What we are:

 

We are a network of aquarists, scientists and organisations who have a concern and understanding for the conservation issues facing freshwater fish around the world, and consequently the aquarium hobby.

 

We want to ensure that a wide spectrum of species and populations of ornamental fish remain available for human care in the future, while being conscious of their conservation status and willing to take it into consideration when practising our hobby and/or profession.

 

We are seeking cooperation with collectors or importers who are fully respectful of valid regulations, and will not endorse illegal or unethical actions or operations that may be practised in this field.

 

We see one of our main tasks in breeding and distributing species already in human care which are facing conservation issues according to governments or international regulations, or may be facing such regulations in the future.

 

We are seeking to educate aquarium hobbyists about these questions, and to cooperate with relevant organisations and institutions to correct the perception of the aquarium hobby being a threat for the conservation status of many species. We seek to achieve this by promoting responsibility of aquarists towards the species currently in their care, and by publicising information about these issues in the relevant media.

 

In the longer term, we seek to become a partner of institutions and organisations working for the conservation of freshwater fish world-wide, and hope to be able to contribute to conservation projects in the wild in one way or the other.

 

No one knows which species will be limited in availability tomorrow, and why they will be limited. Therefore it will be necessary to have an overview about the species currently bred in human care that currently have an official conservation status, and those that may possibly fall under such a status in the near future.

 

To say it in other words: We are enthusiasts who want to retain a good fundament for the aquarium hobby, while also working towards conserving the biodiversity of fishes.

What we are not:

A commercial organisation who wants to become rich when doing this, or a breeder's directory for endangered species.

Vision

A world-wide network of aquarists, clubs and organisations, scientists and scientific institutions, who are keeping and breeding fish, are accepted by governments and relevant institutions and groups, and with special (simple) regulations for exchange of fish bred and kept within the programm.

This

• allows distribution of species in human care, endangered ones as well as not endangered ones, even when imports are restricted by laws and /or regulations
• creates a great species- and genetic pool of fish in human care
• protects species/populations in the wild
• saves species/populations lost in the wild
  

Mission

To create a community of aquarists and scientists (scientific organisations) that is accepted by governments and official institutions as an example of best practice in the care of fish, with a special focus on endangered or potentially endangered species.

First Targets

Find partners all over the world, for all groups of fish kept and bred in aquaria

Create a species list to have overview about species richness as well as about species in human care that are regularely/rarely/never bred

Create ways to easily exchange fish

Create a certificate “Bred in human care – no collection in the wild”

Create educational tools and awareness about this initiative