Cribroheros alfari from the San Jose river.

[@MakoyUnggoy]

Nice clear footage again, very good!

[@PlainsPup]

These videos are really just top notch. Amazing footage and excellent narration. You provide great information, too, from the perspective of both a naturalist and an aquarist. Just a joy to behold. Thank you so much for sharing these.

[@cichlidsinthewild]

Thanks, PlainsPup for your compliment. This is my intention with my vids, to bring the underwater world in your houseroom including some information. And hopefully, my followers find some inspiration in setting up a nice imitated habitat for our beloved cichlids. More to come.

[@insolentstickleback3266]

Lovely video, thank you!

[@cichlidsinthewild]

Thanks, more to come.

[@An-kw3ec]

A little sad that we can't just go from north America to costa rica across the road, I will love to have a long trip with multiple parades to see rivers like these.

[@MarcoIsidori]

Hi Hans! These shots you did on the San Jose River are spectacular. Besides Cribroheros alfari there is a great biodiversity of other cichlid species in this area. Happy New Year and thank you.

[@cichlidsinthewild]

Hi Marco, thanks for your compliment and I am happy you like the video as well. Yes indeed there is a great biodiversity of cichlids in the rivers of Costa Rica, some times very impressive. Keep watching their is one more video in the making, soon to come.

[@MarcoIsidori]

@@cichlidsinthewild Hi Hans! I spoke with Dr. Paul Loiselle in one of our conferences (you can see it on my channel) on Mesoamerican cichlids and told us that in Costa Rica the intensive cultivation of bananas in some areas has created a drastic decrease in cichlid species, the use of pesticides to preserve the banana plants and fruit were then diluted by rainfall and ended up in various river systems. Among the fish that CARES has seen in drastic decline and even in danger of extinction are also many species that live in this San Jose River. Another problem is sport fishing which has created problems for the introduction of alien species (large and small cichlids) into rivers. Tonight we have a meeting on Cichlids of the Mayans and collecting and study trips with Rusty Wessel, we will be in a Zoom conference at 21:00 Italian time. If you like I can send you the entry link we will be happy to have you among us. My email is [e-mail]

[@WillsAquarist]

Great video! A rare glimpse of Nicaraguans in the wild too! Would love to see more of them if you have any other footage? I’ve noticed quite a lot of variance in colour and markings on the ones in stores and would love to figure out where the strains come from if you ever fancy a challenge on your travels

[@cichlidsinthewild]

@@MarcoIsidori Hi Marco, sorry for my late reply. Marco, I worked in 2017 and 2018 for more than one and a half years in Costa Rica. and well in Moin on the container terminal. So I lived in Limon and was found nearly every Sunday in the Costaricans rivers with my camera from the San Jose river up to Chiriqui Grande in Panama. I saw the massive cultivation of bananas and mentioned them in other movies of mine. I also saw small channels that were cut off from the rivers to provide water to the farms and believe me full of life. And also in the main rivers, you still find a lot of cichlids, but anyhow there is a lot of pollution and destruction going on. Especially plastic is a major problem. the great companies are relatively clean but it's the local small farmers who diluted the forest. In the tourist areas, everything is clean, but in the remote areas such as in the upper part of the Rio Sixaola, you find a lot of pollution. My only big disappointment during the 1.5 years that I lived in CR was, that I couldn't find Cribroheros rhythisma in his type locality "Rio Cocolis" affluent of the Rio Sixaola. And believe me, I have been there many many times. Cribroheros bussingi can be found in large numbers in the Sixaola drainage. Eventually, I found rhytisma massive in Panama. again I speak for my experience, I do not how it was there years ago. I was more than twenty years ago in Panama and found no major differences in numbers of the cichlid population. About alien species you are right, I saw several especially in the Sixaola drainage African cichlids Oreochroms niloticus, I do not think that they have been introduced for sportfishing but for food in farms where they escaped during overflooding by heavy rainfall. Best regards.

[@cichlidsinthewild]

@@WillsAquarist Hi Andrew thanks for your compliment. there is one video more in my list of Amatitlania nigrofaciata which should actually have the name Amatitlania kanna. I have another movie about the convict entitled "the convict a cichlid with many names". But it is spoken in Dutch, perhaps I will subtitle it in English soon. There is an interesting movie of Amatitlania nanolutea on my Vimeo account vimeo.com/ondemand/movie3 If you mentioned Cribroheros alfari about variance in colour and markings, Yes there is. There is a great variation, Cribroheros alfari can vary in body length, height, caudal and dorsal fin length, lateralline, markings, and in color. Probably adjustments to local circumstances. Best regards Hans.

[@MbunaMarcus]

Is this one of the nicest variants/locals in your opinion?

[@cichlidsinthewild]

Hi Mbuna, yes this is a very nice variant, but check also Alfari from the Rio Calderon how you can find in the video of the Convict that’s also a very nice variant. Thanks for your compliment from the video of A. septemfaciata

[@ottomattix86]

I have Alfari but only have Cheek speckles. They're mean, at least compared to my Rostratus.

[@ПашаДегтяр]

beautiful video, great views, thank you very much)) have a question, what is the name of the black cichlid on the 3:41 video?

[@bees8390]

Neetroplus nematopus

[@rnldmanuel88]

Would be better without music.

[@petersteinmeijer519]

Or the very Dutch voice over.

[@SteenfottAquatics]

This is the dumbest comment ive seen on the internet in quite some time. Good job!@@petersteinmeijer519