User:Lisachromis/Heiko Bleher

Heiko Bleher was born on October 18, 1944 in a bunker in the ruins of Frankfurt, Germany on Main. He was the fourth and last child of Ludwig Bleher and Amanda Flora Hilda Kiel. Amanda's father Adolf Kiel was the well-known "Father of Water Plants", a pioneer of the modern aquarium who established the world's largest plant and ornamental fish farm in Frankfurt, Germany in 1900. In those early days his adventurous daughter Amanda travelled around the world collecting fishes and plants. She was the first woman to ride a motor bike in Germany, and competing against men, won 148 European Moto-Cross car races, won championships in tennis, table tennis (world vice champion), European skating and ice skating, and was the first woman to fly an aircraft without an engine.

Just as Amanda followed in her father's footsteps, Heiko has followed his mother's. At 4, he saw his first aquarium fishes and discus at an aquarium fish exhibition in the still ruined Frankfurt Zoo. Later he travelled with his mother to Africa then, aged 6, throughout Europe collecting plants and fishes. When he was 7, his mother took him, his older brother and two older sisters with her on his first discus hunt - a highly adventurous exploration trip deep into the "green hell" of the South American jungle. They reached areas inhabited by unknown Indian tribes, some of whom had killed and eaten 4 missionaries shortly before. They lived with the natives for over 6 months, collecting 60 new aquatic plant species, and an amazing amount of new fish species like the later described Corydoras sterbai, C. haraldschultzi, C. guapore, C. caudimaculatus, to name a few, and many other animals.

Still a child, Heiko learned to live like the Indians, eating the same food and collecting fishes and plants in the Mato Grosso, Brazil and in Bolivia. He learned about the life and behaviour of fishes, and became familiar with the amazing variety of fish that exist in unspoiled nature. By the time he was 8, he had already discovered numerous fish species (wimple piranha, some of the above-mentioned armoured catfish and several characoid species that were described later).

After two years, Amanda Bleher's return to civilization with her four children made newspaper headlines around the world. In 1959 she decided to settle permanently in Brazil. It was there that Heiko helped build a water plant nursery and fish-breeding establishment in the jungle outside Rio. In 1962, he moved to the US and attended the University of South Florida, studying at night and learning more about fishes. He took courses in ichthyology, biology, limnology, oceanography, parasitology and others. Working first at Elsberry's Fish Farm and later at the Gulf Fish Farm, by the time Heiko was19, he was acknowledged as the best tropical fish breeder in America and received his first achievement awards. Two years later he returned to Rio to open Aquarium Rio and start his own collecting in Brazil. He first established several compounds in the interior, with others opening later in different parts of South America. In 1963 Heiko participated at the IGA in Hamburg, Germany, decorating his first large biotope aquarium (4000 litres - 1056 gallons) for which the German President presented him an award for "best tank decoration".

At the end of 1964/1965 he discovered the first new fish species to be named after him - Hemigrammus bleheri, the brilliant rummy-head tetra, which today is one of the most widely-sold aquarium fishes in the world. He also discovered the now famous "Royal Blue", his first new strain of discus, along with many other species and variants. Some years later Heiko explored new, uncollected areas never researched before, and by 1967 he moved his company Aquarium Rio to Germany, returning monthly to Brazil and South America to collect fishes. Over the years, generally alone, Heiko penetrated jungles in all South and Central American countries. He also travelled to the Amazon area as many as 10 times a year in search of all kinds of freshwater species.

In the 1970s he expanded his operations to include Africa, Asia and Oceania (Australia, New Guinea, etc.) and began to give lectures around the world. He made his first made for TV Discus Documentary, "Expeditionsziel Aquarienfische" with the German ZDF and has made many TV appearances in different countries. His first Discus book was published in 1982 and has been reprinted 10 times. Since then he has published articles on ornamental fishes in magazines around the world. His first video "The Wimpel Piranha" was made in 1983, followed by films on freshwater fishes in New Guinea, Australia, Central America and Brazil, then four more films on discus in the 90s. Until 1997 he supplied wholesalers worldwide through Aquarium Rio (86 countries - at the time biggest and most modern tropical fish export facilities in Europe - a business model that was copied around the world) from Frankfurt with new species, including new discus variants every year, mostly from his own discoveries.

Between 1965 and 1997, besides introducing most of the wild discus variants and most of the wild ornamental fishes into the hobby - directly or by means of his breeders - he introduced more than 4,000 aquarium fish species he had discovered (or re-discovered). This includes the variants such as "blue-headed Heckel-discus", "Alenquer" region discus, "Red-spotted greens" from the "Coari" and "Japurб" regions and the famous "Rio Iзб" discus. He also introduced rainbowfishes such as Melanotaenia boesemani, M. lacustris and M. praecox (most probably now one of the most sold aquarium fishes), Chilatherina bleheri, and almost all rainbowfishes and blue-eyes in the hobby today have come from his collections. Others include angels such as Pterophyllum altum, dwarfs such as Nanochromis nudiceps and Steatocranus bleheri, or Channa bleheri. Among other fishes attributable to Heiko's explorations are also many loricariids (as many as 800 different species), new Corydoras species, almost countless tetras and dwarf cichlids from West Africa and South America, knife fishes, puffers and flounders. One of his best-known discoveries was the first freshwater sawfish known, in 1982, in a remote northern Australian lake.

For his contributions to the hobby Heiko was elected Man of the Year in England in 1993, and in 1994 Chevallier de Roc Amodour in France. He holds many other titles and has met kings, presidents, ambassadors and senators, but he is happiest and at his most relaxed away from it all when deep in the jungle searching for rare or new fishes and aquatic plants.

In 1992 he created the quarterly magazine "aqua geхgraphia", for Aquaprint (later Aquapress) publishers. A unique publication dedicated to virgin and bizarre habitats, expeditions to new, uncharted places, endangered species, biology, herpetology, botany, myths and aquatic legends, the wonderful world of water, and much more (sold in 5 language issues worldwide). He is the managing editor of the quarterly scientific journal "aqua, International Journal of Ichthyology" today acknowledged as one of the most prestigious scientific journals and he still finds time to write numerous articles - up to 50 each year. Heiko has been working for more than 20 years on a forthcoming tome on all fresh- and brackish water fishes with 25,000 photos. In 2006 his book Bleher's Discus volume I was published and is considered the most successful discus book of all times. Published in 10 languages, to this day it is the only discus publication based on observed facts, correct classification of species, description of habitats, nutrition of discus (and other Amazon fishes) in nature, history and discoveries of Amazonia and much more. It is said to be "The Bible of Discus" around the world. His lectures take him to the five continents each year and he is frequently invited to judge fishes (mostly Discus) in exhibitions worldwide. He also collaborated with and organized the first International Discus Show and Exhibition in 1986 in Tokyo, coordinated the first three Aquarama Exhibitions and Conferences held biannually in Singapore and is heavily involved with many others.