Tabla de contenidos para February 2025 en Practical Fishkeeping

AFTER WORKING IN the aquarium hobby for the last 18-ish years, and with most of them spent serving and talking to customers in an aquarium shop, you get asked a lot of questions. Now, some of these questions aren’t really fishkeeping questions, like: “Do you have Nemo here?” “Yes, we do. He’s just over there.” This question is unsurprisingly more frequent during the school holidays… Some of the questions come up more often than you want them to: “Does this puffer really puff up? How do I make him puff up?” The polite answer being “Yes, he does really puff up, but I’d rather you didn’t try” all while thinking about a slightly different response. But, of course, some questions are genuine ones that a lot of fishkeepers ask or…

THERE ARE NOT many living creatures that fishkeepers truly loathe, but the group of Aiptasia anemones are certainly one of them. Every reef keeper ranging from the very beginner to the saltiest of sea dogs has had the unpleasant experience of dealing with this absolute pest of an anemone and wouldn’t lose too much sleep over this critter disappearing completely. As well as the many profanities this little invert goes by, you may hear it being referred to as a glass, rock, tube or glass rose anemone. It tends to be a brown or grey colour and is capable of surviving the most inhospitable of conditions. This hardy and prolific animal is usually transported from tank to tank by hitching a ride on a piece of live rock or on…

THERE ARE NO strict rules to how you should maintain an aquarium; a quick internet search for a standard question will demonstrate this perfectly. For example, when I searched “How to start a planted aquarium” the first result focuses on what you need for a low-tech tank, explaining the bare essentials required for ‘success’. Whereas, the second is a step-by-step guide to a high energy aquarium, utilising CO2 injection and intense lighting. Both are completely reasonable articles, but to a newcomer it can be a confusing minefield. Should they read both, and try the merge the two concepts—without a complete understanding—they could end up with an inert substrate, with no CO2 but a powerful light unit. A recipe for algae, headaches and a potential route out of the hobby. Don’t…

Chemicals play an increasingly important role in setting up and maintaining a healthy aquarium. When I began my fishkeeping journey the only chemicals I used were methylene blue and malachite green for treating various illnesses. That was the time when tap water was treated with chlorine, so a bit of resting and aeration (or boiling) could convert it into a perfectly usable aquarium water. If you wanted to get a quicker result then you added antichlorine drops that sorted out the problem. Back then we didn’t worry (know?) about heavy metal ions and co. As the time passed by, and science advanced, the use of chloramination to disinfect drinking water became more widespread. These compounds are safe for us to drink but can quickly ruin your aquarium’s ecosystem by wiping…

THE GRASSLANDS OF the Cerrado biome once covered much of central and eastern Brazil. An ecoregion of savannahs, dry scrub forests, gallery forests and wetlands, and second only to the Amazon as Brazil’s largest habitat type, and it is home to an incredible array of flora and fauna. It once covered just over 23% of Brazil and extended into parts of Bolivia and Paraguay. It still covers around 2 million km2 of Brazil today, but often in name only. In reality, it has largely been converted into agricultural land, especially for large-scale crops, such as soy, and for cattle ranching. Invasive African grasses- fast growing and drought tolerant- have been introduced to provide year-round grazing for the over 240 million cattle. The bulk of this meat is for export, where…

TETRAS HAVE BEEN a staple of the aquarium world for decades. The movement and life they add to the tanks are highly valued by fish-keepers. There are characins from several continents but when it comes to selecting a species, most aquarists would go for one of the South American tetras. It’s fully understandable, as they come in a range of flashy colours and – except for the latest discoveries – at a very budget-friendly price. Compared to their above-mentioned relatives, African tetras are not as colourful nor that cheap – so why should you keep them? Read on and I may convert you. Taxing taxonomy All characins of the world belong to the order Characiformes. The members of this order usually have well developed teeth (yes, even neon tetras have…

EXPLORATION HAS ALWAYS been a driving force behind my work as a wildlife filmmaker. The chance to shine a light on endangered ecosystems, uncover the stories of elusive species, and share the beauty of our natural world with a global audience is what keeps me going. My recent journey to Thailand was no exception. One of my goals during this expedition was to find and document one of the most elusive and critically endangered fish species on Earth, the Somphong’s rasbora (Trigonostigma somphongsi). This tiny, copper-hued fish lives in the heart of one of Thailand’s rice-growing regions, an area rich in biodiversity yet constantly threatened by human activity. Though small and seemingly inconspicuous, the Somphong’s rasbora tells a story of survival against the odds, one that reflects both the resilience…

MA @ TAUNTON Address: A38 Piccadilly, Taunton, Blackdown Garden Centre, Wellington TA21 9HY Telephone: 01823 660060 Website: fishkeeper.co.uk/storefinder/ Taunton/ Opening hours: Mon-Sat 9am-5pm; Sun 10:30am-4:30pm Parking: Large carpark shared with garden centre Tanks: 135 freshwater and 15 ponds Located in the heart of Blackdown Garden Centre on the outskirts of Wellington, Maidenhead Aquatics @ Taunton is actually almost 5 miles outside of Taunton. Once you arrive, there is a very large carpark, so finding a space is not an issue but once inside, it can be somewhat of a challenge to find the fish. Greeted by ample house plants initially, you soon enter a maze of shelving, that’s helpfully routinely changed, creating a network of paths to follow. Entering the store Once you find the right path to take, you’ll…