In this and past TFH articles, I have partnered up with my dear friend Ivan Gonzalez to introduce aquarium hobbyists to the vast and
interesting selection of fishes from his
homeland of Uruguay. You may have seen
our recent collaboration in “Monsters of
the Pampas” (August 2007), where we
presented information on the giant dorados
and catfish of the region. Ivan is particularly
interested in working on the monumental
task of sorting out the topic at hand—
the Gymnogeophagus complex of Uruguay.
Studying the aspects of distribution, ecology,
and taxonomy of these cichlids is of top
priority and great interest to him. He would
like to enhance the lesser-known aspects of
proper husbandry available to the aquarium
enthusiast, and has been applying his time to
wild observations and official registrations
of the different gymnos for more than two
years at the time of this writing. Ivan has
developed extensive knowledge regarding
the behavioral aspects of these splendid
fish, and would like to further examine and
understand their evolution.
I, on the other hand, would like to share
with the readers some of the beautiful
aquarium fishes that are seldom seen in the
aquarium hobby. Uruguay is a destination
that has satisfied some of my global
wanderlust. Along with Ivan, Felipe Cantera
(his mentor when it comes to the cichlids
of the country), and fellow biology student
Alejandro Duarte, I have roamed the far
corners of the land to find and document
an amazing array of fishes. My mission
is to not only collect and possess these
fishes, however. Sure, it is great to bring
fish back to keep in the home aquarium,
as I feel it is important to document their
care in photographs and records. To me,
successfully fulfilling these responsibilities
is important when taking fish from their
natural environment, but my larger goal is
to start a project that will help to preserve
some of the perilously threatened killifish of
Uruguay. We will elaborate on this subject at
a later date when we, along with Alejandro
Duarte, discuss the Austrolebias species
found regionally.
The Hobby in Uruguay
Sadly, there are only a handful of
ichthyologists intensely studying the fishes
of Uruguay. A few biology students and even
fewer ichthyologists are all that are currently
working on the fish fauna. Luckily, there are a
number of world-class Uruguayan hobbyists
that collect and keep their native fishes. Two
major clubs, AUDA (Asociación Uruguaya
de Acuaristas) and CAU (Club de Acuaristas
Uruguay), have dozens of members who are
avid propagators of all aquarium fishes. I
had the opportunity to join in one of their
group meetings and had the time of my life.
Both Luís Mondino and Miguel Umpierrez
own aquarium stores in Montevideo. Luís
specializes in native and tropical fish, and
