May 26th,

Found us at the University Aqua Lab by 9-30am checking on the fish we had brought. The S.francesae and the Z.tequila were all 100% OK. But one of the Skiffia Multipunctata that I had also brought was dead. But that was the only fish lost in transit. At last I had time to take stock of what facilities I had available to start establishing the Conservation Lab. My intentions in being here were more to set up a small Goodea Conservation section to give our Mexican Friends some knowledge and experience in the Aquaculture of their wild species in the captivity. Before the main thrust and equipment arrived latter in the year. To this end they had made available to me some 24 aquariums with a supply of air but nothing more, and so the first thing I had to do was to visit the local Aquarium shops and purchase enough Plastic Plants , Gravel, Air Taps, Filters, Stress coat, Medicines, Plus 10 small breeding and 10 slightly larger rearing / quarantine Tanks and all the other bits and pieces necessary to get the tanks up and running. So by about 4-30pm we had a few tanks up and running and as we planned on bring the fish back in the first instance in their natural water from the collection site Horacio, Omar, and I set of on our first sortie for fish.This turned out to be to a new building site on the edge of Morelia in the village of El Parian at here we found a small spring and it was absolutely alive with fish but I must admit The thought did cross my mind as to how long this would last with all the new development gong on all around.The spring was about 3 x 6 meters and about 1 and a half meters deep which then passed under the road before going away in the form of a small stream half a meter wide and a few inches deep.At this sight we found a Poeciliopsis species, Feral guppies, Skiffia lermae, Zoogoneticus quitzeoensis and what looked like a form of either a Chapalichthys or Alloophorus Sp.The water temperature at the spring was 70`f and the Ph was between 7:8 and 8:0 the GH & DH were both 3 However as I said I would be quite willing to bet that unless something is done for it this site will be polluted within a year or two. Unfortunately most of the fish we collected on this visit were dead by the time that we got them back to the Lab even thought they were in 3 twenty litter bottles of their own water and the journey back took only 25 minuets

Wed 27th May

    At the Lab the fish we had brought from home appeared to be settling in and were feeding well a few more of the fish from El Parian were dead, leaving just the Skiffia lermae we had collected in that tank. That morning we met Mario Romero for the first time on this trip and we set up a meeting each evening to discuss the days results and future possibilities. After doing our mornings maintenance feeding and preparation Omar and I set of to a lake "La Mintzita "which again was just on the edge of Morelia on the road towards Patzcuaro and off to the right just outside town. It is a spring fed lake used a lot for drinking water " there were one or two water bowsers filling up every moment that we were there". and I understand that quite a large paper mill extracted water from it on the Morelia side, were as we explored mainly that shore farthest away from the town. By far the biggest part of the lake had been overgrown by water hyacinth just the last 100meters or so was open water with a healthy growth of what I took to be an indigenous species of water lily. Here the water was crystal clear and is were we found all the fish, they were:- Skiffia lermae, Zoogoneticus quitzeoensis, Carp, and a Poeciliopsis sp Plus a very large Goodea species that resembled Chapalichthys pardalis excepts for it’s great size. We caught dozens of females right up under the water hyacinth, most were 5inches or more long, but not one male was seen at this time. But the next day while Omar was diving he reported a number of large males seen out in open water but was unable to collect any males. I think that this population could do with further investigation before the water Hyacinth finally chokes this lake once and for all. The water readings were as follows .water temp 72"f Ph 7:8 to 8:0 Gh & Dh =4

Thurs. 28th May.

When we got to the Lab we again found that many of the previous days fish from lake La Mintzita had died many on the journey home and quite a lot over night and so working on the assumption that it was a combination of oxygen starvation caused by the dramatic rise in temperature due to the heat of the day acting on the water bottles and a certain amount of stress by removing them from there natural environment .So I took another little trip into town and purchased 4 Thermos Insulated Picnic Boxes which would hold about 5galls of water each the idea being that they would help to keep the water temperature down and if the lids were kept on them this should help to reduce the stress on the fish by keeping them in the dark. On returning to the lab Samuel Argenal Olivera was showing a party of High school students around the Lab then a little later Mario Romero came in and asked if I would mind giving a few lessons on what we had learnt on collecting and keeping wild species before we went home. So we spent the rest of the day writing up notes, collecting fry that were being born and general maintenance.

Fri.29th May.1998.

As many of the fish from Lake La Mintzita had died on the first attempt we decided to go out in the morning and try again with the Thermos containers and Omar took his scuba gear and was going to do some underwater filming for me. This time we had a great deal of success and it seemed we had found the answer to the problem also amongst the fish we brought back this time was yet another species of Goodea that I was unfamiliar with. Unfortunately there was just the one male in the whole collection of fish we brought back After putting these fish into tanks at the lab Horacio turned up about 4-0pm and we took off out of town again on the old Guadalajara Road and about 11 Kilometers out we turned off to the right at sign post to "Teremendo " We followed this road for quite some distance, " My guess is between 4 & 7 kilometers Look for a fork in the road the right one being a very rough stone track. Take this track. It slowly climbs away from the main road, and a little over ½ a kilometer along it you will find a little village. As you arrive at the village if you look over the edge of the hill to your left, you will find yourself looking down into an old volcano. The center of which is formed into a lake, I refer to this only so that you know you are on the right road as I was told that the lake had only tilapia and carp in it. Instead we continued straight on through the village. After another 2 and a half Kilometers we came to the much larger village of "San Pedro Puruatiro ". Here apparently it is best to find the head man of the village and ask for permission to fish in the village spring, This is situated on the far side of the village in the same direction you were going. Here to was a spring fed crystal clear lake with exactly the same water value and temp readings as Lake la Mintzita the species found were Allotoca Dugesi ,Chapalichthys pardalis,Goodea Atripinnis, Xiph hellieri, Poeciliopsis species and a Skiffia species " probably lermae.We also saw carp and tilapia.This spring pool is about 50 meters square.and had a few aquatic plants especially in the margins. 

Sat 30th May 1998.

     Found Omar a diving buddy of his Tina and I at the spring near the swimming pool at lake Zacapu, where we did a fair bit of underwater video work as well as collecting fish. The fish stocks on this side of the lake however seemed greatly reduced and so we latter went to the other side of the lake where we found most species, Zoogoneticus quitzeoensis, Skiffia sp, Hubbsina turneri and an Allotoca species However I was very surprised that we found no Xenotoca variata as that had been the most prevalent species on my two previous visit to this lake..Again all the water values were much the same as those described before, .

Sunday morning 31st May 1998 We headed of to Uruapan to meet up with a friend of Omar and Horacio who was a Ranger on a Nature Reserve in that area before heading to the Dam Presa Cupatitzio and after a while found our self’s at the Dam itself  so we decided to try our luck in the water at the edge of the Dam and there under the vegetation at the bank near the Dam sluice side in a couple of scopes of a hand net we had more Ilyodon whitei,and Allotoca catarinae than we could handle in fact we had to return most of what we caught there was simply to many, they were in fact mostly Allotoca young with a few Ilyodon among them the water temperature her was 74`f Ph 7:8 to 8:0 and a Gh & Dh of 5 and we caught Tadies and Frogs in most places we went but this Dam was simple alive with them. On the way back we stopped off at the National Park in the middle of Uruapan but there was only trout to be found.. Next we checked out a nearby pool that once appeared to be part of a water course in the middle of town but that only held X.hellieri and carp.So we decided to leave then and try to go to the Ranch el Molino near Patzcuaro on the way home. To get there you go through Patzcuaro and get on to the main Morelia road then just a few kilometers out of Patzcuaro on the Dual carriageway you will find a small cattle bridge spanning the dual carriageway go over this carry straight on the rough track past over a Railway besides a country station and carry on for a total of 5 and a half kilometers and you will eventually end up at the spring.Well we arrived there at 7-45pm and this gave us just one hour before it got dark. Rancho el Molino is yet another spring pool that eventually flows into Lake Patzcuaro. At this site a small lake has been established behind a retaining wall which then flows off along side the road you traveled to get here but so far we have not found many fish in this. Rather spend your time looking in the field below the main lake and towards the bottom of this in the marshy area you will as we did find Allotoca dugesi, Allotoca diazi Goodea atripinnis, and Skiffia lermae and it barely took us i hour to collect all we needed..All these fish can also be found above in the lake but these days it is well and truly fenced off

Mon 1st June. 1998.

    Once more heading out of Morelia on the Patzcuaro road after about 11 kilometers at the sign post for Tiripetio turn left then one kilometer later turn left on to Caruca Rd three-quarters of a kilometer later turn right towards San Rafel 6 kilometers later at T junction Turn left then fork left in the village and keep forking left until you pick up the Mountain stream fish here and a little further on after tuning left again there is a spring in the village where we fished and collected Allotoca dugesi the females of which had very strong color and Skiffia lermae yet again. This place is called La Maiza, 40 minutes driving from Morelia on the highway to Patzcuaro and it was to be our last collecting trip on this visit as I would soon go home.

Tue/Wed the 2/3 June

     I spent settling all the fish down in there new homes at the Aqua Lab and giving instructions and help on how to maintain them we also held a couple of two hour classes on Aqua culture As I said "MY WAY " I put it this way explaining that no two Aquarists keep fish the same way all one could do was to give ones personnel experiences as a theme for them to play with to find their own way of doing things that suited them and their fish..I therefore emphasized that they should if possible take part in the more formal Aquaculture Classes to come latter in the year by Dr Peter burgess and his colleges as I could only give them my own personal l experiences.

Thurs 4th June.

    Left by coach for Mexico City where I was met by Topiltzin and taken to Cuernavaca.As it was 11-30pm by the time we arrived I went straight to Los Belenes for the night. I met Topiltzin for breakfast at 9-30am before having a look around the facilities at the Centro de Investigaciones Biol¢gicas. Universidad Aut¢noma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, I saw that the Skiffia francesae I had brought seem to have settled in but they had lost all the others. After a very pleasant lunch we went into Cuernavaca to take a look at the central- park with all it's many springs and waterfalls. However after a very pleasant hour or two under the trees my legs forced me to turn back. Topiltzin had a very special meeting at 6-0 so at 5-0pm we returned to Los Belenes collected our luggage and caught a Taxi to the Airport in Mexico City for the homeward journey.

Eventually arrived home at 7-0pm on Sat 6th June.