Tabla de contenidos para January 2023 en Practical Fishkeeping

A SIGET older, my tastes become increasingly hard to cater to. When I was younger, I wanted the biggest showpieces in my fish tanks, but now I crave the tiniest and most delicate species. That’s all well and good, but a decade of working with computer screens means that my poor eyes can barely make them out. At least there are the pictures, huh? The morse code tetra, currently available under the vague moniker of Hemigrammus sp. ‘morse code’ until it’s formally described, is a perfect example of a fish I’d like to (literally) see more of. It’s also a fish that’s mired by a paucity of information, and so beyond the loosest of origins stories—it comes from Peru—all we have to go on is the collective handfuls of anecdotes…

TROPICAL Peacock cichlids AULONOCARA. MORE COMMONLY known as the peacocks, they are a group of cichlids endemic to Lake Malawi in Africa’s Rift Valley, sporting fascinating colourations, shapes and variety rivalling that of the most prestigious marine fish. It should be no surprise that they are a favourite of aquarium hobbyists around the world. Within the Aulonocara genus there are over 20 different described species, each with their own trademark colours and behaviours. Furthermore, each species can differ drastically in pigmentation depending on the particular location it originates from. It’s intriguing to know that species like A. stuartgranti can diverge into four variations at opposite ends of the lake. To tame a peacock As a staple for Malawian cichlids a higher pH than the everyday community tank is usually recommended—…

TWAS THE NIGHT before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring - except of course for the very excited boy or girl (of any age!) about to receive their first aquarium. The festive season is often the first time that new fishkeepers make their way into what can be a very rewarding, very long-lived hobby. Certainly I know of plenty of fellow aquarists whose first memory of keeping fish was wrapped in shiny paper and nestled away under a tree. But often in the excitement to get started, some fundamental steps are missed, and by the time the New Year rolls around, many of these shiny new aquaria are simply gathering dust under the stairs, in a shed, or in the loft. Why? Well simply put,…

SPECIES SHOWCASE Plumed lampeye DIRECT IMPORTS OF wild fish often result in incorrect identifications. Such mistakes can be innocent, a simple error on behalf of the exporter, whilst others are a little more nefarious—labelling a common species as something worth more to draw in the unsuspecting buyer. Seldom does the reverse occur, whereby a fish is purchased under the impression of it being something worth less… On a recent Nigerian import, we received a bag full of small juvenile Procatopus similis. The genus represents a group of physically large (by lampeye standards) and sensitive lampeye killifish which seldom enter the trade. The animals which arrived were somewhat bland, with no real redeeming features. Unsurprisingly, they stayed with us for a few months, despite my efforts to push them onto retailer…

questions@practicalfishkeeping.co.uk Win The Question of the Month gets a Tetra goodie box! [TROPICAL] How do I decorate around my tank safely? I have quite a large tropical community tank in my living room. I need to decorate, but the tank is too big for me to move, and I have nowhere to transfer the fish to. I know that fumes can enter the aquarium and that they can be harmful to the fish, so are there any precautions I can take, and are there any particular types of products I should be avoiding—or any that are safer to use? ED STEVENS BOB SAYS: Paint fumes can be harmful to fish, so you are right to take precautions. Luckily, modern paints are far less nasty than they were 20 or so…

TROPICAL Alternative communities COMMUNITY TANKS ARE like snowflakes, in that no two are the same. Almost every hobbyist starts with one, and in doing so they enter the world of aquatics with their own unique ‘fingerprint’. From there, many will fall in love with particular inhabitants and go down one or another rabbit hole of fandom: catfish, cichlids, loaches, whatever. Some aquarium purists sneer at the community tank, and to show any community in the intellectual marketplace of social media is to invite criticism: those species are incompatible; it’s too hot for those and too cold for those; they’re going to eat each other; they’re going to hybridise. But ultimately, a well-planned community tank can be a fun endeavour, and with most mainstream fish being reared in farms, and becoming…

I’VE BEEN FORTUNATE enough to snorkel at some very impressive places across the world; from hillstreams in Borneo, to coral reefs in Panama, and among marble rocks in the Mediterranean. But a local creek in my native Sweden is the one site that I keep returning to year after year. It’s within walking distance from my childhood home (although not in a wetsuit under a scorching sun) and has over the course of history withstood logging, mining, and being cut-off at both ends by dammed lakes. Yet, it’s still teeming with life; from the gushing headwaters right below the outlet of the upper lake, to calm low-land type sections where the bottom is covered by aquatic plants. What lies beneath? The number of species is quite low here—especially for the…

TROPICAL Needlefish THERE ARE MANY fishes which we might love to keep at home, but which simply are not available. Or, even if they are, they might be totally unsuited to any captive setting outside of a dedicated zoo or public aquarium display. The family of freshwater needlefishes is one such group. The line between what is a needlefish and what is a halfbeak can get blurry in the hobby. Halfbeaks that look a lot like needlefish, such as those belonging to the family Hemirhamphodon, from South-East Asia, are occasionally available and can, with care, be kept in home aquaria (PFK contributor Alex Bell keeps Hemirhamphodon tengah very successfully). However, most true Needlefishes (in the Belonidae family) should stay off the list. Stage fright There are several reasons for this.…

MARINE Hardcore inverts AS I HOVERED a couple of metres above the reef, surveying it in the glow of the early morning sun, a movement around the base of a coral bommie caught my attention. It was a juvenile banded sea krait, Laticauda colubrina, snaking its way over the substrate. It would periodically investigate the burrows that pock-marked the seafloor, presumably checking to see if anyone was home. It didn’t take long for it to get lucky. Or not, as it transpired. The snake started to jerk, whipping its tail and attempting to retreat. The thrashing continued for a few seconds before it turned limp and lifeless. Inch by inch, it was drawn down into the darkness. What subterranean dweller could opportunistically flip such a predation event in its favour?…