Dan Dority

Dan bought his first aquarium when he was 12 years old. In his teens, he went through a progression of moving beyond the typical community fish to cichlids and then onto other interesting fish that were becoming available in the 80s.

One special day, he went into a shop and saw a display tank of Sentani Red Rainbows for the first time. Having visited Lake Sentani in Irian Jaya, Indonesia on a university practicum, but not becoming aware of the rich variety of native fishes while there, he vowed to collect these fish. Dan, with his wife and one year old son, moved to Indonesia in 1989 to train church leaders in Theology. They lived in the remote jungle village of Biri, in the Mamberamo River system, for 10 years, and then another 10 years near the shores of Lake Sentani.

Dan enjoyed swimming with the Rainbowfishes. No fish in captivity ever fully match the majesty of their wild colors in their endemic habitat! Since you can’t stay in the water forever, Dan has taken to collecting various species to bring home. Once, when Gerry Allan was visiting, Dan arranged a trip to collect Glossolepis.dorityi. From there, Dan was contacted by Gary Lange and hosted Gary’s first trip. Johannes Graf and Henie Ohee joined Gary and Dan for additional trips in the following years.

From 2017, Dan has been living in Australia. First, in Sydney where he appreciated involvement with ANGFA. Then he moved to Darwin to teach in an Aboriginal College. While in Darwin, he went on multiple collecting trips around the “Top End” with Dave Wilson, of AquaGreen and Michael Hammer, the Fish Curator of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.

Dan has never lived long enough in one home to have a true fish room and has never had more than a dozen aquariums at any given time. In spite of never having enough fish, he has particularly relished the occasional opportunity of being the only person in the world with several new species of undescribed fish in his aquariums. More than fishkeeping, he loves the adventure that comes with collecting fish and living with the people in the locations where they are found.

Dan’s presentation on Saturday will be Where the Wild Things Are, an overview of living in Rainbowfish country.

Hans-Georg Evers

In his heart and from his earliest days, Hans-Georg has been an aquarist.

A native of Hamburg, Germany, his interests are catfish (mainly Corydoradinae and Loricariidae), followed closely by rainbowfish, characins and all other imaginable freshwater fishes and shrimps. A busy traveler, he speaks several languages and has visited tropical countries around the globe. On his trips to South America, Asia and his 12 trips to New Guinea, he has discovered numerous new and scientifically undescribed species of fish. In recent years, these have mainly been Rainbowfish.

He has published 13 books, written hundreds of articles, and co-authored several scientific papers. Oryzias eversi (Sulawesi ricefish) and Corydoras eversi (a South American catfish) are named in his honour. From 2005 until 2018 he was the chief editor of the international aquarium magazine Amazonas and still works as an editor-at-large for the American version.

In his Saturday keynote presentation – We Believe We Catch the Rainbow: Highlights of 10 Years Collecting in Papua – he will present highlights of his New Guinea trips that brought many new species into the hobby.

Wim Heemskerk

Born and raised in the Netherlands, Wim is a civil engineer, specializing in water management. For more than 55 years, he has been a planted aquarium enthusiast, and in the late 1970’s he started breading Rainbowfish. At first his focus was the larger species and later came his intense interest and specialization in Blue-eyes.

Wim’s interest in Blue-eyes started with Pseudomugil connieae, which had been shown at an aquarium exhibition in Antwerp, Belgium. The behaviour of the Pseudomugil was different than the other Rainbowfish he had been keeping, and they attracted his attention. After gaining more information about the Blue-eyes, an interest in these species was born. At the time Blue-eyes where very rare in Europe, and in order to preserve them in Europe, it was essential to start breeding them. This was the start of a passion for Blue-eyes which led to Wim participating in five expeditions (so far) where he saw and discovered Blue-eyes in their natural habitat. Having participated in three expeditions in Australia and another two to West Papua, one of Wim’s primary goals is the preservation of Blue-eyes, preferably in the wild but also within the hobby.

Wim will be giving two presentations on Saturday;

Passion for Blue-eyes – A presentation about Wim’s 40 years of experience keeping and breeding Blue-eyes from Papua New Guinea and Australia. With plenty of beautiful fish photos, starting with the Pseudomugil furcatus (which was discovered in 1953 by a fellow Dutchman) to the species that still have to be classified with some Australian help, he will take you through all varieties of Blue-eyes known to the European hobby. He will provide information about distribution, care, water conditions and the (re)classification of species over the course of time.

Searching for New Genes in West Papua: The 2017 and 2019 West Papua Expeditions – This presentation is about the 2017 and 2019 expeditions to West-Papua that Wim undertook with Gary Lange, Johannes Graf, Henni Ohe and Marten Luther Salarosa. During the 20-day 2017 expedition his goal was to at least find Pseudomugil reticulatus. The presentation includes pictures and videos of the exploration of the rainforest, streams and creeks of the Vogelkop, Lake Ayamaru area and around Bintuni, which lead to the discovery of several possible new species of Melanotenia. With the help of the locals, it was also possible to rediscover Pseudomugil reticulatus, getting new genes into the hobby.

Gary Lange

Gary has been keeping fish since he was 10 and has been associated with the organized hobby for the last 40 years. He is a member of the Missouri Aquarium Society (MASI) and has held various positions in the club. He is a grand master breeder in MASI, and has won "Best Fish In Show" on four different occasions, twice with rainbowfish.

In 2005 he took the rainbowfish collectors dream trip – collecting in West Papua. He’s now made a total of seven trips to West Papua. He brought back rainbowfish that have never been seen in the hobby including Chilatherina alleni and Melanotaenia vanheurni. With these trips he’s collected and brought back at least 17 different undescribed species of rainbowfish. Along with his collecting partner, Johannes Graf, and now Wim Heemskerk, they are currently working on naming them. He is currently running over 90 aquariums (~2,500 gallons, 9,500 liters) and keeping over 65 species and locations of rainbowfish and blue-eyes.

Gary’s Saturday presentation is The Most Amazing Rainbowfish!

“In our pursuit of this amazing rainbowfish we used planes, a Ferry Boat (yes a ferry boat), Cars, Taxis, Motorcycles and a giant Dump Truck! Whatever it took to complete our mission! Oh and then there was that 18 foot boat with twin 40 HP motors to head alongside the shoreline fighting 4 foot ocean waves. Our 7th trip to West Papua was indeed lucky as we brought back four species that will almost for sure see commercial production. Two of them perfect for that midsized planted aquarium. Move over praecox and boesemani!”

Tim McCaskie

Tim has kept fish for 36 years, and started his first fish room in college 23 years ago while he worked in a local fish store. That fish room now has 45 tanks totaling over 2,200 gallons, and has seen the breeding of a vast variety of different species of fish.

After finishing college, he started working at the Toronto Zoo on conservation projects in 1998, which soon lead to his participation in the Madagascar Freshwater Fishes project. Tim has subsequently bred several species of Malagasy fishes and sent them to many other zoological institutions. He has participated in five expeditions to Madagascar, surveying several rivers and discovering several species of fish that have not been described, including species of Bedotia and Rheocles.

Tim’s presentation on Saturday is Wait! There are Rainbows in Madagascar?

“In 2007 I heard Dr. Paul Loiselle give a presentation the Regional Aquatics Workshop about the Madagascar Freshwater Fishes project. I instantly asked if I could help him with this undertaking.

He said; “Can you speak French and do you like rice?”

I replied; “No, and ya’ I love rice” not knowing how much rice we were truly talking about!

In 2008 I was sent to the Denver Zoo to learn about the Madagascar Freshwater Fishes project and brought three genus back to start a breeding program at the Toronto Zoo. I had been doing fundraisers for four years and sending the money to other institutions for various conservation projects and then decided it was time for me to do my own conservation work.

This talk will be on collecting fish in Madagascar, how we have kept rainbowfish in a zoo setting and you will see pics of rainbows that have not yet been described.”

John Seyjagat

 John Seyjagat has over 40 years of experience in exotic animal management, 30 of which are at a supervisory or managerial level. He is currently employed as the Executive Director of the Zoological Association of America (ZAA). Prior to joining the ZAA, John was the Curator of Australian Exhibits at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. He has extensive experience monitoring and evaluating populations of small mammals in the wild and has done field conservation work in the Philippines, Malaysia, Borneo, South America, the Caribbean, Papua New Guinea, and Australia. He presently concentrates his capacity building efforts in North America (leading and expanding the ZAA); in Australia (partnering with the Territory Wildlife Park in the Northern Territory to pursue sustainability population management of critically endangered native species), and in Trinidad (working with the Zoological Society of Trinidad and Tobago and several NGOs on wildlife and conservation issues.

 John Seyjagat has contributed to over 50 bat research projects that generated over 92 scientific publications, and contributed to numerous reptile research projects which resulted in the rediscovery of thought to be extinct species and most recently the description of a new species of turtle for Australia, Macrochelodina walloyarrina.

He has been involved in numerous exhibit design projects including Disney’s Animal Kingdom and the National Aquarium in Baltimore’s Animal Planet Australia Wild Extremes (AZA’s 2008 Exhibit Award winner).

While working in Australia between 2004 and 2016, John pursued the acquisition and export on native Australian animals for his National Aquarium Australian Exhibit. This endeavor brought him together with Australian federal and state wildlife agencies, zoos and aquariums and private animal owners and enthusiasts. He has also collected numerous species from the wild and successfully made the first live animal export out of Australia to the USA in the past 20 years.

John’s Friday night presentation is Australia: Rainbows and More.

 “Australia is home to 12 species of Rainbowfish including numerous color morphs and type complex from the different rivers and catchments. Most interesting are the many color morphs of the Melanotaenia trifasciata group.

Collecting Rainbowfish in Australia is exciting and can be a dangerous adventure. The Northern Territory offers numerous species of exquisitely colored Rainbowfish. However, Australia has a lot more to offer the aquarist, ichthyologist and fish enthusiast than just Rainbows. Beneath the surface, where the Rainbows are, is a piscatorial trove of rarely seen beauties.”

Peter Unmack

Peter’s fascination with fishes began with the purchase of his first fish tank when he was seven years old. He soon obtained additional aquariums until he filled the two sheds in his parents’ backyard with fish tanks. Since 1985, Peter has kept a large range of Australian native freshwater fishes, most of which he collected from various travels. He has collected fishes extensively throughout much of mainland Australia as well as other parts of the world including Papua New Guinea, North America and southern South America.

Peter was fortunate to be able to turn his fish hobby into an academic career. His interests include just about anything to do with freshwater fishes, but especially fish biogeography, conservation and desert springs. He changed hemispheres in 1994 when he moved to California, then onto Arizona State University to complete his doctoral degree on the biogeography of Australian freshwater fishes. He went on to do research at Brigham Young University in Utah on the biogeography of southern South America and western North America fishes, followed by another project at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Centre in North Carolina working on developing GIS models to predict biogeographic patterns in freshwater organisms. Peter moved back to his homeland Australia in 2013 and worked at the University of Canberra until 2021 working on fish conservation projects, which included rainbowfish conservation, trying to decipher hemi-clonal unisexual carp gudgeons and examining biogeographic patterns in Australian fishes. Peter now splits his time as a consultant running his business Unmack AquaEvolutionary and part time at Monash University continuing fishy research.

His website is located at www.peter.unmack.net.

Peter’s Saturday presentation will be focused on the conservation of rainbowfish.