# West African Species Maintenance Progrom



## jmtrops (Sep 6, 2008)

Jim Cormier has started a program to network people who are keeping West African cichlids and keep track of what is being kept and bred. One of the problems with westies is that species that were once common in the hobby, or were once commonly imported, seem to disappear from the import lists. This is mostly due to a shortage of collectors who move to other places with new species rather than continue to collect the know areas. Great for getting new stuff, but not so great if you are looking for a male or female to complete a pair. For example, wild Pel. subocellatus 'Matadi' have not been imported in a long time, and P. s. 'Moanda' have all of a sudden fallen off the lists as well. Toyin asked Jeff and I if we had any for one of his customers!

One thing I like about Jim's program is that is elegant in its simplicity. All we are asking for is that aquarists keep track of where they get their stock, get it verified (not all that onerous) and try to keep it for as long as possible. The advantage to the hobbyist is that being in the program will get access to a list of others keeping the fish. Hopefully we will all be willing to trade fry for fry in order to provide outcorsses for our wild strains.

The program is being organized on Jim's website: http://www.jmtrops.com/wacmp.html

Jim is looking for people to step up to be a group coordinator. If you want to help out let him know. If you are keeping westies, please participate.

Ted
__________________
Small is relative....

Ted Judy
www.tedsfishroom.com
Stoughton, WI


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## SLIGHTLY STOOPID (Dec 23, 2004)

Thanks for the link.

:thumb:


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

Interesting. We had Dr Anton Laboj speak at our club this year and I was surprised at the number of species of cichlids that exist in West Africa. Most I have never seen and more I had never heard of. One of the reasons that some are no longer being imported is that they come from the Congo, which at this point is a very dangerous area of the world. Still, the program is a very good idea.


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