Conserving fishes and aquatic invertebrates: Chester Zoo Aquarium and the FAI Taxon Advisory Group

Abstract

The Chester Zoo Aquarium, established in 1934 and with a long history of breeding fishes, has in the 1990s concentrated its efforts more strongly on the breeding of threatened species. In particular, successes have been achieved with Omani blind cave fish Garra barreimiae and Lake Victoria cichlids Haplochromis spp. Together with Glasgow Zoo, Chester Zoo was concerned with the formation of the Fishes and Aquatic Invertebrate Taxon Advisory Group and its co‐operation with groups in the USA and continental Europe. Among a wide range of activities, assistance, in the form of organization of a workshop and a survey, has been given to conservation initiatives in Africa.