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Today’s interviewee was raised in a fish keeping household and set up his first tank when he was 10 years old. Like most early age hobbyists, Ming has kept a variety of tropical freshwater fish over his lifetime – livebearers, anabantoids, cichlids, and catfishes to name a few.
Interviews are a key component of my blog, and interviewees are a combination of people I know and don’t know. Today’s interviewee falls into the latter category. I learned of Andy Hudson because he was recently on the ballot for a Board of Trustees position with the American Cichlid Association (ACA). I was intrigued by his bio, so I reached out to him.
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I’m looking for some Apistogramma and eartheater (Geophagus/Satanoperca) experts/enthusiasts to interview. Know anyone? Drop me a line if you do along with their contact information, if you have it.
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As a subscriber to several aquarium magazines, I’ve become familiar with some of the great folks who bring outstanding tropical fish content to hobbyists. One of these people is Mike Tuccinardi. With a background spanning retail, wholesale, and aquarium fish imports and exports, Mike is well versed in the tropical fish industry. He began working at a local fish store in his early teens and has been following the fish ever since. Mike went on to work for a major importer and tropical fish farm in Florida. Since then, he has traveled through much of Asia and South America visiting aquarium fish exporters, collectors, and fishing communities. He has also worked with aquarium-fish specific conservation organizations like Project Piaba and the IUCN’s Home Aquarium Fish Sub-Group (HAFSG), and has written extensively on wild capture fisheries for both hobbyist and general public media outlets. Mike resides in Boulder, CO where he operates an aquarium fish import business and currently serves a Senior Editor and Associate Publisher for the English language AMAZONAS Magazine. I contacted AMAZONAS several months ago to reach Mike and he got in touch with me within a couple of days. I am quite grateful that Mike took some time out of his busy schedule to do the interview. Let’s get going! |
Do you have considerable experience keeping eartheater cichlids (primarily Geophagus or Satanoperca genera)? Do you know someone who does?
If you’re a fan of the eartheater cichlids from South America, then you’ll be happy to know a new species was recently described. Gymnogeophagus jaryi is found in the southern tributaries of the Middle Paraná basin of Argentina (on the border with Paraguay). The standard lengths (SL) for the male holotype and female paratype are 113.1 mm (4.5″) and 73.3 mm (2.9″), respectively.
This is a beautiful little fish with a nice nuchal hump and light blue coloration on the adult males. You can find a more thorough description, including multiple photos, in the PLOS One journal article where it was described. A shout out to Amazonas Magazine, which has a nice, short write up about the fish.
For a good first look at specimens of the recently named Gymnogeophagus taroba, check out this piece by Matt Pedersen at Reef2Rainforest. The article also includes a link to (and citation for) the research paper formally describing the new species.