Happy holidays from Amazon Tropics. 2025 will be a big year for us as we will once again return to South America. Our group will be heading to a very remote area of Colombia along the upper Rio Negro. While a few aquarists have traveled to this area, they have only documented some of the cichlid and killifish species in the area. Other research papers have shared a variety of species found along the major river basins in and around the Rio Casiquiare. Our goal will be to document those same species along with other groups of fish including tetras and catfish.
In particular, we are interested in the Lebiasinidae, Loricariids, Auchenipteridae, Callichthyidae, smaller cichlids of the genus Apistogramma, Laetacara, Wallaciia, some larger genera such as Aequidens, Geophagus, Heros, Hypselecara, and Satanoperca. The area we will be investigating happens to be near the area in which Ivanacara adoketa is found. Could this species be found in southern Colombia? Perhaps, we certainly hope to find it. From the family Auchenipteridae, a personal goal is to find Tatia strigata, which is known from the area.
The species that have been documented from the area previously also hold a large interest to us such as Liamosemion (Rivulus) staecki, the peacock killifish aptly named for its gorgeous coloration reminiscent of the bird it’s named after. To the north, we may find a related species, Liamosemion (Rivulus) flammaecauda. Another aptly named species with its strong striations (see www.itrainsfishes.net for images). There have also been several nice Apistogramma species noted from the area including a form of Apistogramma flabellicauda (see http://tomc.no).
Regardless of what we do find, this will be a trip of a lifetime! How many times does one get to go to such a remote place? A big thanks to Hernando Gil for making this trip possible. We will share more once we have returned! Up first though will be the Columbus Area Fish Enthusiasts (CAFE) Winter Swap January 25th. Go to: www.columbusfishclub.org for details! See everyone there!
