Welcome to the Madagascar's Endangered Fishes
General Information Page
About this Site
This is the second incarnation of the Madagascar's Endangered Fishes website; the first was exposed to the world in October of 2005.
This site is an effort to:
- Expose people to the plight of Madagascar's Endangered Fishes
- Desseminate information on the captive care of Madagascan fish
- Promote interest in the conservation of all species furry or scaly
- Encourage people to experience the world around them
- Justify me spending countless hours feeding and breeding these fish (Just kidding)
The various pages on this website are organized thusly:
- Ichthyofauna: The fish of Madagascar, arranged in various groups. Go here if you're looking for information on the families or species of freshwater fish, both native and exotic, found on Madagascar.
- Field Work: This section attempts to display the Madagascar field work with which I have been involved. Maps display sampling sites from past expeditions linking to both habitats and the fish found there. There will also be a example of Alex's personal field journal from his 2006 trip to Madagascar; new enteries will, hopefully, occur weekly.
- Husbandry: Information on the captive care and breeding of Madagascan fishes, specifically freshwater fish from the families Cichlidae, Aplocheilidae and Bedotiidae. This is the section to visit if you are looking for information on keeping these species in captivity or want some ideas on how to spawn them at home.
- History: Political and Ichthyological histories of Madagascar are presented here, as is a brief history of Alex's experiences in Madagascar.
- Gallery: The gallery will showcase some of Alex's photos from Madagascar at a higher quality than is practical in the flash galleries at the head of each page. These photos are larger, so there might be a lag with slower connections.
- Links: Links to other webpages; Madagascar Specific - Aquaria, Zoos and Museums - Fish Sites and Other sites I've found useful
- About: Information about this website, the author, and what you can do to aid in conservation efforts
It should be duly noted that all information on this website is my personal opinion and does not represent that of any other individual or organization unless otherwise noted. All information and images are copyright of Aleksei Saunders, 2007, unless otherwise noted. If you'd like to use an image from this website please drop me a line and I'm sure we can work something out.
About the Author
Aleksei (Alex is just fine) Saunders began working professionally with fish at the Vancouver Aquarium in 1990. He was primarily involved with the captive husbandry of coastal marine species and freshwater fishes native to British Columbia. Naturally this led to keeping fish at home. Not having the dough to purchase a nice chiller for temperate species, Alex started with Neo-tropical cichlids and various Anabantid species.
A trip to Peru to collect fish in the Rio Ucaylai and Rio Amazonas was an eye opener; exposing him to the adventure of fish collection, and to the life of hardship than many experience in developing nations. It was also an oportunity to bring home wild fish he had collected himself, including the dwarf cichlid Apistogramma eunotus
Graduting from the University of Simon Fraser in 1995, Alex landed a job as a fisheries consultant in northern British Columbia, based in the town of Terrace. Working in the Queen Charlotte Islands and near the town of Hyder, Alaska, Alex helped logging companies avoid negatively impacting the spwaning and rearing grounds of native salmon and trout.
Alex moved to Denver, Colorado in 1996 to begin working at the Denver zoo as an aquarist (professional fish keeper). In 1994 the Denver Zoo had begun a conservation program with the endemic freshwater fishes of Madagascar, and Alex was eager to become part of this exciting effort.
In 1998 Alex made his first trip to Madagascar, and has travelled to the Grand Ile again in 1999, 2000, and 2006. His trips primarly focus on educating the Malagasy on their wonderful natural heritage and ways of conserving it, assessing the condition of native freshwater habitats and the fish population therein. Collection of wild fish to bring endangered species into captivity for managed reproductive efforts also plays a large part of the conservation effort in Madagascar
Alex now manages one of the largest collections of Madagascan endemic fishes in North America, including 4 species of Cichlid, 5 species of Rainbowfish, and 3 Killifish species.
Over the past two years Alex has given a variety of power-point presentations dealing with the plight, husbandry and conservation breeding of Madagascar's endemic ichthyofauna. These engagments are the result of a growing interest by fish hobbyists in both the fish of Madagascar and in the role that they might play in species conservation. The Madagascar's Endangered Fishes website is an effort to support this interest, and hopefully concern, in the endangered fish species of Madagascar.