It goes without saying that the BCA supports activities related to the conservation of the cichlid fish that are found around the world.

Many of the fish that live in our aquariums are sourced from the wild and as aquarists we must concern ourself with the potential for conservation of these fish when looking at their natural habitat. The majority of the main cichlid groups that attract aquarists attention are found in the developing world. Fish in these areas (along with other flora and fauna) are subject to enormous pressure as the development of the country encroaches on their habitat.

There are the obvious issues such as deforestation (leading to the silting of rivers) and the subsequent production of plant crops (agrochemical run off into the water course) that have a dramatic effect on the landscape. There are less obvious problems such as water abstraction for human use (or for crop irrigation) that can have a negative effect on the water table many miles away from where the initial action takes place and then there are problems that arise from good intentions that go wrong, a classic example of this is the introduction of the Mosquito Fish (Gambuzia spp.) to control the Tsetse Fly (which is responsible for the spread of Malaria), unfortunately this fish then out-competes the native fish species occupying the same habitat niche.

So when we sit there watching our cichlids swimming around their aquaria, spare a thought for how we can support the conservation efforts for these (and other cihlids) out in the wild.