Nanochromis minor Conservation Project

Nanochromis minor Conservation Project, Category A2 and B2

Nanochromis minor (Roberts & Stewart, 1971) lives in an area of unknown size in the lower course of the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
By the way this is probably the smallest chilid in the world, fully grown male ca. 3 cm , female ca. 2,5 cm.
Due to the topographic structure this range (rapids and cataracts) is as far as we know divided into extremely small areas. So we can assume that even though the range is unknown to us that the area where the Nanochromis minor live is rather restricted.
Thus the category A2. Additionally this area is far of the usual regions for Congolese fish collectors and the species never was collected and exported by these people, in spite of the first description of it decades ago.
In 2016 the only import to date was organized by the very dedicated importer and aquarist Oliver Lucanus from Canada, who breed and distributed the species and thus made it available for hobbyists.
As there are no professional collectors in this area (and one can hardly expect that the situation will change due the political turbulences in the DRC)and as additionally there is a certain danger that power plants might be built there, we have to assume that the species will not be imported again in the near future.
Thus also the category B2 for Nanochromis minor.

Project manager: Mag. Dr. Anton Lamboj    Email: a.lamboj@oevvoe.org

Project member
Anton Lamboj (AT)
Tiergarten Schönbrunn (AT)
Andreas Wellmann (D)
Dirk Schneider (D)
Peter Piepenstock (D)
Jakob Geck (D)
Jerome Scullier (FR)
Thierry Marie (FR)

Project-Email: chromidotilapiine@oevvoe.org

Project partner