Congo Killies - PageSuite

Right: This Hypostomus sp. was caught in
the cast net.
what is hands-down the best export
station in Colombia, which he
established almost four decades ago
near the town of Villavicencio in
the warm Amazon basin. All of his
fishes are acclimated for a month
there before being shipped out.
Pedro had reserved a car for me,
and his brother-in-law, Antonio
Salamanca Barrera, was to be my
companion. Every week for 15
years, Antonio transported 500–600
Blue-Eyed Plecs from the Magdalena
Valley to Bogota for Orinoco
Aquarium, but that ended in the mid-1990s. Antonio
and Pedro, and most other exporters and importers, were
convinced that the Blue-Eyed
Below: This
Isorineloricaria species,
very likely undescribed,
was a spectacular catch.
This monotypic genus
had been known only
from the west Andean
rivers of Ecuador.
Plec had died out due to environmental
destruction, so they
were naturally very surprised
that I had come to Colombia to
look for it.
The road was as full of
bends as ever and though it was
somewhat improved, there was a
corresponding increase in truck traffic. Many hours later
we reached La Vega at an altitude of around 3,600 feet
(1,100 m), a once-tiny village that has now grown into
a veritable town. We then descended to 2,297 feet (700
m) and then climbed again to 5,249 feet (1,600 m), and
it was evening before Honda, down in the Magdalena
Valley, came into view. This town, too, has grown; it
has now expanded to both sides of the eternally murky
Magdalena, and the two parts are connected by an iron
bridge. The old town has been very beautifully renovated,
and we stayed in a nice little hotel there.
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