On the last day of 2023, we launched our Conservation breeding program for fish from Sulawesi. We started with a very small group of breeders that we know personally. Even so, we keep a relatively large number of species, and after half a year of operation, we want to actively reach out to other people interested in keeping ricefish, halfbeaks and gobies. Many of you may have these fish in your aquariums, but you haven't decided to join our program yet. Please do if you want to stay connected with people who are serious about Sulawesi fish keeping and want to keep them alive for future generations.
The most common of our target species is the ricefish Oryzias eversi. The fact that more breeders keep this small and relatively undemanding fish is gratifying. But we must not forget that all the fish in our aquariums come from the Tilanga site (see the great article by Jan Möhring) and this wild population is already lost for good, as evidenced by our own visits to the site in 2022 and 2023. It is a sad proof of how little time it takes for a unique site to turn into a worthless pond with non-native fish species. It is all the more important to cooperate with each other and coordinate the breeding of this fish, so that interest in it does not decline like other "hot trends" in the aquarium hobby.
You can apply even if you don't keep any Sulawesi fish yet, but you have enough experience and knowledge of fishkeeping, you understand the rules of our program and you agree with them. We have several species available, the overview is on the main page of the fish program.
Here are some examples of the fish we keep:
Last but not least, we strive for the breeding of gobies from the Sulawesi lakes. As we have written on the main page of the program and also in the detailed article on Mugilogobius adeia, this is a challenge that no one has yet conquered. Not that we don't try. Now we are mainly busy with the species M. sarasinorum. Six days is the maximum we can keep the larvae alive. However, we will process the partial progress in a separate post.
We are Sulawesi Keepers – and we would love to welcome other serious aquarists to join us.
Markéta Rejlková
