Rainer Stawikowski from Gelsenkirchen, Germany, is the editor in chief (now for 26 years) of one of the most influential aquarium magazines in the world, Die Aquarien- und Terrarien-Zeitschrift (DATZ). Rainer was also the editor for 19 years of the journal of the German Cichlid Association, Deutsche Cichliden Gesellschaft- Informationen and is one of the most knowledgeable persons when it comes to American cichlids. Rainer is the author of several books on them, as well as original descriptions. He has managed to reproduce for the first time species like Heros severus, discovering it is a mouthbrooder as well as the enigmatic Uaru fernandezyepezi (which he also described). Rainer has made many trips to Central and South America looking for cichlids and trying to understand them.