Table of contents for August 2023 in Practical Fishkeeping

MARINE Nano set-up SETTING UP A new tank is always a challenge. You must make sure that every parameter is spot on before introducing any livestock. You do frequent water tests and make adjustments if and when necessary. Having a tank at home means that you can check it at least once a day and you also know what goes into the tank, putting you in control over the whole process. Setting up an aquarium in a communal space brings extra challenges. You can't check the tank daily and there could be unexpected complications. In one of my recent outsourced projects an overly enthusiastic cleaner—an employee who was new to the job and was told to make sure that every light was switched off before she left the building—decided to…

MARINE Fairy wrasse WE CAN'T PROTECT what we don't know—it's a simple statement that serves to underpin the importance of studying our natural world. The more we know about the plants and animals that surround us, the better prepared we can be in order to conserve them. One annual cause for excitement is the round-up of the newly described species from the previous year. 2022, as with previous years, did not disappoint. In March, conservation initiative SHOAL released its second annual report, recounting 201 new species of freshwater fish described last year, including the vampire-inspired Paracanthopoma catfish P. daemon, P. satanica and P. vampyra, from the Amazon, and the pathala eel loach, Pangio pathala, which was discovered after dropping out of a local resident's showerhead mid-wash. On the marine side,…

SPECIES SHOWCASE Emperor tetra AS MAINSTREAM FISH go, the emperor tetras could be up there as the most majestic. Eye catching and alluring, it's little surprise that they hold as much appeal to newcomers as they do to long-established aquarists. The difference, of course, is that the old guard generally know how to get the best out of them, but that needn't be a guarded secret. What we might call the ‘true’ emperor tetras belong to the genus Nematobrycon, and there are two species, both originating in Colombia—the widespread but common emperor tetra, Nematobrycon palmeri, and the pricier but more indulgent rainbow emperor tetra, Nematobrycon lacortei. Historically it was thought that there was a third member of the genus, Nematobrycon amphiloxus, but this turned out to be the same fish…

IT WOULD NOT be unfair to say that aquarists generally dislike snails. They view them as unwanted pests, as likely to destroy their plants as they are to breed uncontrollably until they outnumber the fish a hundred to one. While some species certainly can cause problems, there are other species that have a lot more going for them. Snails are generally hardy animals, easy to feed, and in their own way, quite attractive. They don't pose any threat to fish, except perhaps as eggs, and a few are reliable algae-eaters that can be usefully employed in that role. What follows is a survey of some of the snail species available. A few have specific needs, and one or two are, it has to be admitted, voracious plant-eaters. Others are strict…

IS IT ACTUALLY DEAD? Ask any retailer how many times a day they get told ‘You've got a dead fish over here,’ only for it to be some cryptic, sedentary species, alive and well and minding its own business. Before reaching for the net, establish if a fish is exhibiting normal behaviour. Not every species is on the go all the time, and many (like banjo catfish) can spend a good 23+ hours a day doing nothing. Inspect for gill beats (breathing) and look for other obvious signs of life. A dead fish might have glazed or cloudy eyes, for example, or patchy mucus where it's starting to slough off. Only when you're certain it has ceased to be, approach it with a net. Note that even then, some fish…

EHEIM BIOPOWER 160 Reviewed by: Nathan Hill Testing duration: 4+ weeks Price: around £54.50 More info: eheim.com There's something distinctly R2D2 looking about this canister filter. The appearance is down to the ingenious ball design of the motor unit, which allows far more directionality to the outflow than most internal filters offer. Standing 21.5cm tall, and with a diameter of 9.6cm, the BioPower 160 feels as substantial in the hand as it looks in the tank. Like most internals, it's tricky to hide, so Eheim have apparently just given us something that's easy on the eye. The filter comes with three compartments, feeding from the bottom (containing a foam) through the middle (containing substratpro biomedia), and up through the top (another foam). You pull off the pump to access the…

STEP-BY-STEP Apistogramma So, you've fallen in love with Apistogramma. I can't blame you, they're charming little fish with colour and personality in equal measure. But if you're new to the hobby (or new to Apistogramma) it's important to know that they're not the kind of fish you can just sling into any old community and hope for the best. That's not to say that they're hard to keep, but it does depend on the species. And there are a lot of them. Formally described species (those that have a valid scientific name) number around 90, but there are at least another hundred sat in the wings awaiting proper identification. It stands to reason some are easier to keep than others, and at the easiesttokeep end of the spectrum reside the…

SPECIES SHOWCASE Black chin livebearer IF TASKED WITH coming up with a brackish livebearer, the average aquarist would be forgiven for thinking the options are limited to the common molly, Poecilia sphenops, or their congeners, the sailfin and giant sailfin mollies, respectively Poecilia velifera and P. latipinna. I know I did when planning the stocking for my first brackish system, but didn't feel my tank—at just over 60cm—was large enough for the latter two, and I wanted something less common than the aquarium strains of poecilids that are the bread and butter of LFS everywhere. Enter Girardinus metallicus. Never heard of it? No surprise; unlike the arguably freakish, garish guppies, ‘endlers’, and swordtails massproduced in Asian farms for shops, Girardinus lack the admittedly remarkable, bright colours and diversity of form…

TROPICAL Oddball cats WHEN THINKING OF oddballs for the aquarium, anything extraordinary, uncommon, and particularly strange may come to mind. They are often rare collectors items and hard to find in stores. A significant number of the species in this category still have their place in the hobby, despite their lack of popularity and limited commercial value. In fact, the number of species I would define as oddballs far outnumber the few hundred most popular ‘mainstream’ species. The average store will at best have a rotating stock of a few oddballs combined with the always present ‘must-haves’. This is part of what makes such species special and intriguing. Curious cats The catfishes, the order Siluriformes, is perhaps the most oddball-rich group of them all. With over 4000 catfish species spread…