j CicKlasoma Nigrofasciatum I 

 It \ 



| | WALTER LANNOT BRIHD, F. Z. S. 

 1 I 



-* f~ 



In the spring of 1904, a Mr. Umlauff, 

 who had a pet shop in Hamburg, import- 

 ed a few specimens of a new species of 

 cichlid from Brazil. Later a Mr. Eng- 

 rriann, of Berlin, wrote an account of his 

 experiences with the fish, and how the 

 male of his pair jumped out of the 

 aquarium and "dried up." He bewails 

 the loss and mentions that it cost him 

 thirty marks to replace. 



Engman's weeping reminds me of an 

 experience I had with a Brooklyn aquar- 

 ist, back in the days when the Guppy 

 {Lebistes reticulatus) was new and novel. 

 He lamented the fact that I charged him 

 $2.00 for a pair. I could have told him 

 that I paid Paul Matte $2.50 for my first 

 pair, in Berlin, in 1910. But I did not 

 feel that I was "held up." I merely 

 looked upon it as an indication of the 

 value of a species soon after first impor- 

 tation, and while it was comparatively 

 scarce. What a fish will fetch is a matter 

 of agreement between buyer and seller 

 at the time. The selling price is not sta- 

 ple, as it is for a commodity like sugar, 

 for instance. 



Through ignorance of the requirements 

 of Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum, which the 

 new cichlid proved to be, all of the first 

 importation died from cold, save the pair 

 owned by Engmann, which he then wisely 

 turned over to Paul Schame, the Dresden 

 fish culturist, as he possessed considerable 

 knowledge of this class, and the necessary 

 facilities for breeding them . 



During November the pair bred, and 

 Mr. Schame succeeded in raising thirty- 

 eight youngsters. From this stock was 

 derived all the fish of the species raised 



. . I 



in Germany in 1905. In later years many 

 more were imported, so that new blood 

 was infused. 



In the United States, Gustave Sebille, 

 of New York City, can claim the distinc- 

 tion of having first brought this fish to 

 this country direct from its native waters, 

 together with C. mojarra and C. stein- 

 dachneri, in the summer of 1912. The 



Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum 



specimens averaged about three inches 

 long. This does not take into considera- 

 tion any possible importations from Ger- 

 many, such as used to occur frequently 

 with tropical fishes generally before the 

 war. 



Owing to the general unpopularity of 

 the cichlids, among aquarists, both here 

 and in Europe, no special efforts have 

 been made to breed this species of late 

 years, and in consequence it is well-nigh 

 extinct in the United States, though iso- 

 lated pairs still persist. Last year it was 

 reported that a Pittsburgh man had bred 

 it. It is plentiful enough in its native 

 habitat. 



