Mamberamo - aqua, International Journal of Ichthyology · 66 Bleher’s Biotopes in Nature and in Aquarium Bleher’s Biotopes in Nature and in Aquarium 67 Indonesia Indonesia diersfromJava,adoctorwhohadcome

Bleher’s Biotopes in Nature and in Aquarium 63

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The Mamberamo system harbours not only the majority of the lakes of Indonesia, but also thelargest, and the region constitutes the largest area of swamp on earth, the so-called

Lakes-Plains-Depression, even larger than the Pantanal in Mato Grosso province, Brazil.The author, with the aid of bold Italian lady and two Japanese, was the first white man

(apart from the missionaries) to travel in this region since it was taken over by Indonesia in 1969.

Text and Photos by Heiko Bleher

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Bleher’s Biotopes in Nature and in Aquarium62

The Mamberamo forms the largest river system of the second largest island in theworld, and is situated in the northwestern part of New Guinea. Its western branch,the Tariku (formely Rouffaer), is fed by the rivers Kano, Konda, and Kurogo,which rise in the highlands of the Sudiram range. Its eastern arm is the river

named the Idenburg by the earlier Dutch colonists, which rises in the Jayawijayarange and is called the Taritatus by the Indonesians. This river system, which ismore than 2000 km in length and only one of the least explored in the world, flows

into the Pacific in the northern part of Irian Jaya, Indonesia.The first white man to visit the Mamberamo was a Dutchman, Captain FranssenHerderschee (1872-1932), who sailed some 150 km up stream in 1907. Only a veryfew adventurers and scientists followed in his foot steps, the last of them during

1930’s, and none of them penetrated as far as the Idenburg. In the 1950’s occasionalmissionaries started to fly to the region, and later their numbers increased. Even to-day there are only a few landing strips in the Mamberamo region, and where they doexist they are mere clearings where the primeval forest has been felled by the natives,and are used almost exclusively by the missionaries. There are no commercial flights,and travel in or to the area is not permitted. The region has been suggested to becomea National Park, the Mamberamo Foja, covering 1,661,000 hectares, and it would bethe largest protected zone in Indonesia. An absolute necessity to protect the more than100 species of mammals, 330 species of birds, and almost inumberable, and largely

undiscovered, fishes and insects, almost all of them endemic.

MamberamoMamberamo

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TheTwinotter finally tookoff at 11.55.We fourwere theonlypaying passen-gers. Therewere also anative, an In-

donesian, and2Polri (thesepolicemenhad“Polres, Jayapura, Irian Jaya” embroideredontheir sleeves) to supervise us (?).The2Merpatiservants hadcomealong simply tounloadourluggage –chests andboxes full of edibles, aswell as 5 sacksof rice, livehens, etc, etc - inDabra, our destination, as there are nogroundstaff in the jungle ofNewGuinea.We flew over the beautiful Lake Sen-tani, home of the salmon-red rainbowfish, and it began to rain. What a nui-sance. The 2 pilots attempted to avoidthe wet by looping in a manner more ap-propriate to display flying, and headedfor the shore. Soon we were above theclouds and I had only occasional

glimpses of the thick primary forest ofthe Van Rees mountains.Yet again, as is so often the case at theairport of Jayapura in Irian Jaya, check-ing had been the occasion for much hair-tearing! Right up to the last minute wedid not know whether we were actuallygoing to be allowed to fly. The securitypolice arrived the moment we presentedour tickets to Dabra. “Dabra?” came theincredulous enquiry.“Mamberamo?” ditto! It was almost asif no white man had ever flown in thatdirection. “Your permit!” were the nextwords, and the papers it had taken us 6months of painstaking effort and not alittle sweat to obtain were examined witha fine toothed comb. ”Mamberamo is

not on the police permit” was the reac-tion! And this was in fact true. The po-lice in Jakarta had entered only “Jayapu-ra, Wamena, Biak” as permitted destina-tions on the entry permit bearing our 4passport photos. I almost had a heart at-tack!My friend Kamihata’s connections witha multi million dollar shrimp companyhad failed to have the desired effect. Ifonly I had dealt with the matter myself…But the battle was at least half wonwhen we produced the second document,the “Surat Jalan” (travel permit from theMinistry for Tourism) which included theentry “Sungai Mamberamo”, and usingall our powers of persuasion we man-aged to convince the officials. All thatwas needed now was photocopies – but

where were to obtain these? The airportis 60 km from the town. Luckily theflight was running hours late and therewere still two and a half hours beforetake-off. This was just enough time for a120 km round trip at break-neck speed ina taxi, which almost disintegrated as aresult of the countless holes in the as-phalt. Then, just before take-off, the offi-cial came back to the noisy, overheated,little waiting room and said “The chief incommand gave me strict orders that youmust report upon your return from Mam-beramo and that you must report in eachvillage that you visit and deliver copiesof your permit!”While I was reminiscing about this andother adventures connected with thisjourney – I had spent more than 2 years

chasing back and forth between Sentaniand Germany in my unsuccessful at-tempts to obtain a permit – the planebroke through a bank of cloud and forthe first time in 10 years I saw themighty Mamberamo beneath me.It was a bumpy landing; we were flungtogether in a heap with our luggage ontop as the pilot brought the crate to a haltexactly 3 metres from the edge of thetree-clad mountain! The grass runway,which is only about 500 metres long,runs from the bank of the Mamberamothrough the thickest primary forest onearth. Our reception committee consistedmainly of Danis, who had made the 2month trip on foot from their home inthe highlands. In addtion there were sol-

1-2. Garunda flies to Jayapura – the captital of theprovince Irian Jaya – three times a week. Its airportis located 60 km from the city, in a village calledSentani (2). 3-4. Jayapura does little for its rubbish,it ends all in the creeks, below the housing (3),were people bath and have their toilette (4).5-8. The market is always the place to be, to seethe local culture and produce (5). The main itemis the beetle nut (6), which is chued with shell-powder that makes the mouth turn red (7).They also sell introduced tilapias and goramys (8).

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IndonesiaIndonesia IndonesiaIndonesiadiers from Java, a doctor who had comefrom southern Sulawesi to work in the asyet only half-built hospital, a man fromAmbon, and a mining expert from theFreeport Mining Company in Manado,northern Sulawesi. We were undoubted-ly the first tourists to visit the Mamber-amo and everyone wanted to stare at and

touch us. Ringed by spectators, we werewere led to the police station, a 5 metresquare plank-built barracks with a veran-da, where our travel papers were yetagain examined from back to front bythe assembled police. I noticed that atmost only one or two were actually ableto read.We were asked about the purpose ofour journey and warned about the dan-gers of travelling on the Mamberamo.We should do so only with a policeescort. It was teeming with crocodilesand other hazards. The area was unin-habited and they could offer noguarantee of our safety.At about 1600 hours – some 5 hours af-ter our landing - we were finally “free”. Ineeded a breath of fresh air, and went tolook at the nearest small stream, in theforest at the end of the runway. A touchof nature is always refreshing, especiallyafter so much hassle.It was only a metre or two wide, butran in a stony bed more than 50 metresacross, suggesting that during the rainyseason incredible masses of water turnedit into a raging torrent. The water in thechannel was clear, often with strands ofgreen algae waving to and from in thecurrent. I spotted tadpoles and then thefirst fishes: gobies moving jerkily to andfro among the round stones. They hadsplendid orange stripes and were possi-bly an Oxyeleotris species. Then the firstrainbow fish; a member of theMelano-taenia affinis group! It was only 6 cm

long and afflicted with the very rare (innature) but typical rainbow fish disease. Imade my way downstream from pool topool, clambering over trees and rocks,past splendid orange fungi growing onthe rotten wood. In a small pool, 2 me-tres in diameter and overhung by a bushwith yellow flowers and black fruits, Isaw many Chilatherina sp. and soon hadthem in the net.They appeared to belong to the C. fas-ciata group. Further along the stony paththere were glorious terrestrial orchidswith spikes of small lilac flowers. A realfeast for the eyes.Back at Dabra our Dani guide led usacross a field of sweet potatoes to lookfor “lodgings”. Before long our guide

said “Hospital” and mimedsleeping! This sounded like agood idea.The village doctor, a Ja-vanese, was kneeling on hisprayer mat facing in the direc-tion of Mecca. But before longhe was placing at our disposalhis 8-roomed hospital, whichwas lying idle without patientsand beginning slowly to disin-tegrate before it was even fin-ished. It was as clean and brightas a new pin. The floor hadbeen scrubbed and disinfected,mosquito nets draped over thebeds, and even nails hammeredinto the boards to act asclothes-hooks. The service was perfect.

But just as I was about to pour outthe evening cup of tea a new escortarrived. This time it was the militarychief of the region together with thelocal native elders. These dignitariesfelt we had slighted them and want-ed an explanation.I repeated my speech for theumpteenth time, and when I was yetagain pressured to accept a militaryescort for the journey along the Mamber-amo I refused to give in. My outburst ap-peared to have the desired effect, and itremained only for me to make a declara-tion to the effect that we would be re-sponsible for our own safety and thatthey would not be held to blame if anyof us should have an accident. They

wanted confirmation that they couldwash their hands of us.And the evening brought still more ex-citement; music, here in the deepestprimeval forest on earth. Until 3 o’clockin the morning “Thriller” boomed outover and over again from Dabraís oneand only cassette player, in the policeheadquarters! Even here Michael Jack-son is a hit.Shortly before sunrise we packed upand walked off through the mist to ourboat, the only motor-driven vehicle onthe Mamberamo. Hamaru, a native ofsouthern Sulawesi, had agreed, aftermuch late night haggling, to hire us hisboat, inclusive of a 3 man crew andpetrol, for 4 days for $800 in cash. It wasa stiff price, especially as the decking

6-9. One native girl wanted to give us right awaya welcome present, a tame bird (6). And anotherone this young New Guinea crocodile (7), theendemic and protected Crocodylus novaeguineesis.Unfortunately, WWF, Cites, or any otherorganisation cares about the butchering (8)of the last crocodiles, has the natives have to doit for the militaries, so they can sell it stuffed (9),or skins.

10-13. In Dabra I found an Indonesian man calledHamaru, married to a native women, who said hecan build a boat for us to travel the Mamberamo,as not boat exists in this giant river system (exceptfor natives dugouts). And he began to the boat cun-

struction that evening (10). Even whiletraveling (11-13), he always added a piece to the

boat... 14. Often we got stuck, as the riverbed is quite shallow, and that during rain...

1-2. Flying with a chartered plane to Dabra in theMamberamo region (the only outpost) one canonly see endless primary rainforest (1) and a giantriver sys-tem (2), but no sign of civilisation.3-5. A civil aircraft (being very rare here)atracted all the natives and the few militaries,who immediately asked for our specialpermits (5), which had taken methree years to get them...

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IndonesiaIndonesia IndonesiaIndonesiawas not yet complete, the superstructurewas only half built, the air conditioningand electric lighting had not yet been in-stalled, the catamaran was only tempo-rary, and windows, beds, cabins, wash-basins and toilet were still at the plan-ning stage.We were astonished to findthat during the night, and in fact through-out the entire trip, there was much ham-mering and sawing as further construc-tion took place on board the “Mamber-amo Yacht”.We waded through waist-deep mud,sinking in time and again because of the

heavy loads on our backs. There are 10-20 metre broad mudflats on either side ofthe Mamberamo, and in some places it ismore than 100 metres to the edge of theforest. We finally reached the boat whereHamaru conjured up some planks to en-able us to climb aboard across the blackooze.We parked ourselves and our baggageon a stack of boards. The corrugated ironroof over our heads appeared quite ser-viceable despite a few holes. We evenhad a “fireplace” in the middle of the“cabin”, which was open to the air on all

4 sides! Our half-finished “yacht”chugged off upstream, towing a 6.5 me-tre dug-out canoe with an additional out-board motor. What more could we want?The morning mists slowly began toclear, and the immense, impenetrable,primeval forest, apparently endless in itsextent, loomed to both leftand right of us. It seemed tome that we were like the firstmen on a hitherto unex-plored planet. I could imag-ine how Neil Armstrongmust have felt when he be-

came the first man to walk on the surfaceof the moon. I had already establishedthat we were in truth the very first groupof tourists to visit the Mamberamo sincethe independence of Indonesia, andKamihata-san and Tarzan were the firstJapanese ever to visit this spot. I was as

taut as a bowstring inanticipation of whatawaited us in this nomans land.The bed of the Mam-beramo, which wan-dered in huge mean-ders through the forest,was up to a kilometrewide. The mudflatsalong its banks rosehigh out of the water –despite the fact that itrained every day thiswas the height of thedry season.We battled for hoursagainst the current, themilky-grey opaque water, full of sus-pended particles, demonstrating the pent-up power of this mighty river. There wasno human being for miles. No signs ofany settlement. No natives. Hamaru toldus that hardly any men lived along theMamberamo because of the large num-bers of dangerous crocdiles. Later on we discovered that to allintents and purposes this is no longer thecase. For many years the owners of thewell known crocodile farms in IrianJaya, the largest, in Jayapura, having apermanent population of 30,000 animals,had commissioned the native tribes of

the Mamberamo region to catch everyspecimen they could lay hands upon!This has resulted in the virtual extinctionof Crocodylus novaguineensis, as the na-tives have for the first time come intocontact with money which they haveused to buy clothes and food, i.e. theyhave in effect been exchanging the croc-

odiles for these commodities.By night I examined the banks ofthe main stream, the tributaries,and the lakes, but although I didmanage to glimpse a mere 4 speci-mens in the light of my 2000 wattspotlight, none of them measuredmore than 30 cm! In my opinion apitiful remnant of this majesticspecies. But there was plenty ofother life on and around the river:white herons with yellow bills(Bulbucus ibis – known locally as“Kuntue Kerbaw”) were every-where to be seen, often at quiteclose range. The interesting cor-morant-like Egretta sancta (“Kun-

tul Karong”) flew across the water, div-ing after fish and surfacing with theirprey in their bills, and a white-bodied ea-gle (Haliasius indus, called “Elang Bon-dol” locally), snatched a fish from theriver with its talons as if there were noth-ing to it, uttering harsh cries as it soaredaloft from the water’s surface.The most elegant member of the feath-ered tribe, however, is the hornbill(Acerosplicatus julang, also called theIrian or Burung Lipat), which is similarto the South American toucan. Theircroaking calls were unmistakeable asthey glided in pairs above our heads,now and then giving 3 or 4 beats of theirwings.Almost a day’s journey upstream westumbled upon an approximately 6 metrewide tributary, the Boare, on the right-hand bank, surrounded by endless forest.Hamaru skillfully beached the “Mamber-amo Yacht” on the mud and moored her!We transhipped ourselves and a reducedamount of equipment to the dugout and

chugged away up the tribu-tary. Our fun was shortlived,however, for after the firstbend the river was blockedby fallen forest giants.But Hamaru overcame thishurdle, as well as others on

1-2. There are still some areas in the Mamberamo were we came across the endemic crocidile, but it never did attac us, nor do anything,as long as we left them alone. Although they look dangerous and did let us know “do not come closer” opening ther mouth wide (1)...

Some younger ones, were in pools full of algaes (2), looking for easy prey (fishes which were trapped and cannot swim fast because of the low oxygenlevel in the water). 3. The entire Mamberamo system is nature pure, practically the most uninhabitat place on planed Earth today...

The largest fish inthe Mamberamo

system are membersof the catfish familyAriidae. Only twospecies have been

described from here,but I was able to findat least 5 more, and

none could becompared to the

described ones, like.:4. One species with a

very flat head;5-6. One with a very

large head, andsilver spots; and

7. One looking down.

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IndonesiaIndonesia IndonesiaIndonesiathe 4 km long stretch of river, in his owninimitable way. He pushed the trees toone side, either singlehanded or with ourhelp. At one point, when it really wasimpossible to go any further, he told usto climb over the tree with our bags andbaggage while he used all his strength topush the now empty canoe under wateragainst the current and hefted the out-board motor over the trunk.Hamaru truly belongs to that class ofmen whom nothing can daunt. He doesnot know the meaning of the word im-possible.The Boare became ever clearer and af-ter a journey of about an hour and a halfthe water was so transparent that it waspossible to identify the fishes from thesurface! We cast our net wide and a glo-rious striped Chilatherina species cameinto view, possibly a member of the C.fasciata group. They were glitteringemerald green, gleaming blue, gold enyellow, and pink-orange coloured crea-tures with 8 blue bars – fishes with allthe colours of the rainbow. No wonderthat they are called ìRainbow Fishesî.But the bright colours are seen only inadults of 14.5 cm or more. Juveniles andsemi-adults, the majority of our catch,have an almost silvery colouration. Andthen there was a Glossolepis species -but which? We found this one again andagain in the Mamberamo.

Further up the Boare, after a journey ofmore than 2 hours in the heat of the sun,we came upon a lake-like lagoon, lyingto one side of the river bed, and measur-ing more than 100 metres wide andabout a kilometre long. “Danau Boare”said Hamaru. We waded in with a longdrag-net in a temperature of 42 °C in theshade.The water temperature was 36 °C andfelt warm, but nevertheless huge shoalsof fishes were disporting themselves inthis stagnant broth; the majority wereTilapia! Followed by carp (Cyprinus car-pio) and barbs of the genus Barbodes (al-most certainly B. gonionatus).All theseexotics were introduced by the Dutchduring their occupation! The intentionwas to increase the protein available tothe natives. But, as has been the case al-most eveywhere in the world that menhave perpetrated such follies, there hasbeen a resulting boomerang effect; thenative underwater flora and fauna havebeen decimated, or in most cases com-pletely exterminated, by the introductionof these aliens. It was just so here in theDanau Boare. The introduction of exoticsshould be the subject of a total ban byboth national governments and interna-tional organisations, and punishable bysevere penalties in international courts ofjustice. And not as in Australia, wherethe powers that be have done nothing buttalk rubbish and are now blaming aquar-ists for the problem!The Boare, however, also yielded stur-dy, very large Arius catfishes, specimensof 2-3 kg heavier and carrying moreflesh than any of the exotics. The intro-ductions have not been able to decimatethese endemics, as these so-called “Cru-cifix Catfishes” are likewise predatorsand eat just about everything that comeswithin reach of their mouths – but nottheir own eggs. They brood the latter, as

well as the developing juniles,in their mouths – and for thisreason they have survived!Some crucifix catfishes havea row of gleaming pearl-likespots on their metallic brownflanks, and are white only onthe belly. The most sensationalof them, however, was a cat-fish of the genus Doiichthys(?). The monotypic species (D.novaguineae) placed in a fam-

1-6. My aim was to enter, as far as possible, the affluents of thelarge rivers in this giant valley. In most of the affluents has beenno man (definately no white man) before, therefore the rivers andcreeks were often (almost all of them) full of fallen-in trees andlogs or giant roots. We had to move them out of the way (3)

or, in some cases, the only way out was to carry the boat over thetrees (5). Some of them were so bad, that we had no chance to

enter them (6). Even the very big rivers, such as the Mamberamoitself, or the Taritatus, were full with trunks (4).

No one ever moves them away, as, ship or boat tarffic is nonexisting here. 7-9. Some of the lake areas we entered byfoot sinking deep into the mud (7). And the only traceswe found, were those of animals, like those of cassuary

birds (8) or very small birds (9).

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1. From the plane onecan see many small affluents,

creeks and rivers in this giant valley. None of themexplored, probably still containing hundreds ofundiscovered species. But extreme difficult to

penetrade, or even enter at all.2-4. The dutch (Irian Jaya wasHollandia before, colonized

by the Dutch) have, noone knows exactly when,introduced three exotic

species here:1. Barbonymus gonionotus fromJava. 3. Cyprinus carpio, fromEurope, and 4. Oreochromis

niloticus from Africa. With allthe fishes here, why?

5-7. The halfbeak, probablyZenarchopterus kampeni, is a

native.

8-10. In this clearwater affluent (8) we seinedand caught a beautiful Chilaterina species (9),still undescribed but in the hobby, as the“cameleon rainbowfish” (as it changes its

colours). I had a pair in the net (10). It can growto 18 cm (the ones shown were 14.5 cm), and isprobably the largest Chilaterina, belonging to thefasciata group. It is a real beauty. 11-12. Themost common Chilaterina cf. fasciata (I call itChilaterina sp. “Mamberamo”), lives almost

everywhere in the valley.


IndonesiaIndonesia IndonesiaIndonesiaily of its own (Doiichthyidae), it is cer-tainly the oddest member of the group,and one can only marvel at the way thatboth eyes are positioned at the same lev-el as the mouth and can look only down-wards. Thus if one looks at these crea-tures from below one finds oneself look-ing into their eyes, which are barely visi-ble from above. The 6-8 cm long barbelsare pointed forwards, with 2 pairs on themaxillary and a single pair beneath thelower jaw. The head and eye structure re-minded me immediately of the SouthAmerican Dolphin catfish (ag No.6)which likewise can only look down-wards. This is an evolutionary adaptationwhich is used mainly in the search forfood.Doiichthys had never previously beenphotographed and was known only fromsouthern New Guinea. It may well bethat the Mamberamo population repre-sents a new, second, species. The unmis-takeable morphology of D. novaguineaeis the reason for scientists assigning it toa separate family.

A while laterHamaru, at my insis-tence on examiningsecluded lakes, man-aged to find a passagefor the dugout fromthe river through theflooded forest, and anenormous, 20 kmlong, lake opened infront of us. A dreamof a biotope, com-pletely undisturbed.Hardly surprising, asprobably never beforein the history of theearth had this spotbeen visited by whitemen. Hitherto one could only dream thatthere might still be something of this

kind on our planet shortly before the be-ginning of the 21st. century.Hamaru, who had been fishing the cen-tral Mamberamo for 19 years duringwhich he had captured many nativefishes in his gill nets, knew this area likethe back on his hand. He even showedme a sketch map of the region, quitedifferent to any of the official maps, butI am quite convinced that Hamaru’s ver-sion gave the true picture. Hamaru

called the lake “TanjumPotus”. The water was al-most transparent, withroots and trunks protrudingin many places, and thebordering rain forestseemed even denser, im-penetrable, than ever.The riparian undergrowthconsisted of ferns, nothingbut ferns. Millions of

plants which during levels of highwater would lose their leaves ordie off completely, or which, asnow at low water, enriched thisdream-like biotope still furtherwith their fresh green foliage.There were white herons every-

where, eagles in the sky, and yet morehornbills. A crocodile measuring about1.5 metres in length quickly submergedinto the depths at the approach of ourboat.Unfortunately fishing here failed to pro-duce anything particularly exciting - thelake must be directly connected to theMamberamo during the rainy season.Once again there were rainbow fishes ofthe genus Glossolepis (this time, howev-er, with an orange opercular spot) and

silvery Arius catfishes, including onespecimen measuring more than 50 cmwhich Hamaru immediately put aside forour evening meal. This splendid creatureturned the scales at 3.5 kg.That evening we continued our journeyup the Mamberamo, experiencing an in-credibly beautiful sunset amidst unimag-inable stillness.Hamaru anchored his “yacht” in the mudof a bay and we were immediately at-tacked by swarms of mosquitoes.We were rid of these pests (and then onlyin part) only after we had lit our camp-fire on the boat and were cooking ourpotato soup, while the Japanese

prepared their rice bag – you simplyfill this with hot water, wait 20minutes, and you have instant ricewith all the trimmings. As we en-joyed our tea we were serenaded bygrass hoppers and frogs, interruptedonly by the shriek of the birds.The campfire was reduced to em-bers, and we smeared ourselves withmosquito repellent, spread our mos-quito nets, and lit the mosquito fumi-gant. One cannot take too many pre-cautions here; malaria, which infectsmore than 200 million people everyyear, is endemic to the Mamberamo,another reason why nobody comeshere. TheJapanese wore an additional safe-

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guard round their wrists – newly invent-ed mosquito armbands, which give off amosquito repellent aroma.Unfortunately Paola and I did not havevery much luck getting to sleep. Mizuka-mi and Kamaihata-san were taking it inturns to perform a symphony of snoring– it was as if the two of them were com-peting to see which could out-trumpetthe other! I must have shaken themawake more than 30 times in the courseof the night, but all in vain!Hamaru and his comrades were up be-fore dawn setting their gill nets in thebay. After only a few minutes they had amesh bag packed with tilapias, barbs,

and catfishes, had lit the fire, and weresummoning us to breakfast. Baked pota-toes and fish are their daily fare; morn-ing, noon, and night.In the morning mist we all had to jointogether to push the “MamberamoYacht” out of the mud, as it was stuckfast. Plastered in mud up to his waist,and in places up to his neck, Hamarusteered the boat back into the main cur-rent and proceeded upstream; meanwhile a quick dip in the river cleaned us

of the clinging ooze. A few Lorius rora-tus, green parrots, flew over us, chatter-ing as if they were trying to tell us thatday was dawning, and before the sun hadrisen above the horizon we also sawwhite cockatoos, Cacatua galerita(known locally as “Kakatua besar” or“Jambul Kuning”), uttering their charac-teristic cries. This majestic undisturbedriver had awoken anew.Hamaru was well aware that I was in-terested in lakes which were never con-nected with the main river, even at highwater, i.e. which were never floaded bythe Mamberamo. Inundation lakes – andthere were almost innumerable such

lakes along the river – would invariablyhave an aquatic fauna identifical to thatof the Mamberamo itself.Thus it was that, at noon on the secondday, we found ourselves back in thedugout, this time travelling several kilo-metres up a smaller stream, only 2.5 to3.5 metres wide. Our Sulawesian ex-plained that although this watercoursewas still navigable at this time of year ina few weeks time it would be impass-able. It was simply an outflow of the dis-

tant lake Kli, and thus not a properstream at all!After an adventure-filled journey – thiswaterway was clearly completely undis-turbed, with even more branches, bushes,and giant trees at all angles than theBoare river, and in addition banks linedwith spiny Pandanus plants, and thusimpassable – we eventually reachedDanau Kli. The most spectacular vistayet opened in front of us – almost blackwater, innumerable birds, and an incom-

1-4. Untouched virgen jungle(2), and unlived, nor visited,hundreds of beautiful lakes (1),in an untouched giant valley fullof undiscoverd rivers (3), onlyherons (4) and other animalslive here. No human being, nortrace. 5-6. I was able to visit justa few of the isolated, remotelakes, like this one (6). But wewalked for three days to reachit – to find only a gobyspecies in it (5).

Right-hand page: 7-10. The very fewnative (aborigines) people who livein this Mamberamo valley, arecountable on a few hands. In mytotal of three journeys to this valleyI have not seen more than 100 aborig-ines in this area, bigger than Switzer-land. They live like in times of thestone age and are still nomadic tribes.Their huts have only a temporarypalm roof (7). Their tools are madeof nature products, even their bowsand arrows – each one of the arrowsto hunt a certain fish or animalspecies (8). Their cloth (9) are madeof barc from certain tree, or givenby missionaries ages ago. But all ofthem were always very friendlyand welcomed me to their modesthome (10).

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ertheless to be thriving. As we reachedthe halfway mark I saw a bank where wemight be able to land. Despite the thicketon the shore our Sulawesian came uptrumps yet again, and in next to no timewe two and his two helpers were in theblack water. I swam through the lakewith the 7 metre net in tow, trying toreach the distant bank as quickly as pos-sible, which was easier said than done.When I had finally reached the shore,and removed from the net the manypieces of root it had collected during mynumerous dives (to depths of up to 5 me-tres) below obstructions, I saw a salmon-red fish in its centre!What a sensation! It rivalled Glos-solepis inciscus, only the red colour inmales was distributed in horizontalstripes, mainly on the upper part of thebody and fading out on the lower. But it

was such a brilliant blood red that I letout a cry, barely able to contain my ex-citement. The bodies of the females weremerely pink, but with a bright red tail.There were 2 in the net on the first cast,but thereafter success eluded me until asmall bay on the return journey, wherewe caught a further 4 specimens after adramatic battle with the undergrowth. Atthis spot we were also able to see howabruptly the edges of the lake plungedinto its depths. It must have been morethan 50 metres deep.During our “exit” from Lake Kli thecrew helped us with a fishing experimentin a mere 40-80 cm. of water in the inun-dation zone; here we found huge shoalsof the Glossolepis species which is foundeverywhere in the Mamberamo. We also

both new, and the real multisquama-tus still in the Idenburg, as I did notbring it (only the photos). So maybe one daythey will be described. And maybe I can goback and collect the true G. multisquamatusand this time bring it back alife... 7-9. Gobiesare found also in the Mamberamo system,her some undescribed Glossolepis species (7).The Glossamia (8), a freshwater member ofthe large marine family Apogonidae, is also

still not classified. It is a mouthbrooder and apreadtor, eats small fishes. Spiders areeverywhere in the Mamberamo valley,

even on sticks on the water (9).

10. Only about100 species ofthe carnivorousplant genusNepenthes –generelly calledpitcher plantsor monkey pot– are classified,and most ofthose are foundin New Guinea.This island is(still) so rich inits flora andfauna.11. Anotherstriking newdiscovery wasthis blue eye,Pseudomugilspecies. Alsostill unde-scribed.


IndonesiaIndonesia IndonesiaIndonesiaparable wealth of fishes. When Hamarudabbled his fingers in the water hundredsof catfishes came to the surface, squab-bling over the prey they thought hadlanded.I was immediately positive that thislake would harbour at least one endemicspecies. This is generally the casethroughout New Guinea. Lakes whichare geographically isolated have endemicspecies. But in most cases catching themis very difficult. The water was also verydeep here – only some 6 metres belowmaximum (but almost 10 above mini-mum) – and the nets yielded nothing buta few gobies.Hamaru then attempted to penetratefurther along the lake. We passed smallislands with fantastic vegetation in themiddle of the lake and groves of treesstanding deep in water but seeming nev-

caught another, very silvery, form whichwas otherwise very similar (female?). Inaddition there was a Zenarchopterusspecies, a halfbeak with a unique mouth,the lower jaw measuring up to 8 cm longand the upper a mere stump, the two fit-ting together perfectly, however, whenclosed. A single specimen, 24.5 cm inlength. Only 2 species, Z. alleni and Z.novaguineae, are known from this re-gion. But a precise identification was notpossible at this stage in our journey.Another very unusual fish which wecaught was the large-mouthed perch,Glossamia sp., probably a new species.The colour pattern did not agree withthat of G. beauforti, or with that of thetwinbanded G. gjellerupi, these 2 beingthe only described species from this area.A very interesting group of fishes. Theyare restricted to fresh water habitats, in

contrast to the other members of thisfamily (Apogonidae) which inhabitmainly salt water and have a pan-globaldistribution. There are 7 describedspecies, 6 of which are endemic to NewGuinea, and the 7th. species found inNorthern Australia, G. aprion, as well.They are piscivores which also use theirlarge mouths for brooding their eggs.The water temperature measured 29.5°C, and at noon the air temperature roseto more than 40 °C on the thermometer.Our return journey to the Mamberamowas somewhat easier that the trip up-stream. We lay at our ease in Hamaru’sdugout for almost 6 km. while he, asusual, manhandled the many tree rootsand trunks out of our path. Tonight Iwould rest easy. I had yet again achieved

1-6. In one lake (the aborigines which came withme called it “Kli”), I found a striking rainbow-fish (1-2). It was a Glossolepis, but a very redone, and to me still undescribed. Because thereis confusion regarding the species named G.

multisquamatus. It was described 1922, after afish collected byW. C. Van Heurn in the Iden-

burg river (not in the remote lake Kli) asMelanoatenia multisquamata byWeber & De

Beaufort, and they describe precisely the specieswhich I collected also in the Idenburg river (5-6), its type locality. Also: My fish from lake Kli(already introduced in the hobby), has alwaysred eyes and red stripes (1-2), already in its ju-venile stage the eyes begin to turn red and thered stripes appear clearly (3). Alonethese characters are absend from thespecies found in the Idenburg, and donot appear in its original description.

But G. R. Allen, still calls both G. multi-squamatus – even the one found in thedistant Ramu valley (in Papua New

Guinea), which is again a different (alsoundescribed) species and today in the

hobby worldwide as G. multisquamatus.So actually the fishes in the hobby are

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7-9. We collected and researched in muddy (7-8) and clearwaters (9) and found fishes everywhere. All over the place most

of the times the earlier mentioned Chilatherina fasciata andthe Glossolepis multisquamatus (10) in mostly turbid waters.Melanotaenia vanheurni (11-12) was only in the clearwateraffluents (9) of the Idenburg river. Also this interresting

Glossogobius cf. koragensis (13). Only: in none of those wefound Melanotaenia preacox, although Van Heurn had

collected in in 1907 in the Mamberamo River...


IndonesiaIndonesia IndonesiaIndonesiamy ambition, of 13 years standing, ofdiscovering a new rainbow fish everyyear. It began to pour with rain. It hadcome down in bucketsful the night be-fore and once during the day, real tropi-cal downpours of brief duration, lasting10-15, sometimes 30, minutes, but con-sisting of ice-cold rain. This time itrained all night.Before the still of night fell upon theMamberamo Hamaru and I were able tofish the clear Doormann river, a sandy-bottomed fast-flowing stream, at presentabout 8-10 metres wide but at high wateroccupying a bed a good 30-40 metresacross, as could clearly be seen from thehuge exposed sandbanks and the treetrunks swept down by the force of thetorrent and left scattered around like

matchsticks. This river is one of only 2collecting sites where, round about 1920,members of the rainbow fish familyMelanotaeniidae were taken from theMamberamo, preserved, and, 2 years lat-er in 1922, described by the ichthyolo-gists Weber and de Beaufort. The other isM. praecox from the former Pioniers bi-vak.In the Doormann (the natives still usethe Dutch name) I also found the largestof all the Melanotaeniidae (at least ofthose known from the wild). In the lightof the searchlight specimens of up to16.5 cm swam around my legs. Thisspecies is currently known to science asMelanotaenia vonheurni, but the form ofboth mouth and body are remi-niscent of Chilatherina, and in

addtion its habitat and motion likewisesuggest it should be assigned to thatgroup.Chilatherina, in contrast toMelanotae-nia, are found almost exclusively in fast-flowing rivers and streams – generally inareas of rapids – and only in clear water.They rarely occur in lakes (C. bleheri isthe exception) or in cloudy or muddywaters. Again we netted a few gobies,but these were nothing like as colourfulas those in the black water of Lake Kli.And once again a barb, an exotic!.Soaked to the skin with rain, we hud-dled over the “fireplace” aboard our“yacht” to dry ourselves, and thoughtabout the wonderful time we had had on

1-5. Most of the remote lakes in the Mameramo valley canonly be reached over land. We had to anchor the boat andwalk (1). And as most of this giant valley is swamp and

mud, the walk becomes very unpleasend (5). Unfortunately(for the aquarists), many of such muddy lakes do not have

rainbowfishes, but always gobies and gudgeons.

In this lake were two interestinggudgeons: one was definately Giurusmagaritacea (2) found all around NewGuinea and elsewhere, which can togrow to 30 cm and another large, butundescribed species (4). The gobydefinately belongs to the genus Glosso-gobius (3) and looks somewhat likeG. bulmeri. 6. The lake mentioned above,at which we collected these species, canbe seen here from the plane.

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1. Most of theMamberamo mainrivers get influencefrom the high andlow tide - although

some parts are100o km away

from the Ocean...2-4. Pandanus (2)are growing almosteverywhere in the

Mamberamovalley, and morethan one species,

its red seedssupplies food

to the aboriginesas well as manyother, mostly

unknown, endemicfruits (3-4).

Below: No one has an outboardmotor or any kind of engine,only dugouts, in whcih theytravel and carry all theirbelongings, like here darfor Bennett’s Cassowaries

(Casuarius bennetti).

6. Hamaru workedcontinously on

improving the boat,as long as we

were travelling.7-8. The local,

natural fruiot mademe go mad, I had totry everyone, andeach one was moredelicous than theprevious one...9-10. I always

asked the aboriginesbefore and

learned from themalso their fantasticway of makingarrows, ropesand sticks tocatch fishes...


IndonesiaIndonesia IndonesiaIndonesiathe Mamberamo. We were only too wellaware that next morning a helicopterfrom the Airfast Charter Company inJayapura would be arriving to collect us.Back to “civilization”. I would have pre-ferred to stay, a sentiment which Paolashared, but there were also the Japan-ese...Hamaru and his crew motored throughthe relentless downpour in the directionof Dabra, where we dropped anchor at 2am. It was a wonder how this man foundhis way back though the maze of riversin the pitch dark forest night and teemingrain.Paola and I stayed aboard in order tospend the few remaining hours asleep onour “yacht”. Hamaru hung a large pieceof canvas to windward of our beds tokeep off the worst of the rain, and thenhe accompanied Kamihata and Tarzanacross the mud to dry land.I awoke to the tremendous din of a he-licopter above my head, sprang from un-der my mosquito net, and peered up intothe sky which was still filled with cloudsraining cats and dogs. It was a helicopterbelonging to the P.T.Freeport MiningCompany in Tembagapura, the largestgold, silver, and copper mine in IrianJaya (amd the whole of Indonesia!), withmore than 140,000 employees. The dig-gings have already extended into theMamberamo basin. Two people had beenstationed here for several weeks to makea survey of the area, and their needswere supplied almost every day by air.The helicopter even transported largenumbers of 200 litre drums of benzene,hung in nets beneath it from Tembagapu-ra which lies high in the mountains.For my own part I was hoping that ourpilot from Sentani would not attempt thejourney in this weather. But it turned outquite otherwise.The very first time that I came to IrianJaya and to the Mamberamo, on that oc-casion (1982) together with my friendthe world famous ichthyologist Dr. G. R.Allen and the photographer Dr. W. Tims,my pilot told me, when I asked whenand at what price I might charter a heli-copter, “You must remember 3 thingswhen you come to Irian Jaya:1) Forget all about time;2) Everything costs at least 3 times asmuch as elsewhere; and

3) Everything always turns out different-ly to the way you planned.”I have to say that this had turned out tobe true on every single one of my previ-ous expeditions to this part of Indonesia.Our pilot, an Australian called CaptainThreat, a gaunt leathery-faced man withan almost invariably angry expression,wearing a ragged hat, shorts, socks andsandals, did in fact arrive and wanted toleave again immediately. I realised thatin this weather we would see nothing ofthe magnificent Mamberamo panoramaas originally planned, nor would we havethe chance to land on one of the lakes.So I asked Hamaru, who had come tosay goodbye, to take me to the nearby

Uge river to look for fishes and aquatican mals.Accompanied by 2 boys we slippedaway without further ado, unnoticed andwithout a word to anyone, leaving Threatunable to take off without us! An hourlater, after negotiating huge numbers ofstreams which were pouring down fromthe mountains after the rains and hadtransformed the entire area into a flood,we reached the mouth of the Uge. Butnot surprisingly this slow-flowing streamhad turned into a roaring muddy torrent.Although ever the optimist, even I hadreservations about the likelihood of uscatching anything in these conditions.Faced with a battle against theunchecked strength of the muddy red tor-rent, the faithful Hamaru neverthelessfollowed my lead, but 20 casts of the netleft us breath less and unsuccessful. We

had thorns in our feet, our hands wereshredded by stones and roots, and severaltimes we were swept under by the cur-rent, swallowing huge amounts of mudin the process. We were both very closeto giving up.Then we spotted a 6 metre wide baywith a weaker current, and our 21st. andfinal cast resulted in an unforgettable ex-perience.We used our remaining strength to haulin the 7 metres of heavy wet net – full ofroots and leaves – and struggled ashorewith it draped around our necks. At firstglance it looked as if we had merelycaught the Chilatherina species capturedright at the beginning of our trip. Just asI had really given up, and was about toclean out and roll up the net, I spottedsomething incredibly beautiful glitteringamong the leaves! It shone like a neon

light! A tiny fish! Only a 1 cm wide sec-tion of the body was visible, but never-theless I realized that this was it! Thediscovery of the decade! The fish of mydreams, with glittering iridescent coloursbeyond compare. Did it really exist?Could this really be true? As if in atrance I flung myself upon the net tograb it before it could disappear, and inso doing I tripped over a branch anddrove a splinter of wood into my rightfoot. But in the heat of the moment I didnot feel a thing. Hamaru suddenly re-alised what I had been trying to do allthis time. Previously he had thought thatas usual I was acting the mad gringo. Butnow he too was astonished, as for thefirst time in almost 20 years he was see-ing something unfamiliar in “his” world.There must surely be more than one ofthese gems! We dragged the river bed

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again with renewed vigor – but withoutsuccess. Despite being completely ex-hausted, wet, and shivering with cold, weredoubled our efforts and on the 41st castwe actually netted another two speci-mens. I could live with that.Feeling reasonably contented we madeour way back, crossing a 2 metre widetributary of the Uge which was not soswollen with flood water. We tentativelysubmerged our net in this secluded spot,and landed first 5, then a further 4, andfinally another 3 of these fishes! My de-light and joy were by now quite inde-scribable. I danced in the water likeRumpelstiltskin around his treasure. On-ly 4 times in my life had I felt like this:in 1954, when, as a boy, I had my firstglimpse of a wimple piranha, a still un-described Catoprion species, in the RioGuaporé in Mato Grosso province,Brazil; In 1964, when I caught the red-headed characin, Hemigrammus bleheri,in a tributary of the Rio Negro; in 1971when I netted a fantastic “Royal Blue”discus, a dominant individual of the sub-species Symphysodon aequifasciatusharaldi, in Lake Manacapuru, in theAmazonas; and in 1982 in Lake Aja-maru on the Vogelkop Peninsula of IrianJaya, when I first saw the living coralrainbow fish,Melanotaenia boesemani.All these fishes are now being bredworldwide and are amongst the mostbeautiful of aquarium fishes.1993 will also go down in fish history.There is no doubt that the “Neon Rain-bow Fish” will take the world by storm.Maximum size is 4.5 cm. (only 3.5 cm.

in most cases); males have red-edgedfins while the fins of females are pureyellow; and both sexes are coloured likebrilliant neon lights, as seen previouslyonly in the Cardinal Tetra(Paracheirodon axelrodi) and my dis-covery from Zaïre (today Congo), theAfrican Neon (Phenacogrammus ble-

heri). Such brilliance and luminosity arerare in the underwater world. But Naturehas created some life forms which standout from the rest to an almost unbeliev-able extent. And this was yet anotherproof of her matchless ability.All these thoughts passed through myhead as I ran proudly through the currentwith my booty in my hand, not evennoticing that my clogs were floatingaway downstream. As if in the seventhheaven I raced barefoot over sticks andstones without feeling a thing.And when we got back to the helicopternot even the wrathful Captain Threat orKamihata-san’s considerable anger at thedelay could spoil my mood. For as I hadprophesied, the sky cleared, the sun

came out, and off we went as I hadplanned…A fabulous panoramic view of theMamberamo spread out in front of us.We shot some 30 reels of film, pho-tographing the most majestic of all therivers of New Guinea, also the least ex-plored, and that which still holds themost secrets. We flew over almost innu-merable geographically isolated lakes,

some of them quite deep, but unfortu-nately a landing was not possible. I hadthe feeling that each of them held at leastone endemic species, and I was only pre-vented by Paola from jumping out of thehelicopter (something I have actuallydone on one occasion).There were lakes with vegetation alongtheir banks and underwater; lakes withblack water (the habitat of some of the

1-6. The main rivers in the Valley are full ofshrimps, in every net we had hundreds (1).Hamaru, on my third visit, had already startedto make its own salt-and-fish, in the middle ofthe river he salted and dried the collectedspecimens (2), largely the exotic species...rarely the large catfishes, like the large Ariusspecies (3) or the Doiichthys species (6), thosehe fried on our boat fresh (4). The boat he hadbuild was our home for many days, and herewe brushed our teeth (5), had ourfood and bed...

Some photos of my first and last trip: 7. My first landing with a missionar’s, small Cessnaaircraft in 1982. Here with aborigines, the pilot and G. R. Allen (in the green shirt) at a landing

strip in the Mamberamo. 8-10. On my recent and last trip, although I had the permit fromthe highest authorities in Jakarta, we were forced out by the military comander of Dabra.

Even my radio comunication was useless (10). I had to leave 1200 litres of fuel and one outbordmotor behind. But we had walked over three days to a remore lake thru deep swamp (8),taking off the leaches with the knife (9). 11. This map shows clearly that the Mamberamovalley is completly surrounded by high mountains, completely isolated from the world.

The most untouched palce on planet Earth...

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seining and than we return” (also because the helicopterhad already landed some time ago...). And as it was ment,this last neting was the miracle, a single shiny fish in themiddle of many leaves. That was it!Melanotaenia praecoxshining as a diamond, as a neon (3). I could hardly believemy own eyes, it was like a miracle, my dream had comethrough. I collected still more, a total of 15 specimens,which I took back (and in Europe arrived 13 alife, of whichtoday they breed ca. 5 million monthly world wide).

1. During the last days on the Mameramo it rainednonstop, day and night and we had not found theMelanotaenia praecox. Everyone was disapointed.But I had this dream during the last night when Islept on the boat and rained non stop: that I waslooking much to far aways. When the Dutchmancame almost 100 years before, there was only thisnative village (todays Dabra), and he found it near

there. And that is the only place I had notsearched... I woke up and decited to leave and lookmfor it in the creeks nearby (2-3), althjough I knew

the helicopter was to arrive any moment from Jayapura to take us back.I walked all over the surrounding area while it rained still. I dragged the

seine with an native up and down the creeks and several times it carried uscompletely away, because the water currant was so strong in this rain. We bothwere completely exhausted and still no fish, when I told him: “only one more

My dreamfish (6), fish of the century (20th) as I called it (or “neon dwarf rain-bowfish”), has conquered the aquarium world, as hardly any other fish before.Kamihata (7), Tarzan, Paola and the pilot had waited 2 hours, and were verymad at me, but inspite of all, he just said “You are a genius”. Hamaru finallyunderstud my search and liked aquageo (5).

9. We finally flew back in the chartered helicopter (9) to Jayapura (cost a fortune) with the preciousload. 10. On my last trip I was forced (by militaries) to fly out with a chartered plane, leaving theexpensive fuel (1200 l) and the outboard motor (10), they confiscated behind. Somehow it seemsto me, one has to go through hell, if one wants to achive something, and my hell was, that I didnot have enough and while we waited in Sentani for our delayed flight Jakarta, I went fishingin a stream full of rubbish and jumped on a rusty steel bold, which went 2,5 cm deep (11).Two month in a cast (12). No pains no gain.

Bleher’s Biotopes in Nature and in Aquarium84 Bleher’s Biotopes in Nature 85

IndonesiaIndonesia IndonesiaIndonesiamost colourful fishes on Earth); lakescoloured green or blue. Surrounded bydense ancient woodland, primary forestin all its glory.The trees were crowned alternatelywith red and yellow blossoms. Somebiotopes were scattered with palms,while in others the spiny pandanus pre-dominated. The flora of the Mamberamoregion is truly without equal.The branch over which we were flyingwas actually the Idenburg, a tributary ofthe Mamberamo. And the other, west-ern, branch is known not as the Mamber-amo but as the Rouffaer (Tariku). Butthese 2 tributaries, which join to form theMamberamo proper, are always regardedas integral parts of that river. Togetherthey form what is not only the least ex-plored biological treasure-house but alsothe largest river system of the secondlargest island on Earth.It is unlikely that the white man willever be able to unveil all the secrets ofthe Mamberamo, that civilized man willever appreciate the diversity of thisunique region, or that scientists willcomprehend the complexity of thisecosystem.Luckily the Indonesian government hasdeclared this region “off limits” and it ispractically impossible to obtain a permitto visit the area. Hoping that it would re-main thus, that the P.T. Freeport MiningCompany would not discover mineralshere as well as in the mountains, and thatthe National Pertamina Oil Company,which has drilled for “black gold” in 3places, would find it here, I took one fi-nal look at the endless rainforest of theMamberamo, the river which is not in-cluded in either guidebooks to Indonesiaor books about that country.

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Some suggestions for rainbowfish biotope aquariums:1. This is the lakeWanam, origin of Glossolepis wanamensis (2),a georgeous rainbowfish. He lives with Chilaterina fasciata (3)and gobies, in a rich aquatic biotope, with lots of water lilliesand Lotus plants, as well as Ceratophyllum demersum.

4. Chilaterina bleheri lives also endemic in a lake (Danau Biru),with no other rainbowfish, only gudgeons and gobies.

5-6.Melanotaenia boesemani (6) lives in 2 lakes (connected) full ofaquatic ferns (5), Najas and Ceratophyllum species. Only with Pseudomugil

reticulatus (7), not with P. ivantsoffi (8) as written elsewhere.

9-10 A typical habitat (9) of the beautiful Glossolepis dorityi (10), which I discovered as well and call the “red zigzag rainbowfish” is full of water lillies again, alsoCeratophyllum species and some Barclayas, rarely Aponogeton species. 11. Melanotaenia alleni (still not in the hobby), lives over gravel ground, in rivers and creeksthat flow, with almost no vegetation. 12. Melanotaenia species (by some classified as M. goldiei), which I discovered in a creek called Tapini in Papua New Guinea– that is why I call it Melanotaenia sp. ‘Tapini’ – is a real beauty and in the hobby available. It likes some moos (as shown), gravel bottom and some sand. Gobies

or gudgeons, possibly some blue eyes (Pseudomugil novaguineae, or P. gertrudae or P. paskai). 13-14. Another recent first collected alife species is the realMelanotaenia misoolensis (which is in several publication misidentified). This shown is the correct species, quite high body and with an incredible possibility

to change its colour (sometimes in minutes), like from steel blue (13), to orange-red (not shown) or bright yellow-golden (14). This species is only found in oneof the two Уcreeks on Misool island, in water without vegetaion, only gravel and plants hanging into the water. For all these rainbowfishes (and blue eyes)

the water can be hard up to 500 microsiemens no problem, and pH up to 8 and temperatures from 23 to 28°C.

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On these two pages same samples of very typical– nature biotope aquariums for rainbowfishes:1. This one decorated for the speciesMelanotaenia praecox (2), which the previousarticle is about (and gives additional informa-tion). It should have some plants (hereMicroso-rium pteropus, which are found throughout NewGuinea, attached to driftwood and rocks). Grav-el and sandy areas – mixed. I decorated thisaquarium at an exhibition and the fishes felt like“at home” immediately and started to lay eggs...3. This aquarium is on exhibit in Denver,Colorado (USA), as the rainbowfish aquarium. Ivisted it two years ago and I thought they madea good job. Naturally they placed several differ-ent rainbowfish species together (and somegobies and blue eyes), but still ist looked goodand if you compare it with the underwater photoI took in theM. boesemani habitat in nature(shown on the previous page photo 5), than onecan see that it looks much like in nature...

4-6. Another typical exhibition for Melanotaeniaangfa is the one above (4), decorated with, again,Microsorium pteropus, some Spatiphyllum species,

and floating plants (Azolla or Lemna species).Lots of fine white sand and colourful (rusty brown)

stones.. Also here this rainbowfish species felt likein nature and one could see it in their

behaviour. Immediately starte with courtships (5)and displayed their full (still juvenile) colours (6).

Important is for rainbowfishes and blue eyes:do never overcrowd the tank. They never livein very large schools or groups. The quantity

shown here is just right emeber that.Also give them some shade.

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Documents

Mamberamo - aqua, International Journal of Ichthyology · 66 Bleher’s Biotopes in Nature and in Aquarium Bleher’s Biotopes in Nature and in Aquarium 67 Indonesia Indonesia diersfromJava,adoctorwhohadcome