Chromidotilapiine Cichlid Conservation Project (CCCP)

Due to the fact that unfortunately more and more species from the group of chromidotilapiine cichlids are becoming rarer or endangered, the previous Limbochromis Conservation Project is embedded in a new, more comprehensive project, namely the

Chromidotilapiine Cichlid Conservation Project (CCCP)

Project management Mag. Dr. Anton Lamboj

Within the CCCP, several sub-projects will emerge in the near future, each of which will deal with one species in detail. A distinction is made between individual classes with regard to the importance of species conservation:

In category A, only those species are classified which, according to the current state of knowledge in nature, i.e. in their natural distribution, only colonize narrowly defined areas and are highly endangered due to known effects in these areas (A1) or only colonize smaller areas (should ) and thus appear potentially at great risk (A2).

Species are classified in category B for whose status in nature no exact information is known, but which, according to current knowledge, are likely to have only a relatively limited distribution in nature and therefore could probably or easily be endangered (B1), or which may have a good distribution area, but due to the probability that they are only rarely allowed to be imported for the aquarium hobby (B2), e.g. due to infrastructural conditions in the area of origin, or political-sociological problems, there is the assumption that the import of such a species - if it has once been possible - is hardly to be expected again within a reasonable period of time and such a species should therefore be preserved with special care in the hobby.

A type of category A can under certain circumstances also be classified as a type of category B, but mostly only types of category A will also fulfill a relation to species conservation in accordance with the standards of species conservation programs in zoos or other scientific institutions, or, if applicable, will also meet the Red List criteria.

The status of each species within the project is checked every six months, and any reclassifications of a species are carried out.

Sub-projects:

Limbochromis Conservation Project, Kategorie A1

Limbochromis robertsi (Thys van den Audenaerde & Loiselle, 1971) is the only species in the genus. It is not widespread and only known from eastern Ghana in the area of the city of Kyebi and a small region in the west of the country. There the occurrence is limited to a few small mountain streams.

Today the region around Kyebi is very much threatened by illegal gold mining and the increase in agriculture due to population growth. The small streams in which the species occurred flow into the extremely polluted Birim River. The confluences of these small streams and the surrounding area are very fragmented and mostly destroyed, so that the species has already completely disappeared here. The small streams are already exposed to the herbicides and pesticides used in agriculture and  a rise in water temperature due to missing shading, caused by the complete deforestation of the original forest. Illegal gold mining in the Birim River floodplain is likely to extend to the hills along the streams. The latest and most recent announcement was that the Ghanaian government had sold to China fairly unrestricted logging and mineral mining rights for the region.

In addition, road construction in the Kyebi region has also destroyed some of the streams in which the species was previously found. The status of the species in the western Ankasa region is unknown; there has been no information on this for more than 20 years.

For these reasons Limbochromis robertsi is classified as a species of category A1.

Based on observations from 2016 and 2018, it can be assumed that perhaps 1000 specimens of the species still exist in the area around Kyebi, which corresponds to around 10% of the population that was still present in the early 1990s. These remaining fish are spread across three small streams, the Black, Red, and White Krensen, which are not connected to each other and all flow into the Birim River.

Limbochromis robertsi is a special species of cichlid as it is so far the only species that can freely switch between two breeding strategies, namely between pair-forming cave broods and larvophilic mouth broods, whereby the pair bond remains in the latter case, but only the female carries out teh brood care. In addition, the species is also interesting because previous molecular biological studies have shown that the most closely related species comes from the central areas of the Congo.

Due to the small number of specimens that should still exist in the wild, there is a risk that this species will become extinct. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a protection and conservation breeding program. An in-situ program for protection in the natural habitat would certainly make the most sense, but there is little hope that the areas around Kyebi and Ankasa (if the species still exists in the latter area) can be preserved or protected. Studies on this are certainly still required in order to determine the population sizes more precisely.

An ex situ program, in cooperation with Ghana (hopefully) and scientific institutions outside Ghana, together with public zoos and aquariums as well as private specialists, currently seems to be the only sensible way to save these special endemics from Ghana from extinction.

Nanochromis minor Conservation Project, Kategorie A2 und B2

Nanochromis minor (Roberts & Stewart, 1971) occurs in an area of unknown size in the lower reaches of the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Incidentally, this is probably the world's small cichlid, males are around 3 cm in size, females are around 2.5 cm.

Due to the topographical structure with the many rapids and cataracts, this distribution area is extremely small-scale structured according to previous scientific knowledge, so that despite the in principle unknown size of the distribution area of the species, it can be assumed that it should only occur in a relatively limited area. Therefore, the first classification is in category A2. In addition, this area is far from the usual regions for the fish collectors from the DRC and, despite the first description of it decades ago, it was never collected and exported by these people. The only previous import took place in 2016 by the committed importer and aquarist Oliver Lucanus from Canada, who obtained and distributed the first offspring, which means that the species is now generally available in the hobby.

Since the occurrence area itself is not commercially collected and a change in the situation is hardly to be expected, in addition the political situation in the DRC has not been very stable for a long time and changes cannot be expected and also a certain danger from the construction of power plants in the region exists, it must currently be assumed that this species will hardly or not at all be imported again in the foreseeable future. Therefore, N. minor is also placed in category B2.

Mag. Dr. Anton Lamboj