Joachim Knaack

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Joachim Knaack (2 January 1933 – 5 December 2012) was a German biologist and physician who loved fish. From the 1950s he described many South American catfish and wrote about how to keep ornamental fish healthy. He studied biology at the University of Leipzig and was the first student of Günther Sterba. He earned his doctorate in 1961 on the biology and parasitology of local loaches.

In the early 1960s he described armored catfish from the Rio Guaporé in Brazil, including Corydoras sterbai, a popular aquarium species. In East Germany he was a leading aquarium expert, but publishing in Western journals was discouraged. After reunification and his retirement, he could travel to Brazil to study the fishes in their habitats. From 1999 to 2007 he described more species on expeditions south of the Amazon. In total he described 17 new armored catfish and 5 Loricariidae species. He stressed describing both how the fish look and how to care for them and breed them.

He was also a skilled sport diver and worked at Bezirkshygieneinstitut Potsdam from 1953 to 1993, eventually becoming its director. He was married and had a son and a daughter. He was born in Potsdam and died in Neuglobsow, aged 79.