Lateral Line December 2011 - Hill Country Cichlid Club

The
1
Lateral Line
Volume 4, Issue 5 December, 2011
Inside this Issue:
Synodontis Delema: Can you Spot the Difference?
Aulonocranus dewindti “Zambia”: A Spawning Report
FOTAS CARES 2011
CARES Sheet Pseudotropheus saulosi
Anti-Netting Devices in Lake Malawi

2
The HCCC is a proud member of
the Federation of Texas
Aquarium Societies.
The HCCC is a proud member of
the Federation
of American Aquarium
Societies.
Contents:
Can You Spot the Difference? 3
- David Ayres
Aulonocranus dewindti “Zambia”: A Spawning Report 6
- Benjamin L. Smith
FOTAS CARES 2011 10
- Greg Steeves
Pseudotropheus saulosi, CARES Sheet 32
Folks …it’s payback time 35
- Ad Konings
What a convention! FOTAS CARES was a
huge success. I can only hope that another
CARES club will grab the reigns and host
the second CARES convention.
It was good to see old friends again. Especially
JB. I’m looking forward to his moving
back to Texas. There were so many
good memories made at the convention
filled with incredible speakers and presentations,
zany events and camaraderie with fish
friends. I have included some photos and a
short write up of the affair in this issue.
Speaking of content in this issue, I am extremely
pleased to share with everyone an
article by David Ayres on a subject that has
touched almost all of us...differentiating
some of those Tanganyikan catfish that we
all love so much. Thanks David for letting
us reprint your article.
Benjamin strikes again with a report on his
spawning of Aulonocranus dewindti. I have
always admired these fish but have never
had the courage to try them.
At FOTAS CARES, Ad Konings spoke on
the situation with native fish in Lake Malawi.
Many people, including myself, were
shocked that old favorites such as Pseudotropheus
saulosi and Ps. socolofi are becoming
rare in the great African lake. These
two species are now unfortunately, added to
the CARES list so I have included a CARES
sheet on the first Malawian addition, Ps saulosi.
Ad tops the issue off with an article
born of the conference. He discusses the
Anti Netting Devices deployed at Malawi
National Park and his plans to ensure that
some threatened fish do not end up like
their Lake Victoria cousins.
2011 was largely a planning year for the
HCCC. We spent most of our energy on
preparing for FOTAS CARES. 2012 will
see some exciting restructuring and getting
back to having fun. We end this year with
our annual Christmas Party at Dan and
Elaine’s in Seguin. See everyone there!

3
Can You Spot the Difference?
- David Ayres
Synodontis lucipinnis is a charming Tanganyikan catfish common n the cichlid aquarium.
This species along with others has been the source of much confusion over identification.
Is it Synodontis petricola or Synodontis
lucipinnis? For some time now a debate has
been ongoing concerning the identity of
these two fish. It seems to be fashionable
nowadays that whenever a photograph is
posted on the web labeled as S. petricola to
respond by saying , "Oh no , that's S. lucipinnis"
Most respondents no not whereof they
speak , most are not even keeping Synodontis.
At next month's meeting (Oct) our guest
speaker will be Jeremy Wright who, along
with co-author Lawrence M. Page, published
a paper back in December 2006 that recognized
eleven species of Synodontis from
Lake Tanganyika . Included among those
eleven species were three newly described
species which are, S. ilebrevis, S. grandiops
and the subject of this article S. lucipinnis.
Jeremy gave a talk at the 2010 All Aquarium
Catfish Convention in Fairfax Virginia,
which, as far as I know, was where a significant
number of North American hobbyists
were first introduced to Synodontis lucipinnis.
And so began the confusion within the
organized hobby of differentiating between
the newly described S. lucipinnis and a fish
that everyone in the hobby knew as S. petricola,
two fish that are remarkably similar in
outward appearances.
So what do we know about the two fish in
question?
Location: Well both species are endemic to
Lake Tanganyika and both inhabit the rocky
coastal areas. The "known distribution
maps" however, do reveal differences in
where populations occur . The type locality
for S. lucipinnis is at the southern end of the
lake from an area known as Musende Rocks
(Mpulungu , Zambia.) This is the only place

This is the only place on the map that specimens
of S. lucipinnis appear to be found. On
the other hand the type locality for S. petricola
is marked at the northwestern most end
of the lake in the Democratic Republic of
Congo some four hundred and fifty miles
distant. Location points for S. petricola are
shown at both the northern and southern
ends of the lake with a marked absence in
the central portions of the lake. I would
think , but I
d o n ' t
know , that
the only
reason the
central part
of the lake
shows an
absence of
populations
of S. petricola
is because
nobody
has
collected
there. So if
you went to
Musende
Rocks in the south and collected there you
would have S. lucipinnis and anywhere else
in the lake you would have S, petricola............or
would you? It seems farfetched
to me to believe that whilst S. petricola
probably has a lake-wide distribution,
S. lucipinnis is restricted to one area at
Musende Rocks.
Size - does it matter? No, not when comparing
holotypes. The holotype of S. lucipinnis
measures 97mm total length and 78mm standard
length. Compare that to the holotype of
S. petricola which measures 98mm TL. and
82mm SL., so there are no discernible differences
there.
Synodontis petricola or Synodontis lucipinnis?
I studied both the morphometric and meristic
counts for both S. lucipinnis and S. petricola
and found absolutely no differences
when taking into consideration the margins
of error. The data shows that they could be
the same fish.
So what is it that makes these two fish, according
to Wright and Page, different species
? Answer, an axillary pore. That's all we
need to know to tell the species apart. Synodontis
petricola
possesses
an
axillary
por, Synodontis
lucipinnis
does not.
When the
next self
proclaimed
expert on
the web
holds forth
ask him to
point out
the axillary
pore or lack
thereof.
What is an axillary pore? The axillary pore
is an opening or series of openings that is
located between the base of the pectoral fin
spines and the ventral margin of the humeral
process. The purpose of the axillary pore is
unknown in Mochokids but in other families
of fish this structure has been shown to produce
a mucosal secretion that contains toxic
properties, a good defense system against all
those nasty predatory cichlids.
Before bringing this discussion to a close
there is yet one more telling difference between
S. petricola and S. lucipinnis. S. lucipinnis
has light colored "windows" at the base
of the black triangles in the fins (except the
4

5
One of the most sought after catfish from Lake Tanganyika, Synodontis granulosus.
caudal) Having said that, I've looked at the
photographs of the S. lucipinnis holotype
and don't see it; but there again pickled
specimens may not show this as clearly as
live specimens , plus my
eyesight is not exactly
20-20 anymore. By the
way the specific name
lucipinnis is a combination
of the Latin luci
meaning bright or clear
and the Latin pinnis,
meaning fin, a reference
to the light colored
patches found at the
base of the black triangles
in the fins.
Literature Cited.
Wright, J.J. and L.M.
Page. 2006. Taxonomic
Revision Of Lake Tanganyikan
Synodontis (Siluriformes: Mochokidae)
Florida Mus. Nat. Hist. Bull. 46
(4):99-154.
Synodontis polli from the great African rift lake.

6
Aulonocranus dewindti “Zambia”: A Spawning Report
- Benjamin L. Smith
A beautiful male Aulonocranus dewindti in the author’s aquarium.
Aulonocranus dewindti is a cichlid of Lake
Tanganyika found in the intermediate habitat
1 . It fits the bill of both a sand sifter as
well as a featherfin. Like most other
featherfins, the males display lustrous colors
when courting which they can turn off and
on like a light. Unlike Cyathopharynx, they
will tend to carry at least some color all of
the time making it easy to differentiate the
males from females in adult populations.
The tips of the ventral fins have a hint of
yellow, however they do not have the lappets
that the Ophthalmotilapia ventralis and
Ophthalmotilapia nasuta use as egg dummies.
The variant I kept was from Dave's
Rare Aquarium Fish and sported horizontal
blue and yellow stripes. In Ad Konings'
books, there are images of a fish from
Mabilibili that appear to have a dark copper
base with blue stripes and are quite stunning
2 .
The waters the fish hails from is like that of
most of the lake in that it is alkaline and
hard. The tap water at my home is the same
so no adjustments are necessary other than
dechlorinator. The temperatures range in the
upper 70 O F in the lake and the tank temperatures
at my home range from 73-75 O F.
The slightly lower temperature doesn't seem
to affect spawning frequency, though I have
noted that in the tanks which I heat to 78 O F,
the time for the fry to become free swimming
drops from 3 weeks to 2 weeks.
In the wild, the fish sifts sand searching for
invertebrates. In my tank they were fed a
staple diet flake. The fry were initially fed

7
A male and holding female Aulonocranus dewindti in the aquarium.
Hikari First Bites and subsequently crushed
flake until ready for the regular flake.
The fish were housed in a 55 gallon aquarium,
initially as a pair, but later I added to
make the group larger at 2 males and 3 females.
I have kept six of these fish in the
past with spawning occurring at regular intervals,
however I never had a female hold
an entire two weeks where I could safely
strip her of the fry. The females usually spit
just after seven days suggesting that the eggs
were fertilized. In my 55 gallon tank, the
older female held long enough only once
and when I dipped the net in to get her, she
spit her fry and her tank mates, Callochromis
melanostigma, ate the fry immediately.
Since that time, whenever I have a
ten gallon tank available, I pull the female
on the first or second day of holding and let
her brood in solitary confinement. She
seems to appreciate that. The dominant
male continually harasses the females in the
tank. I feel that this is the likely cause of the
females not wanting to hold. The male also
gave the newly added male, who at the time
was half the size of the dominant male, a
solid thrashing. I removed him and let him
recuperate in a 125 gallon. He grew quickly
and while he is now 3 inches, he is still
about 1 inch shorter than the other, but is
allowed to roam the tank and display a little
color. Adult fish will ultimately reach 5-6
inches in length 1 .
I keep a great deal of rock-work in the tank
for two reasons. The first is for hiding
places for the females, though they never

8
A dominant male Aulonocranus dewindti in normal dress.
seem to use them. The second is due to the
face that this fish prefers to build its nests
against the rocks 1 . I have found that if I use
rocks that are relatively tall, I can make a
sort of u-shaped arena out of them and the
male will always build his nest on this stage.
I have read in several places that the males
will decorate the edges of the nest with pebbles
or shells. I provided both and they were
both ignored or carried to the farthest
reaches of the tank. My male likes a clean
nest.
These fish can start spawning early, as soon
as 2 inches in overall length. In my experience,
the fish will spawn again about six
weeks after releasing fry. They will even do
so is some pretty sad water conditions. I
have been busy this year with work and water
changes seem to be happening anywhere
from once per month to once every two
months. If it has been 1 month and I manage
a water change, I invariably get a spawn
within the next two days. Clutch sizes have
ranged from 10 to 32 fry for me. They are
not shy about spawning and I have even
been able to record them on video. The eggs
are whitish in color and about 1.5 mm in diameter.
The females do not eat while holding
but will come out at feeding time and
give the food a long, hard look before going
back to their safe spot in the tank.
Initially, I kept this fish with Cyprichromis
sp. “leptosoma jumbo” in a 125 gallon tank.
I was not seeing any spawns from the Cyps
and had already decided to move them when
I actually witnessed the female Aulonocra-

9
An adult Aulonocranus dewindti pair in the aquarium.
nus hovering beneath the Cyps while they
spawned one evening. She would dart up
from the sand eat the eggs as they came out
of the female Cyp before the Cyps could do
anything about it. Now, they are kept with
the aforementioned C. melanostigma. Both
fish spawn successfully in the 55 gallon tank
with 5 A. dewindti and 5 C. melanostigma.
There is also a plecostomus whose L-
number I have forgotten which is about 7
inches long and keeps the tank absolutely
spotless.
I have really enjoyed keeping this fish. It is
probably the easiest of the featherfins to
keep, house, and spawn. It is not nervous
(mine have not tried to jump out) and shows
good color most of the time. They spawn
young and do not requite a large amount of
space; a 29-30 gallon tank will suffice for a
group of 5-6 fish. In all, I would strongly
recommend this fish to anyone looking for a
sand sifter or featherfin.
Bibliography
Konings, Ad. Back to Nature Guide to Tanganyika
Cichlids. 2 nd Ed. Cichlid Press.
2005.
Konings, Ad. Tanganyika Cichlids in their
natural habitat. Cichlid Press. 1998.
On the web
www.hillcountrycichlidclub.com

10
FOTAS CARES 2011
- Greg Steeves
The “Babes in the Cichlid Hobby” (Pam Chin, Caroline Estes and Pam Marsh) share a
laugh with esteemed guests Melanie Stiassny and Paul V. Loiselle at FOTAS CARES.
For those of you who did not have the opportunity
to attend FOTAS CARES in San
Antonio Texas November 4th-6th 2011, I
can only say that I am sorry for your loss.
This was a fantastic convention! It was, by
far, the largest undertaking our little club has
ever attempted and will be spoken about for
years to come.
FOTAS (The Federation of Texas Aquarium
Societies) holds conventions annually.
These conventions rotate between member
clubs. 2011 was the Hill Country Cichlid
Club’s turn. The HCCC’s involvement in
CARES (www.carespreservation.com) is
well established and we have been looking
for a forum to showcase CARES for a long
time. It seemed that FOTAS CARES,
hosted by the Hill Country Cichlid Club was
natural! The planning began.
On the counsel of both Claudia Dickinson
and Anton Lamboj, a tentative speaker
lineup was constructed. The original program
had seven names including Kathy England,
a Texan legend in the hobby, Anton
Lamboj, esteemed ichthyologist and honorary
HCCC member, Lae Kaufman, most
known in our circles for the work he has
done in and around Lake Victoria, Melanie

11
Kathy England spoke in pond plants and surprised everyone
with a drawing for free plants after her lecture!
Stiassny who’s recent work on the
Congo River was the subject of a National
Geographic special, Charles
Jones, FOTAS president, fish expert
working in almost every area of the
industry, Paul V. Loiselle who is best
described as “Fish god”, and Ad
Konings who has been a friend to the
HCCC since the beginning. As time
drew on, Les and Anton were unfortunately
not able to attend but the rest
of the invited speakers were a go.
Where to hold such a grand event?
We selected the DoubleTree Inn near
the San Antonio Airport. This facility
had everything we could hope for. As
it turned out, the weather was perfect
and much of the time, attendees spent
their leisure in the courtyard lounging
beside the pool. This was the perfect
location for our convention.
The courtyard of The Doubletree Hotel

12
After much, MUCH planning it was go time.
I think everyone involved in the organization
of this fiasco was quite nervous. Even
though you may have planned for everything
you could think of, the element of the unknown
still looms ominously overhead.
Friday morning was spent transporting
equipment to the venue. Everyone really
came together on this. By the time Choya
and I had picked up the tanks for the kids
contest (more on this to come) and arrived at
the hotel, the construction crew had already
not only built the racking for 100 20 gallon
tanks, but were nearly done filling them.
Dave Schumacher, Dan Schacht, Jim Smith,
JB Edmundson and a host of others, were
working as a well oiled machine! I was astounded
at the work they had done is such a
short period of time. David Fair had already
positioned some of the vendors. It was all
coming together.
By mid afternoon attendees started wondering
around. Even though registration did not
open until 5pm, many people had arrived
early to vacation in San Antonio, see the
sights and go on fish store tours.
Some of the first fish friends I encounters
(besides HCCCer’s of course) were Claudia
Dickinson, Lawrence Kent, David
Boruchowitz and Ted Judy.
Kory and Justin with
Ad Konings and Paul Loiselle.
Alan Rollings and David Fair.
After Diane opened registration, it was time
to get things going. What better way to kick
it off than with some food. It was pizza
time. As the banquet area was filled, ample
pizzas were rolling out for the masses. After
everyone had gotten their fill, it was time for
the first event to begin. Melanie Stiassny
was about to give a presentation of the fishes
of the Congo River. Many people had made
the trip to San Antonio just to hear her
speak. Not only was her presentation excellent,
but she was such a friendly lady taking
the time to speak to all that were vying for
her attention. What a wonderful person and
I think we all left feeling like we had a rich
individual interaction with her.

13
Melanie Stiassny lectures on her
research in the Congo River.
After her presentation, The Babes in the
Cichlid Hobby presented Melanie with the
prestigious Ida Mellen National Leadership
Award For Women Aquarists.
Among the many attendees, shown here is
David Fraguglia, Dave Schumacher, Dan
Schacht and David Fair.
Dr. Keith and Beverly Arnold.
Melanie Stiassny receiving the Ida Mellen
National Leadership award for women
aquarists presented by Pam Chin,
Caroline Estes and Pam Marsh.
Following the first talk, people mingled in
the vendor/showroom while preparations
were being made for the next event. A great
selection of fish, many of them CARES species,
were available in the showroom. An
ongoing silent auction for rare lake Victoria
cichlids was drawing a lot of attention as
well. Also on display were show entries displayed
on an island of tables in the middle of
the room.
Marvin England leads the
charge to the pizza line.

14
One of the more unusual events I had ever
seen at the fish show was the Cichlid
Smackdown. The premise of this was simple:
a debate with some of the cichlid experts
that were in attendance as to what
group of fishes are best. We really had no
idea of how this would work out, however,
with Steve Edie moderating the affair, one
thing was certain, it was going to be like
nothing anyone had ever seen before.
Team Old World consisted of captain Pam
“the queen of mean” Chin, Rick
“Natureboy” Borstein, Lawrence “the situation”
Kent and our own JB “the cable guy”
Edmundson. They would have their work
cut out for them going up against Captain of
Team Old World, Caroline “the executioner”
Estes and her hand picked marauders
Alan “the anvil” Rollings, Marco
’superfly” Arroyo, and “Ravishing” Dean
Hougen. The official score keeper was our
own Kory Watkins.
This affair started out with Steve questioning
the contestants with a series of slides.
He then took questions from the audience.
The Smackdown eventually broke out into
anarchy when Lawrence pulled out a bottle
of Ebola virus and sprayed his opponents. In
the end, it was somehow determined that
the New World luchadors had defeated Old
World by the narrowest of margins bring
home the coveted “Smackdown Cup”. I can
only hope that I am on hand to see it defended.
A big thank you to all who participated
making this the most hilarious fish
function I had ever attended. There were so
many funny moments that it is impossible to
recite highlights. This was one of those
“you had to be there” things.
Talk was of a rematch in the future. Perhaps
the ACA in Indy?
Stay tuned….
Caroline Estes, Phil Benes, Pam Chin, Jan
Benes, Claudia Dickinson and Monty.
David Boruchowitz David Fair, Melaine
Stiassny Gary Cooper and Ad Konings
engage in conversation.
Pam Chin, Melanie Stiassny, Caroline Estes
and Claudia Dickinson share a laugh at
FOTAS CARES 2011.
This is what it’s all about!

16
Friday evening was for relaxing by the pool in the courtyard with friends.
Jan Benes, Steve Edie and Phil Benes.
Lee Ann Steeves and Sara Swanson.
Pam Marsh.
Ted Judy.
Steve Edie, Phil Benes, Pam Chin,
Caroline Estes and Dean Hougen.

17
The start to Saturday’s festivities was a
breakfast buffet. The two evening meals
along with breakfast Saturday, were included
with your registration package. Not
a bad deal at all!
The FOTAS board meeting was at 9am. The
big news was that Dr. Arnold, after a very
long time, would be passing over finances to
Diane Tennison. Charles Jones and Kathy
England would not be re-offering as president
and secretary respectively. Elections
will take place in January and will see an
exciting and reinvigorated FOTAS board.
We did learn that some of the member clubs
were no longer active but soon the inclusion
of Southeast Louisiana Aquarium Society,
which would be our second out of state
member, and Comunidad Acuariofila Regiomontana
from Mexico our would be very
first international member, would add
greatly to our diversity.
Next up was Kathy England who gave an
terrific presentation on garden ponds. Kathy
has such a great sense of humor and is incredibly
knowledgeable in this area. Her
talk was fantastic. She was kind enough to
bring along enough pond plants to hand out
to everyone in attendance. I got a beautiful
iris I had long wanted. Bonus!
While everyone was enjoying the beautiful
South Texas morning Jim Smith and JB Edmundson
were busy at work. They were assembling
the racking and preparing for the
children’s tank decorating contest.
We had first seen this at the ACA in Silver
Spring this past summer. Discus Hans ran
an event for children to decorate and stock a
tank provided for them. This was an incredible
spectacle to witness. It was so
much fun and you couldn’t help but enjoy
the excitement. I was hoping ours would be
somewhere close to this successful.
With the racking constructed and tanks filled
with water, the 10 gallon aquariums were
ready to go. We had no idea of the number
of children who would participate but we
were counting on the Mountain Valley Middle
School CARES students, and others that
had been invited. By noon, the showroom
was packed with convention attendees, children
and their parents. The premise was
simple. You had an hour to decorate the
aquarium and stock it with suitable inhabitants.
All materials were provided including
gravel, plants and decorations. When it was
complete, the entrant had to pick out the fish
they needed to finish off their display. At
the end of the time limit, the tanks would be
judged with the winning entry taking home
the entire tank kit along with livestock he or
she had used.
These kids did such a great job decorating
that I think I am going to invite them all to
my fishroom to give my tanks a make over!
Drawing for pond plants after Kathy’s talk.
After all was said and done, the judge, Karli
Steeves, could not choose a winner. They
were all so good that she awarded first place
to everyone and all got to keep the tanks
they had decorated.
This was a heart touching situation for sure!

18
Children’s tank decorating contest.
The tanks are filled with water and
ready to be aqua-scaped.
And they’re off!
Get lost dad. I got this!
Looking good!
If only my tanks looked this great.
You could have heard a pin drop as everyone
watched the judging process.

Above Karli judges the entries. Below, Mountain Valley Middle School CARES students.
19

20
Ad Konings discusses the Anti Netting Devices deployed around Malawi National Park
After the excitement of the tank decorating
contest and lunch Saturday afternoon, Ad
Konings gave a presentation on Lake Malawi.
More specifically, the Anti netting devices
(AND) and some of the successes that
have already been noticed with them. Ad
also mentioned some surprisingly bad news
in that a number of cichlid species we think
of as abundant, are in drastic decline within
their native waters. The two species that he
mentioned that really stood out for me were
the mbuna Pseudotropheus saulosi and
Pseudotropheus socolifi. This was a wake
up call for all in attendance.
It is clear these fish need our help before it’s
too late. The AND’s are proven to be effective.
The hobby HAS to come up with the
needed funding to place these devices
around Malawi National Park to deter
poaching before it’s too late. The National
Park does not have the funding to provide
constant vigilance in these waters yet these
devices cost only $50.00 to produce. This is
a tiny investment to ensure the survival of
many fish species we enjoy in our aquariums.
Ad’s presentation was sobering and
thought provoking, but much more drastic
news was yet to come.

21
Dr. Paul V. Loiselle gave us all a reality check on the state of freshwater on Earth.
Nest to the podium was Dr.
Paul V. Loiselle. Paul is one
of the most recognizable
names in all of fishdom and
for good reason. He speaks
of first hand observations and
is an absolutely brilliant ichthyologist.
Paul gave a synopsis
on the state of fresh
water on planet Earth. This
is a very limited resource that
we share with the very creatures
that brought us all together.
As Paul said, “folks,
it’s payback time.” This essentially
means that we take
drastic measures to protect
this life giving resource or it,
and us, will be gone forever.
The mood was extremely somber during Dr. Loiselle’s
presentation. The reality of the situation is not good.

Show Entries
22

23
The Banquet Saturday evening was like no other I have ever attended!
Traditionally, the FOTAS banquet is a lavish
and formal affair. That, however, would not
be in HCCC fashion. As everyone entered
the large room, a fantastic fare of Tex Mex
was available buffet style. The food was
great and there was plenty of it! I was not
the only one that went back for seconds...honest!
After the main course and desert was out of
the way, Dave Hansen and Charles Jones
began the traditional FOTAS events. The
Braz Walker and Dr. Keith Arnold auction
both raised almost $500.00 each. Then there
was the mystery fish. I cannot recall who
won this but the line up of people wanting to
see in the bag was long!
The center piece at the buffet table.
We named him Pablo.
After the banquet Charles Jones gave a wonderful
talk on friends in the hobby (although
at times it seemed like more of a roast).
Lots of laughs, most at my expense.

24
Charles Jones was an excellent banquet speaker with a comedic view of ourselves.
Gary Cooper, JB
Edmundson and
Greg Sage who
drove from Colorado
to be part of
FOTAS CARES.

25
Claudia Dickinson embracing
her friend David Boruchowitz.
Marc Garcia and Michael Hill.
The FOTAS CARES money that was used in the banquet auction.

27
Sunday was auction day. Here Charles
Jones goes through one of over 800 items.
Monica and Diane worked the registration
desk and the entire 8 hour+ auction!
Dave Hansen, Dave Schumacher Robert
Deleon and Rob Teague. We let anyone in.
Claudia and Lisa.
Alan got something good!
Ben, Penny and Lisa.

28
Kyle and Charles.
Carla and Marvin.
The Louisiana guys want it all!
Choya, Greg and Steve.
Jose, Lawrence and Marco.
Carla, Cory and Charles.

29
Caroline, Carla and Monica.
A little pixie dust...
Charles gets a little dusting too.
Sam Borstein auctioneering.
Phil Benes takes a turn at the mic.
Robert and David man the desk.
Jim in deep thought wondering when the
next FOTAS CARES will take place.

30
Three of my favorite fish friends,
Dave Schumacher, Ad Konings and Marco
Arroyo.
Two extraordinary fish chicks,
Lee Ann Steeves and Melanie Stiassny.
Claudia Dickinson and Debbie
Bumgardner, driving forces of CARES.
Two of the sexiest men in the fish world,
Kory USAFishBox Watkins and myself.
David Fraguglia, Jan & Phil Benes
and Steve Edie.
Lawrence Kent and Ted Judy,
two of the nicest people I’ve ever known.

31
The HCCC gave our 5th Fellowship Award
at FOTAS CARES. Dave Schumacher has
been a huge part of our club from nearly the
beginning. It was my honor to present him
with this. Unfortunately, I do not have a
photo of the presentation. If you know of
one, please send it to me.
I am so proud of the way our members
pulled together to make it all happen. All
reviews I’ve received were that everyone
had a great time. It was wonderful to see so
many friends together in one place.
Some good things are emerging from the
networking that FOTAS CARES brought
together. The ACA is assisting Ad Konings
in his attempt to provide a new diesel motor
to Park Rangers in Lake Malawi. This will
allow them to make more frequent patrols to
protected grounds. When Rick Borstein and
Lawrence Kent learned of the successes of
the Anti Netting Devices deployed in Malawi,
they stepped forward with ideas and a
plan. Although this is still in the early
stages, I know good things will happen here.
The ramifications of relationships born at
FOTAS CARES are still emerging. One
thing is certain, whether it is our club or another
in the CARES family, a CARES convention
MUST happen again. We anxiously
await FOTAS 2012 which will take place in
the DFW area and will be hosted by the
Texas Cichlid Association. See y’all there!
Although this list is not nearly complete, I
would like to thanks the following who’s
generosity made FOTAS CARES possible.
AquaTek Tropical Fish
Darby’s Tropicals
Papa Jim’s Tropical Fish
The Hobby Place
Amazonia International
Alamo Aquatic Pets
Lisa’s Lair Bookstore
Aquarium-Masters.com
Aquaculture Technologies
Aquatic Life
Aqua Ultraviolet
Central Aquatics
Cichlid News
Ecological Laboratories
Florida Tropical Fish Farmers Association
Ginger Inc.
Kordon
Ocean Star International
Pennplax
Seachem
Zoomed
Pat Mallinger
Henry Rockward Jr.
Diane Tennison
The Babes in the Cichlid Hobby
Jim Clifton
Ted Judy
USA Fish Box
Goliad Farms
Walter and Barbara Wooton
Jim Norris
Texas Cichlid Association
Houston Aquarium Society
Jocelyn Nagel
Stefanie Alvarado
Jose Gonzalez
Elegant Reef
Pet’s Barn
Gabe’s Fish and Exotic Pets
Fish Hobby Supply
Leslie’s Pool Supply
Pet Frontier
Dave’s Rare Aquarium Fish

35
Folks …it’s payback time
- Ad Konings
already 332 different species of fish of
which more than 90 are endemic to this part
of the mighty Congo! A staggering number
if you compare that with other rivers in Africa.
It also drove home the message that we
still know so little about the biodiversity of
vast areas of Africa. And that at a time when
governments, with their eyes on the money,
make broad-ranging decisions on the future
of these areas without knowing what is
really at stake. Of course, the quality of life
and the sustainability of the area’s biodiversity
rarely play a role in such decision making.
This was also evident in Paul Loiselle’s
presentation on the state of fish diversity on
a global scale and how it suffers from industrialization
and burgeoning human encroachment
on freshwater habitats.
An AND deployed in Lake Malawi.
At the FOTAS/CARES meeting (Nov. 4-6,
2011) in San Antonio, Texas, I was dumbfounded
and excited by Melanie Stiassny’s
presentation of her work on the Congo
River. She discussed mainly the fish fauna
of the Lower Congo, a stretch of a little
more than 200 km but in which she found
While I presented the latest developments of
the Anti-Netting Devices (ANDs) in Lake
Malawi National Park, Rick Borstein of the
Greater Chicago Cichlid Association, asked
what the total sum is that is needed to protect
the Maleri Islands and parts of the Cape
Maclear area with ANDs. I didn’t have the
answer ready, but with the price of the new
ANDs at about $50 each and estimating that
about 2000 of these are needed to cover the
shorelines of the various islands, I offered
the sum of $100,000. This is far from an exorbitant
amount, and afterwards Lawrence
Kent of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
suggested that I should be able to write
a grant application and submit it to one of
the big environmental organizations, because
$100,000 is considered small change
by his and many other organizations. I
thought about his suggestion, but I have
other factors to contemplate in our quest to
save the Malawi cichlids. First of all, I’m
100% sure that we aquarists can come up
with this amount and that we are in time to

36
protect the majority of the Malawi species
that are endemic to park waters. Secondly,
imagine the immense satisfaction by all who
have participated in the program ten years
from now when all is set and done, and
when we are enjoying the fruits of our efforts.
Just consider the Babes In The Cichlid
Hobby (fondly translated by my friend
Marco Arroyo as “Las Putas”), Caroline Estes,
Pam Chin, and Pam Marsh, who have
worked very hard at every convention, traveling
on their own dime, auctioning fish
paraphernalia that they have begged, stolen
(hope not), or borrowed from their friends,
and entertaining us as well. In the last four
years they were able, besides all the other
needed causes they work for, to donate
$6,500 to the fund! Imagine their satisfaction
when they see that all is well in the
Lake Malawi National Park. I don’t want to
steal their and your happiness by a possible
“take over” of big money. The placing of the
ANDs is a slow process and I’m confident
that we can keep pace with donations and
spending costs.
Critics of CARES and of any other captive
breeding programs uphold the notion that a
species’ genetic diversity is quickly lost because
of inbreeding and can never replace
the lost diversity of the original population,
and also that reintroduction of captive-raised
fish into the original habitat has never been
achieved successfully. Well, the last statement
is incorrect as successful fish reintroductions
have been completed in Europe as
well as in the US. I’m not aware of any such
efforts with cichlids but I don’t see any
problem in that. The fact that wild caught
cichlids can quickly adapt to the artificial
environment of aquaria, the reverse should
pose no problem either. We have, unfortunately,
proof of the cichlids’ ability to introduction
in Lake Malawi (and also in Lake
Tanganyika) where over the years cichlids
have been introduced at various places by
collectors of ornamental fish.
Many rock-dwelling cichlids stay their entire
lives within hundred meters of their place of
birth and in principle form relatively small
breeding groups within the population. The
genetic diversity of such local groups is not
necessarily larger than that of a captive
breeding group. For several of the species
kept in captive breeding programs their genetic
diversity is millions of times higher
than that of their wild counterparts because
there are no wild counterparts; these species
are extinct in the wild! Reintroduction may
not copy exactly the genetic makeup of the
original population, but it is a lot closer to
the real thing than no fish at all.
We have a chance to prove that this works
and we may even be able to involve Malawian
students in the project. Along with the
tremendous over-fishing and species loss
that is taking place in Lake Malawi, the demise
of a few cichlid species is to blame to
unscrupulous collectors; case in
point: Pseudotropheus saulosi. This species
is endemic to Taiwanee Reef which is a
large reef, but most of it is in water deeper
than 80 meters. The area where P. saulosi
lives, where they find the algae they
feed on, is rather small, like the size of a
quarter football field. It doesn’t need a lot of
imagination to see that the population of any
endemic cichlid at the reef is vulnerable to
over-fishing. Till about ten years ago P. saulosi
occurred in sometimes large schools of
hundreds of individuals that wandered
through the habitat foraging from the biocover
on the rocks. During the last decade
several collectors of ornamental fish have
concentrated on catching large numbers of
P. saulosi and as a result the species is becoming
scarce. When I visited the reef in
September 2010 there were only a few
specimens to be seen.

37
The program I envision should consist of the
following stages:
1. Local government should forbid the collection
of any rock-dwelling cichlid (P.
saulosi and Protomelas sp. ‘steveni taiwan’)
at Taiwanee Reef. This does not
affect the local fishermen who collect
utaka in the area. I also understand that
there would hardly be any enforcement
possible apart from inspecting what
fishes are exported from Malawi.
2. A survey of the extant population of P.
saulosi in the upper 20 meters of the reef
(they are very rare in deeper areas)
should indicate how many can be collected
for a captive breeding program.
Since I don’t expect a large genetic diversity
25 females would be sufficient to
guarantee a say 95% of the existing diversity.
3. A small fin clip of the live fishes
(breeders) would be taken (anal fin of
females and tip dorsal fin of males) and
the DNA analyzed to get an idea of the
diversity. The DNA typing can be done
abroad.
4. Breeding groups are set up in Malawi to
prevent legal problems when importing
live fish back into Malawi.
5. After one/two years, reintroductions can
take place and monitored every year
thereafter. If, however, the fishing ban
was effective, the species could have
(partly) recovered on their own account
and reintroduction would not be necessary.
This would be a simple project that
shouldn’t cost much money to complete.
It would certainly emphasize the importance
of the work others do by maintaining
endangered species in captivity. In
the case of P. saulosi if we wait any
longer we may need to reintroduce the
aquarium strains.
The FOTAS/CARES convention made
one thing clear and that is that action is
needed now, when there are still opportunities.
After all the years we have enjoyed
cichlids, Paul Loiselle said it best:
“Folks …it’s payback time.”
© Copyright 2011 Ad Konings, all rights
reserved
Citation:
Konings, Ad. (November 07, 2011). "2011-
11 - Folks …it’s payback time". The Cichlid
Room Companion. Retrieved on November
27, 2011, from: http://www.cichlidae.com/
section.php?id=217

The Lateral Line is the official publication of the Hill
Country Cichlid Club. Reprinting permitted to non
commercial organizations.
38