienced cichlid breeder, describes the breeding procedure of Aulonocara rostratum.

Recently the first commercial shipments of fish from Lake Nyasa, as Lake Malawi is known in Tanzania, have been exported from that country. Two independent operations have been started. In the next volume we will have some more species for you but this time Peter Knabe (Schlangen, Germany), who visited one of the exporters in Liuli, Tanzania, describes his observations on a beautiful Labidochrnmis from that region.

The Victorian cichlids receive more attention in this volume. Ole Seehausen (Hannover, Germany), who is a scientist working in Tanzania in the Haplochromis Ecology Survey Team and thus has first-hand experience, has contributed his first installment.

Jan't Hooft (Hendrik Ido Ambacht, Netherlands), a lifetime aquarist and the founder of the Dutch cichlid Association, tells us about one of his passions, namely Tilapia.

Do you keep mbuna with larger Malawian haplochromines in your tank? Then you know that at feeding time the mbuna devour the major part of the food. It usually takes them ten seconds to do so. Roger Haggstrom (Ornskoldsvik, Sweden), the editor of Ciklid Bladet, the periodical of the Swedish cichlid association, tells us how we can keep the mbuna busy eating.

Last but not at all the least in the long row of "new" authors, Mary Bailey (Creditors, UK) explains how scientists (should) give names to fish. Mary, who has been on the committee of the British Cichlid Association since 1982 and has studied English and Latin, was also of tremendous help in correcting the manuscripts of the yearbooks. She has kept and bred many species and is an aquaristic consultant for several aquarium magazines in the UK.

A very important publication has been issued recently, namely Cichlid Fishes; Behaviour, Ecologry and Evolution. It is the cichlid bible for the years to come for every aquarist interested in cichlids. It is discussed by Martin Geerts.

In the previous volume I have reported on Neolamprologus leloupi and said that N. caudopunctatus should be regarded as a synonym of this species. However, when I visited the locality in Zaire where the yellow-dorsal lied cichlid is collected, it was immediately clear that I was wrong: both species, N. caudopunctatus and N. leloupi, live sympatrically in the same habitat. I further explain the situation on page 21.

With regard to Willem Heijns' contribution in volume 1 about 'Cichlasoma' spinosissimum, Jaap Jan de Greef (Parrish, Florida), who rediscovered this species for the hobby, wrote me that he found the species in pools at the southern end of Lago de Izabal but not in the lake itself. Jaap Jan collects fish in Central America and Africa and breeds them for a hobby.

Without the hospitality and cooperation of several exporters and friends it would not have been possible to show you the cichlids in their natural habitat and give information on how they live. I therefore gratefully acknowledge Stuart M. Grant (Salima, Malawi), Alain Gillot (Zaire Cichlids, Kalemie, Zaire), Gary Kratochvil (San Antonio, Texas), Juan Miguel Artigas Azas (San Luis Potosí, México) and Mireille Schreyen (Fishes of Burundi, Burundi)

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