Getting Wet Feet in Peru
A Tropical Fish Collecting Trip
By Craig Morfitt
First published in Fish Tales, Bermuda Fry-Angle Aquarium Society, and on Craig's web
site morefish.com
Aquarticles
I am sure that many of you have read articles in magazines about the fantastic
collecting trips undertaken by such notable aquarists as Dr. Paul Loiselle. Some of you
may have dreamed of participating in such an adventure - but they are only for the
top-notch, advanced hobbyists, right? Wrong! Thanks to Margarita Tours, operating out of
Fort Lauderdale, adventurous fish collecting expeditions are now regularly available to
ordinary tropical fish hobbyists. Now we can all get our feet wet in Peru and collect our
own wild fish. Between 21st and 28th January, 1995, I participated in such an expedition
and in this article I hope to show you what a thrill it was.
As soon as I read the Margarita Tours ads in Aquarium Fish Magazine I knew that I
wanted to participate in such a trip. I wrote to the stated address and very soon I was
provided with literature by Margaret Slugocki, who is the wife of the expeditions'
captain, Albert Slugocki. The descriptive itineraries had me counting the days to the time
of the trip. In the months leading up to the trip I ensured that I had the necessary
inoculations and that I obtained the various items suggested by Margaret.
The expedition begins on a Saturday at the Miami International Airport, where the
various participants in the adventure meet for the first time. Ours was quite an
international group, with two of us from Bermuda, one from Canada, one from Scotland and
the other five from the U.S. The experience level ranged from professional importer to
short-term hobbyist. We had all been advised to take a 48 quart cooler with us to hold our
fish on the return leg, so it wasn't difficult to spot the other group members. We must
have looked like a group of alcoholics to the un-initiated because another traveler
approached me with the observation "I see you are taking care of the beers" as
he nodded towards my cooler. Before long we had all been introduced to the other members
of our group, as we continued to wait for check-in for the once-a-week Faucett Peruvian
flight to Iquitos.
The wide-bodied jet takes about 4 hours to reach Iquitos from Miami. During the flight,
all passengers are invited to participate in a game of mile-high bingo. With two prizes of
$100 cash up for grabs, it is worth having a go. As it turned out, members of our group
won prizes on the outward and homeward flights. The bingo was followed by a meal and a
movie before we landed in the dark at Iquitos.
As a group of dancers entertained us on the tarmac we encountered a slight delay as the
Immigration officer had forgotten his briefcase containing the passport stamps. Meanwhile,
in anticipation of a generous tip, a bunch of young guys were hustling about gathering
suitcases for the incoming tourists. Once the passports were checked and stamped it was on
to the Customs check and finally out of the airport and into a rain-storm that had
descended whilst we were inside. Albert, who had been "in country" for a week
getting things ready, was at the airport to greet us. Whilst the Margarita staff got our
luggage into a truck, we boarded a mini-bus and were driven through the wet streets to the
offices of Margarita Tours.
We entered the street-side entrance of the Margarita Tours offices, passed through and
came out on the other side - the Amazon side. A couple of flights of steps took us down to
the Amazon Explorer, a double-decker Amazon riverboat that was to be our home for the next
week. With cabin allocation out of the way, we were given a short guided tour of the boat
and we gathered in the dining room for a briefing. The lower deck consists of 8 cabins and
a communal area which we would use as our "fish room". The upper deck consists
of the bridge, a dining room/bar area and a sun-deck/patio area at the rear. The
air-conditioned cabins each have a pair of bunk-beds. That's a real air-conditioning unit,
not a draughty window. The crew quarters are in the engine room, in the bowels of the boat
below the lower deck.
The on-board expert for the trip was the effervescent Dr. Dave Schlesser, a.k.a.
"Dr. Fish", from the Dallas Aquarium. Dave has led many of these trips and his
knowledge of the Peruvian Amazon is amazing. Dave has an almost child-like enthusiasm and
a fascination for all things living. So infectious is his enthusiasm that before long many
of us fish-nuts found ourselves spending some of the evening time hunting down insects on
the boat so that Dave could catch them. We were experiencing an appreciation for the
beauty of all of the creatures of the Amazon.
That first night, as we slept, our river boat motored down the Amazon River and by the
morning we had made the turn up the Napo River. Most of the first day was spent heading up
the Napo and by afternoon we had reached the town of Mazan. This riverside town is the
major trading and market centre for the area. At the time of our visit there was a large
beach party taking place on the opposite bank, complete with loud-hailer and children's
foot-races. We spent some time looking around the town and visiting the stores and market.
This was our first of many encounters with the children of the area, who were very keen to
receive the candies we had taken with us. We left Mazan and continued upstream.
About one hour before dark we got our first taste of tropical fish collecting, when we
stopped and collected in a small creek near to the village of Salvador. Using a seine net
we were able to catch about 20 species of fish, including Brochis splendens, woodcats,
small doradid catfish, hatchetfish, freshwater flounder and piranha. Piranhas were found
in most of the collecting locations but contrary to the impression created by movies, they
are not a danger to humans. We were far more aware of the potential danger from electric
eels and freshwater stingrays. The creek was a "white-water" habitat, the water
being silt-laden, running from the Andes. The pH was 6.0 with 35 ppm hardness.
Once night fell, Dave set up his "black light" and the insect-watch began.
Meanwhile, hook and line fishing from the back of the stationary boat resulted in a number
of Cetopsid catfish being caught. These peculiar catfish were previously nick-named
"Procto-Cats" by Dr. Loiselle due to their peculiar habit of swimming up the
anal passage of larger fish and eating them from the inside out. I can assure you that all
thoughts of "skinny-dipping" were quickly dismissed!
Monday's first light was about 5.00 am, and the Explorer continued its journey
upstream. After breakfast we left the Explorer in an aluminum skiff fitted with an
outboard and we moved ahead of the larger boat to seek out collecting sites. During the
morning we collected at two sites - a small pond at Oro Blanco and the larger Lake Avaho.
The second site was by far the more productive and provided us with our exercise for the
day. The banks and bed of the lake were very muddy and we soon found ourselves sunk past
our knees in the mud. Walking in these conditions is difficult, so dragging a seine net
through the water demanded a different approach. We discovered that we sank less when we
were on our knees, and that it how we seined the lake. Amongst others, the seine produced
juvenile shovelnose catfish, striped Raphael cats, knife-fish, silver dollars and the
ever-present Wolf-fish and Piranha. Meanwhile, one of the crew members threw a cast-net
over a sunken log and with his hand he was able to locate a number of plecos and Ancistris
cats. As each catfish was located, the crew member hurled them through the air to the
muddy bank, where they were then collected and placed in a bucket. Those of us who handle
our fish with the greatest of care were quite surprised at how well these fish survived
after what must have been their first attempt at flight. A number of sites were checked
after lunch but many of them proved to be mainly rainwater with little fish life. We moved
further upstream and by night-fall we had reached the village of Bagazan, below Zapota
Cocha.
During the evening the men from Bagazan invited us to visit their village to see a
Jaguar that they had hunted down and killed, because it had been killing the village's
pigs and other livestock. The jaguar had been killed by one of the villagers armed with a
shot-gun and its skin and head were proudly displayed. It was a sad thing to see but it
was also easy to understand why the villagers had to protect their livestock and
themselves - they say that Jaguars have been known to take small children.
On Tuesday we attempted to gain access to Zapota Cocha and Papaya Cocha as both of
these areas had been productive collecting sites on previous trips. Unfortunately, the
water level of the Napo was unusually low for the time of year and we were unable to get
to these lakes in our skiff.
By early afternoon we stopped at a village on the south bank of the Napo, just before
the Tacshacuraray River. The village is home to a tropical fish collecting station - the
first stop for tropical fish after they have been collected by locals. The fish are held
in wooden boxes lined with plastic sheeting, with no filtration whatsoever. Water changes
are achieved by carrying water up from the river. At the time of our visit the station had
a variety of Corydoras cats, Raphaels, Banjo cats, Leaf-fish and others.
We left the village behind as we continued up the Napo. When we turned onto the
narrower Tacshacuraray River we noticed a subtle change in the scenery - the river bank
was not as steep and the trees seemed to be taller. Our first collecting site off this
river was at Paivaa Cocha which we had to reach by walking through the forest. This was a
beautiful area and provided us with some different species. There was an abundant supply
of January tetras, some small hatchets, festivum, severum and some very nice, large
scalare angelfish. We also collected an interesting trumpet-nosed knife fish and some
small Satanoperca jurapari. We were still in white water and the pH was 5.8 with 50 ppm
hardness.
On Tuesday night we went on our only night hike of the trip, as we entered the forest
in search of interesting creatures. Unfortunately, there were not as many creatures as was
expected, but we did locate a frog, some stick-insects and small spiders.
Wednesday was our fourth day on the water and it brought us our first opportunity to
collect in "black-water". This moment had been eagerly anticipated by some of us
as we were hoping to find Apistogrammas - we were not to be disappointed. After breakfast
we traveled by skiff and on foot to reach Lata Cocha, a black water lake. The shoreline
was made up of leaf-litter, as was the bed of the small streams that fed the lake. We
fished the small streams using fine-meshed dip-nets. The nets were pushed into the
shoreline, under the leaf litter, and then lifted up. Next, all of the leaves were picked
out of the net to reveal an assortment of fish. The area was awash with Apistos - all
bitaeniata - and we were having great fun catching them. This was what the cichlid lovers
amongst us had been waiting for. Each scoop of the net would result in about five Apistos,
together with Pyrrulina sp. splashing tetras and some pencilfish. A single Neon tetra was
caught in one of the streams - the only Neon to be caught in the whole trip. We were
totally oblivious to the cast-netting that was taking place in the lake itself but we
later discovered that the cast-net pulled in a couple of species of Corydoras, spotted
headstanders and others. The water in this spot had the typical tea-like appearance of
"black-water". The pH was 5.8 with 50 ppm hardness. Curiously, the nearby
white-water Tacshacururay River had a pH of 5.5 and zero hardness.
After lunch we reached the furthest point of our expedition - Urcu Cocha. This lake
produced some Pulcher tetras and a couple of festivum. A single Leaf-fish was caught using
a dip net at the shoreline. We commenced the return leg of our journey and again collected
Apistos in the Paivaa Cocha area, before continuing on to the village with the collecting
station. Unfortunately, most of the fish had been transported downstream the previous day
but I was still able to trade a spool of fishing line for five leaf fish. There was also
an opportunity for us to trade T-shirts for fishing-spears and paddles prior to the
Explorer continuing downstream on the Napo for the last hour of daylight.
The main objective on Thursday was to get as far down the Napo as possible. However,
Albert graciously allowed a brief stop to collect again at the village of Salvador, as one
of the group was hoping to get more hatchetfish. The area had been loaded with hatchets a
few days before but now they were all gone, illustrating the ever changing nature of the
Amazon region. After the brief stop we continued downstream and some of the group took the
opportunity to begin bagging fish ready for the flight home. There was a brief stop at the
town of Mazan and then about 5.30 pm Albert pulled the boat into shore so that we could
visit a riverside village. One of the villagers graciously invited this strange bunch of
strangers into his home and showed us around. Most of the children of the village had
followed us to the house and sat in the building, quietly watching us. Of course, they
were given lots of candy and the householder received a few gifts before we left.
The food throughout the trip was excellent. It was varied, well prepared and in
plentiful supply. We enjoyed Dorado catfish, chicken, pot- roast, heart-of-palm salad, and
freshly squeezed tropical fruit juices, to name just some of the delicious offerings.
However, on this, our final night aboard we were to be given a special treat. The
pre-planned menu included T-bone steak, which was delicious, but the special treat had
been obtained that morning from a young boy in a dug-out canoe near Salvador. Two large
Oscars and a Prochilodus had been baked and were served as an optional addition to the
menu. I believe that everyone sampled the Oscars and before long there were only bones
left in the pan. They were absolutely delicious - the culinary highlight of the trip!
After dinner we enjoyed a very nice sunset, and a couple of beers before turning in for
our final night on the Explorer.
The final fish-count for the trip showed that we had caught 55 species of characins, 14
cichlid species, 34 catfish species, 3 species of gymnotids and 4 species from other
groups. This adds up to a grand total of 110 different species of fish.
During our week on the water, our group remained virtually unscathed and suffered no
attacks by fish or wild animals. One of the group was bitten twice by a piranha - the same
one - but this was only because he kept picking it up from its bucket on board the
Explorer. Whilst a small amount of insect bites were inevitable, the area was surprisingly
free of mosquitoes and other nuisances.
We tied up for the night close to the Amazon and by early morning we were motoring up
river on the Amazon, heading for Iquitos. Along the way we could see many of the local
people gathered by the river bank, waiting for the various ferry boats to collect them and
their produce and take them into Iquitos. We reached Iquitos be early afternoon and we
were soon transferred to the Hotel Acostas II for the night.
After the siesta period we walked to a tropical fish exporting facility. This is where
permits would be issued for the fish we had collected. We also had the opportunity to
purchase additional fish from the exporter - provided they could all fit in our 48 quart
coolers.
With all of the fish business taken care of, we had time for souvenir shopping and a
guided tour of the city. The final event of the trip was the Captain's Dinner, hosted by
Albert at one of the city's restaurants.
The following morning we departed the hotel early and headed to the airport for the
flight back home. Margarita Tours ensure that all of the required documentation is in
place so that returning to the States with tropical fish is not a problem. We were soon
through Customs and on our various ways home.
I am not an ichthyologist - just a regular fish hobbyist, yet I have been able to
travel to the Peruvian Amazon, get up to my neck in water (and my thighs in mud), collect
tropical fish and bring them home. Despite being back in my home country I am continuing
to enjoy my fish collecting expedition as a result of the 700 slides that I took, and the
assortment of fish that made the return trip with me. Thanks to the efforts of Albert,
Dave and Margarita Tours, this is an expedition that anyone can take part in. Maybe you
will be on the next one!
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