African freshwater fishes are endangered by over exploitation of live fish for aquarists and for exports, intensive fishing of species with low resilience, introduction of exotic species, pollution, general environmental modification by man. Therefore, to ensure conservation to fish species, it is necessary to increase basic knowledge in order to provide guidelines and a scientific basis for conservation measures. The three main lines for the development of a fish conservation policy are public education and information, effective legislation and its application, creation of national park and reserves. It is often more realistic to consider conservation of some aquatic biotops holistically than the conservation of single fish species. (Résumé d'auteur)