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To the discus fish near Iquitos on the Amazon

Iquitos is the largest city in the world without road access – reachable only by plane or boat and situated directly at the fork between the Rio Nanay and the Amazon. Iquitos is a direct 1.5-hour flight away from Lima and provides an excellent base for exploring other destinations in the Peruvian Amazon lowlands.

Aqua-Terra facts

Fish found

Cichlids

Diskus, Crenicichla, Cichla, eartheaters, angelfish, Cichlasoma amazonarum, Hypselecara temporalis

Catfish

Corys, suckermouth catfish, banjo catfish, whiptail catfish, sturisoma, tiger shovelnose catfish

Characins

Predatory characins, bottom dwelling tetras, Buenos Aires tetras, metynnis, piranhas, freshwater hatchetfish

Electric eel

Freshwater stingray

Water values

Amazonas

°C: 30.5 / pH: 7.0 / GH: 5 / KH: 5 / conductance in µS/cm: 226 / O2: 10 mg/l

Rio Nanay

°C: 28-32 / pH: 5-6 / GH: 1-2 / KH: 0 / conductance in µS/cm: 4-7 / O2: 8-10 mg/l

Air values

Air temperature

31.5-34 °C

Humidity

50-77 %

Iquitos itself is quite an experience, though not necessarily a pleasant one. Even as you approach the city, you can see the sprawling metropolis with its 377,000 inhabitants in the greater Iquitos area – the largest city in the Peruvian rainforest. And these people need to be fed.

At the daily market in the centre of Iquitos, alongside fish, you can also find caiman and turtle meat.

People eat whatever nature (still) provides. It’s astonishing that this quantity of fish can still be caught anywhere in the area on a daily basis. Let’s see how much longer that lasts…

The moto taxis, known as tuk-tuks in other countries, are a familiar sight on the streets. In the hustle and bustle of the sometimes narrow streets, they are an ideal and affordable means of transport. The exhaust fumes would be a nightmare for any green politician! Even when it rains, the taxis keep drivers and passengers reasonably dry!

And when it rains, it really pours. Five metres without an umbrella, and you’re soaked to the skin. All you can do is succumb to the rain as just part of the experience. After all, it is called a tropical rainforest!

Technically, September should still be BEFORE the rainy season, but the climate has changed significantly, even in the tropics. In the past, the indigenous people could predict to the week exactly when the dry season would end and the rainy season begin. Nowadays it is not even possible to predict the month with any certainty.

The 36 participants in the 16-day JBL expedition were divided into three teams of 12 people each, so that there were never too many people at any one biotope at the same time. A team leader was assigned to make sure that his flock didn’t get lost and that all 12 returned to the camp or lodge in the evening.

The participants came mainly from Germany, but also from France, Austria, Croatia, the UK, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Just as varied as the nationalities were the individual participants’ areas of interest: discus, cichlids, frogs, insects, plants and many more. This brought together an incredible wealth of knowledge, which proved extremely helpful in identifying the animals and plants we found. The assistance provided by the world-renowned cichlid specialist Dr Wolfgang Staeck alone was fantastic.