Goodeids are small live-bearing fish from Mexico. There are about 40 species, with almost certainly more to be discovered. As many of these fish are similar in appearance and typically plain colours they have not been kept by aquarists in large numbers. But in the wild each species exists over only a small area and in a country with a rapidly growing population and many environmental challenges; a single pollution incident could make them extinct. Tropiquaria has three or four species that are extinct in the wild.
This Monday Michael Koch, curator from the aquarium Haus de Meeres (Vienna) and Nigel Hunt, the UK co-ordinator for the Goodeid working group visited Tropiquaria to see their breeding success and to take some Xenotaenia resolanae fish to Vienna. This species is not yet evaluated by the IUCN but are vulnerable in the wild and very scarce within European zoos, so Tropiquaria’s fish will be used to widen the gene pool in the Viennese collection.
Tropiquaria’s zoological director Chris Moiser said, "As a small zoo we are very lucky to have Shaun [Aquarist] and to be able to support the work that he is doing with this small, interesting and threatened group of fish. This is a project which is ideal for a small zoo with a limited budget, and the enthusiasm of the staff to drive it. It is also an area where private keepers have been able to contribute significantly, and quite rightly, feel proud that they are assisting in saving highly endangered species.”
Related Members
-
NewsCross border zoos & aquarium unite to call for international agreement between UK and EU 5th July, 2022Zoos and aquariums across Ireland and Northern Ireland have come together in a letter to Taoiseach, Micheál Martin and Prime Minister Boris Johnson …
-
NewsPolar Bears on the move at Yorkshire Wildlife Park 4th July, 2022It is the Polar Bear equivalent of moving to big school. Now two young Polar Bears have had a change of scene moving from their family group and are exploring…
-
NewsAfrica Alive Zoological Reserve celebrates birth of one of the rarest equine species in the world 1st July, 2022Africa Alive Zoological Reserve in Suffolk, owned by the conservation charity Zoological Society of East Anglia (ZSEA), is celebrating the birth of a…