Kim Pedersen interview

When it comes to the blog interviews, I would be doing you, the reader, a disservice if I only targeted cichlidophiles in the United States. Fortunately, I’ve been able to interview fish keepers from all over the globe. In fact, today’s interviewee hails from Denmark. If you keep Lake Victoria cichlids, then you have probably heard of him – Kim Pedersen.

NOTE: All photos by Kim Pedersen unless otherwise noted.

Peter George, a friend and fellow hobbyist, recommended that I reach out to Kim many months ago. Kim posts on FB, and so I DM’d him one day recently and introduced myself. He quickly accepted my offer for an interview. 

Kim’s fish keeping journey began at the ripe age of 11. With an immense interest in wildlife and fish from an early age, he went on to study biology in college and graduated with a degree in forest and landscape engineering. Since then he hasn’t strayed far from cichlids and has made numerous trips to Africa to photograph, document, and collect them. He and his friends have collected more than 40 species, half of which were not previously described or found in the hobby. Focusing primarily on Lake Victoria basin cichlids, he has given numerous talks around the world and is recognized as a Lake Victoria cichlid expert. In fact, whenever I have a conversation with Lake Victoria enthusiasts and the conversation moves to obscure species, Kim’s name almost always comes up.  

You are the first Danish cichlid keeper I have interviewed, which is exciting for multiple reasons. Describe the cichlid hobby in Denmark and, perhaps, how it differs from the hobby in other parts of Europe or the US.

The fish hobby in Denmark is, unfortunately, no different from the rest of Europe. Interest in fishkeeping in general is declining, and there are not many who keep cichlids anymore. The nano-aquariums have, however, gained some interest the past years, and shrimp keeping in particular has had a bloom. Catfish also to a degree still hold an interest, as they can be kept in fairly small aquariums.

My guess is that 90% of all aquariums in Europe are smaller than 150 liters (40 US gallons), and that makes it difficult to keep African cichlids as well as the large South and Central American cichlids. There is no doubt that increasing energy costs here in Europe have been a reason for many hobbyists to downsize their aquariums.

Cichlid clubs in Europe are still to be found but are barely hanging on to their existence. I have been around and given talks to several, and to see a club member younger than 50 years old is about as rare as seeing an MC mbuna cichlid male in the wild. Of course, much of the club activity today has moved to online platforms, and that is fine with me.

My passion is the Victorian cichlids, and there are so few worldwide interested in these fish, that without an online platform, we would not have a virtual “club” where we could meet and fuel the interest. But speaking of clubs, this is where the US is doing a much better job than clubs in Europe. I have been lucky enough to have been invited to the US East coast twice to give talks, and these events are quite impressive. First of all, people are willing to drive several hours for a club meeting; people don’t do that here in Europe. But the events are also very cool, with talks, auctions, good food, and vendors that are willing to come and put up a small stand. I was impressed with this setup, and I hope for the US clubs that they will continue to do this, even though they too struggle with pulling in young members. 

Your cichlid interests are focused on African species, specifically those from Lake Victoria. What intrigues you about Vics?

If you can keep Tanganyika and Malawi cichlids, then Victorian cichlids are no different. There are some old, wrong myths about Victorian cichlids being super aggressive, but compared to Malawi mbunas or Tanganyika Tropheus there is absolutely no difference. There are even Victorian cichlids that are very calm, so it is wrong to generalize them all as aggressive. But all of these rock cichlids, no matter if they are from Tanganyika, Malawi or Victoria, need space as it is in their nature to defend a territory. So, if kept in small aquariums, there will be trouble.

I like all African cichlids, but I cannot keep them all. So, when I decide what to keep in my aquariums, I have to go with which colors I prefer. If we generalize now, one can say that Tanganyika cichlids are mostly brown or grey. Malawi cichlids are blue, and the Victorians are red. My favorite colors are red and green, and it just so happens than many Victorians have red color, and some are even both red and green. That is the simple answer to why I started with, and today still prefer, the Victorian cichlids. In the beginning when I fell in love with the Victorian cichlids, I did not know about their threatened status, nor that the lake, to a large degree, is totally unexplored. That information came later on and totally fired up a passion to go to Lake Victoria and its satellite lakes, in order to see which new species my friends and I could discover.

In the past 11 years, you have made eight trips to Africa. What stands out most about the changes that you’ve seen from your first trip to your last with respect to Lake Victoria and its fish?

When I first went to Lake Victoria, I was under the impression that all cichlids were gone, eaten by the Nile perch, and the water would be murky and totally covered with waterlilies. Compared to the clear waters of Lake Tanganyika and Lake Malawi, Victoria is very murky. But it is not super bad at all places. The further you go out on the lake and away from the population, the clearer the water gets. And there are fish there.

Some of the satellite lakes are crystal clear, and they hold a big diversity of cichlids. I was surprised to see so many and especially so many new species. So, the hunt for new species and photo documenting everything we catch became a passion for me that has pulled me back to Africa year after year.

During all these trips and, comparing the first trip with the latest, it is easy to see a difference. This region of Africa is hugely overpopulated, and every resource gets over exploited. This goes for trees, farmland, as well as the lakes. Nile perch have been overfished and are no longer such a big threat to the cichlids as they used to be. So, the fishermen turn towards to the cichlids, catching huge amounts every day – to eat, as well as to use as bait on hooked longlines for Nile perch fishing.

Many times, we have seen the fishermen use illegal nets to catch the cichlids, and it is very easy to see that the amount of fishing pressure they put on them is nowhere near sustainable. Some areas will soon no longer hold cichlids.

Cage farming has also increased dramatically over the last decade. In the beginning, we hardly saw any cages, but today there are so many, even in the small satellite lakes. Cage farming adds a lot of nutrients and pollution to the lakes, and the tilapia and perch kept inside the cages sometimes escape into the lakes. These invasive species will establish themselves in the Lake Kyoga satellite lakes where they, up until now, have not been present, and then compete with the native cichlids there.     

What are some challenges with collecting and returning with fish from the lake?

The biggest challenge of collecting fish in these lakes is getting a permit to do so. Victorian basin cichlids are protected, such that they are not allowed to leave the country without permission. The majority of the species we have collected are from Uganda, and here we mainly have collected fry from holding females.

Small fry are easy to keep, transport, don’t take up much space, and we are sure that all are the same species. Adult male species are easy to identify, but finding their correct corresponding female is very difficult, as many of them look the same. The downside of collecting fry is that all of them are siblings. So, sometimes we have collected several batches of a species to keep the inbreeding to a minimum. On some occasions we, have collected young adults. This is also doable but is much more challenging. Adult fish also carry parasites that one has to deal with once the fish are back, and fish medications are banned in several European countries, including Denmark where I am from.

You have introduced numerous haplochromines into the hobby, many of which were thought to be extinct. What do you think that tells us, if anything, about what we don’t know about haplochromines?

It is very easy to find new species, and we do so every time we go to Lake Victoria and its satellite lakes. Pretty much all Malawi and Tanganyika cichlids are known, and you can buy books where you can see more or less every species from these lakes. Lake Victoria is different. Most of the lake has not been explored, and there are very few books around that show you the cichlids that are found there. That makes it very exciting to go, as you never know what you will find.

The southeastern part of Lake Victoria is pretty well explored, and many of the species found there have been published. That is why my main focus has been going to other parts of Lake Victoria, to see what we can find. The species we have collected are only a fraction of what we have discovered over the years. There is no point in bringing back home a species that nobody wants to keep. Already, we have collected so many species that are quickly gone from the hobby. Piscivores and dark-colored species tend to only survive a few years in the hobby after introduction. But I don’t feel sad that they are lost so quickly. Just as long as I have photographed them, I am satisfied. My main goal is to show the public what diversity there is to be found, and one day when some of the species go extinct, which they will, we have proof that they once existed.

Tell the readers about your fishroom – tanks, livestock, equipment, etc.

I don’t have so many aquariums, but those I have are quite big. I have seen many hobbyists that can’t get enough of aquariums, but get in over their heads with the maintenance, so the aquariums are not kept properly. I make sure my aquariums always look good and are taken well care of, so I get a happy feeling every time I enter my fishroom.

I never mix species! By having strictly single species aquariums of course limits the number of species that I can keep. Some species I have had for a long time and probably never will let go, while others are here for a while, to be exchanged with something new. I am very aware of inbreeding and linebreeding, so whenever possible I make sure to keep this under control by changing males and collecting fry from several females.

I scape my aquariums so they look as close as possible to the species’ natural habitat; this will encourage the fish to act natural and give me the best pleasure to watch.

Thanks so much for the interview and sharing your experiences.