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Willem Heijns, 200
Freshwater Fishes of Mexico
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Willem Heijns

Netherlands
last updated on 05-Jan-2014

Willem Heijns is 65 years of age and has been keeping cichlids well over half that time. He started out with the firemouth (Thorichthys meeki) and thus got hooked up with Central American cichlids for the rest of his life. Having had small tanks at first he is now the proud owner of a "Cichlidarium" containing two 600 gallon aquariums and some smaller ones. He keeps big fish.

Willem has been a member of the Dutch cichlid association (NVC) for almost 30 years and currently serves as their President.

About 15 years ago he started collecting cichlids in México and other countries in Central America. Most of these trips he made together with Ad Konings and some with Juan Miguel Artigas and Don Danko. On the first trips he focussed on collecting cichlids but on later ones Willem tried his hand at shooting video both above and below the waterlevel. This has resulted in both bringing (new) fish into the Dutch hobby and a number of films.

The last three trips he made had Nicaragua as destination. He visited most of the crater lakes in that beautiful country searching for cichlids, concentrating on Laguna Xiloá where he put his divers license to good use being able to get video footage from depths of 20 meters or more. He ended up with a practically complete collection of cichlids from Laguna Xiloá (over 10 species) now residing in the Cichlidarium. One tank features a group of 7 Amphilophus amarillo (13") and 5 Parachromis dovii of about the same size. Central American cichlids can indeed be kept in groups!

Talks:
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Work on mexican fish and contributions: