Tabla de contenidos para June 2024 en Practical Fishkeeping

FINISHING TOUCHES: Once soaked, I also add ten magnolia and ten jack fruit leaves. Eventually (as I want to make things slightly more acidic) five large catappa leaves are added, and to provide an additional hiding place, a single large kentia palm frond is added to the back of the tank.…

SPECIES SHOWCASE Trigonostigma truncata IT'S ALWAYS EXCITING to hear news about the discovery of a new fish species with great aquarium potential. If the fish in question is something right up my street, then I can't wait to see more pictures and receive information about its natural history. I learn as much as I can about its captive requirements and breeding habits. In the meantime, I keep an eye on the import lists in a hope of spotting the newcomer, hoping to be among the first to keep them. Well, in the case of Trigonostigma truncata the order of events was slightly messed up. Just read on and you will see why. A family of harlequins The fishes belonging to the Trigonostigma (formerly Rasbora) genus have been firm aquarium favourites…

The nature of competition has made many more coldwater and temperate fish available, but they shouldn't be added to garden ponds. PREDATORS Avoid pike (grow large, need live food,) perch (predatory,) chub (grow large and predatory,) and trout (need high oxygen, jump out, predatory and territorial). TEMPERATE FISH SPECIES Don't be tempted to add White Cloud Mountain minnows, zebra danios, weather loach, medakas/rice fish, or any other cooler-water oddities. They won't survive harsh British winters and are only allowed to be kept in indoor aquaria. FANCY GOLDFISH Avoid any short-bodied goldfish varieties with twin tails. They are easy heron food, develop buoyancy problems in cold water, their long fins are prone to infection, and they aren't suited to harsh British winters. REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS Avoid turtles as they could escape,…

POND NETTING — Fine mesh netting is available from many aquatic stores to go over the pond. This can be an effective (if unsightly) deterrent to most bird types, though herons will still attack through any large holes. Nets have limited effect against snakes, mink or otters. CAVES — Providing ample hiding spaces may not repel an attack, but it will at least offer refuge during one. Mink, otters and grass snakes may not be deterred though, being able to swim and chase their prey. WIRE MESH — A solid wire mesh with holes of less than 10cm wide will be able to stop all types of predator aside snakes and small mink, but will make maintenance difficult and the pond unsightly. A TRIP WIRE — A line of wire…

AQUARIUM CLASSICS Glowlight tetra ONE OF THE big attractions of the fishkeeping hobby for many of us, are new or seldom seen fish species. There's nothing that stirs the blood more than the first sight of the rare and unusual, or the costly and bizarre. Seasoned fishkeepers will brush past tanks of ‘community’ staples, with barely a second glance to get to the ‘good stuff', but are they always right in doing so? Are the brightly coloured denizens of so many aquariums suffering from a case of familiarity breeding contempt? This struck home last year when I was after some new tetras to fill the gaps left in an ageing selection of Amazonians. I shot past the tanks of hardy staples in search of something different. An inherent snobbery made…

TROPICAL Pimelodus THEY ARE ACTIVE, look pretty and are also easy to care for—Pimelodus. There are currently 36 valid species in the genus (according to Fricke et al., 2021), plus a few possibly undescribed species, of which some seem to be cryptic, that are only vaguely known at this time. Unfortunately, only a handful of species are imported, and only one of those with any regularity. This seems to be enough for the trade, which is a shame because Pimelodus make excellent aquarium fish if provided with a large enough tank. They are a good alternative to the many gigantic predatory catfish, yet only the pictus catfish, Pimelodus pictus, is well known enough to be a part of the standard range in every pet shop. For fans of them, look closely…

THE CONGO RIVER is the largest of Africa's River basins, covering about 4 million km². It occupies almost all the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), much of the Republic of the Congo, and large portions of Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Zambia, and Angola. The main channel of the river can be divided into the Upper Congo River, Middle Congo River, and Lower Congo River sections. Of these, the lower Congo River in particular contains extraordinary aquatic biodiversity, while studies have suggested that the numerous high-energy rapids throughout the region form physical barriers to gene flow, resulting in speciation and diversification. To date, scientists have discovered 320 fish species living in the Lower Congo River's 350 kilometres of water. In this article, I want to focus on two endemic…

HORIZON AQUATICS Address: Leaside, Newton Aycliffe DL5 6HX Telephone: 01325 311233 Website: horizonaquatics.co.uk Parking: Limited private parking spaces Tanks: 24 tropical freshwater, 64 tropical nano freshwater, no marines or pond fish I DIDN'T EXPECT A sign reading ‘enjoy your poo’ to be the first thing I took in on my arrival to Horizon, but it ended up being a perfect example of how playful this business is. Arriving after several hours journey on a motorbike, a dash to the store's toilets was needed to get changed out of riding gear and into something practical, only to be greeted by three words that made me chuckle. More seriously, I've always found a lavatory to be a useful initial yardstick for quality on any shop tour. If the toilet is kept well,…

STEP BY STEP Western Ghats IF YOU'D ASKED me a couple of years back if I'd be setting up a barb tank as my ‘forever aquarium’ I'd have sneered. In my snobbery I've long considered barbs as uninteresting side-line fish, fit for little more than dithering. How that changed in recent times. My latest obsession kicked in with a trip to Pier Aquatics in Wigan. I was looking for curious catfish, or some new tetras on the block, when I had a love at first sight moment. A tank of Narayan barbs, Pethia setnai, caught my eye. Not as bright as tiger barbs, not as regal as denisonii, there was just ‘something’ about these unassuming rhomboids bobbing about en-masse in their sale tank. I left with a half dozen there…

IN MY RETAIL years, one frequent customer issue was the disappearance and mutilation of pond fish. As pond keepers we make a rod for our own back—a gin-clear pond, with an intense concentration of colourful fishes, and scant (if any) hiding places. We might as well put a sign with ‘free fish buffet’ on such a pond for any passing hungry wildlife. So, who are the key culprits for fish-napping, and how can we limit our losses? Herons Perhaps the most prodigious fish eaters in the UK, herons typically arrive at dawn or dusk to gorge themselves. Signs of a heron visit include missing fish (though only up to a certain size—herons will not attempt to eat fish too large for their gullets) and knife-like injuries or stab wounds on…

MARINE Pipefish breeding ONE OF THE main reasons I first made the leap from obsessively collecting cichlids to my first marine tank was the possibility to keep some of the most exotic and unusual creatures on the planet. During the many visits to the local aquarium shop, I was always drawn to the seahorses, which back in the mid-90s were readily available. Amidst these delicate creatures I saw something neon blue nipping in and out of the live rock—my first glimpse of the bluestripe pipefish. Pipefish are basically straightened versions of seahorses, sharing the seahorses’ specialist requirements. They come in a multitude of shapes and sizes and occur in both freshwater and marine environments, but for super colourful species, members of the marine Doryrhamphus are a good place to start.…