Table of contents for February 2023 in Practical Fishkeeping

FOR ME, keeping wild fish is special. I feel that I'm looking directly into the soul of the Amazon River, learning and observing something new every day. Wild fish have unique behaviours different to their captive bred cousins. Also, keeping wild fish helps with South American habitat preservation. Many wild fishes there (except the wild cichlids) only live for a single season (around 8 months). Once the rain stops, the water gets shallow, pushing all the fish into one very small area and making them vulnerable to predators. Later, when this water dries out completely, most of the fish will die. Fishing from these slowly receding areas gives these fish a second chance. The fish population naturally booms during the rainy season, so no harm is done to nature when…

Win The Question of the Month gets a Tetra goodie box! [TROPICAL] What is this red algae? I have an issue in my 140 I tank with a reddishcoloured algae that is predominately around the gravel line and aquarium corners, but also appears as small circular spots on the glass and leaves of some plants, especially Anubias. I do 25% water changes every week, and all water parameters appear normal. The tank has an Eheim external filter and also has CO2 injection through a CO2 Art system. I've tried adjusting the lighting, but it made no difference. The tank is lightly populated with 12 cardinal tetras and 10 Amano shrimp that are all fine. I've included a photo of the algae, taken after the tank was emptied. I've transferred the fish…

YOU CAN INFER a lot from a fish's common name. More often than not, morphology plays a key part in earning them their particular moniker. It may boil down to a physical characteristic, as with the longnose butterflyfish, Forcipiger flavissimus, scissortail sergeant, Abudefduf sexfasciatus, or the rostral protuberances of the unicornfish, Naso sp. It can be their resemblance to another creature, as with frogfish, Antennarius sp., or crocodilefish, Cymbacephalus beauforti. For others, like grunts, drums and croakers, their vocal capabilities mean it's very much a case of say what you hear. With that in mind, it doesn't take much investigation to find out how soapfish got their name. Pick one up or stroke its skin and, just like rubbing a bar of soap, the fish begins to lather up. But,…

FOR MY FIRST PFK feature, I'm fortunate to be writing about a fish close to my heart. It's a fish I've spent a long time looking for, with striking markings and some of the heaviest armour plating of any loricariid: Pseudorinelepis sp. L095, the orange cheek pinecone pleco. These gentle giants are a lesser-seen species in the UK hobby. They come from Brazil, where the collection of wild-caught fish for the trade is only really possible in the country's dry season (from August to February). For the rest of the year, forest flooding makes catching them more difficult as their habit increases. That makes them aquarium gold dust, only being available for a small portion of the year, combined with high demand from other countries. On top of that, they're…

THE DENISON'S BARB, Sahyadria denisonii, goes by many names: the roseline shark, the red line torpedo barb and Miss Kerala are all monikers for this famously social, peaceful and attractive fish. They brighten any tank with their flashes of red and yellow and their dynamic darting movement and, being relatively easy to care for, it is little wonder they can be found in aquariums right around the world and are one of the most popular mid-sized aquarium species in the hobby today. They belong to the Cyprinidae family, can grow to 15cm long and have a life expectancy of around five years. In the wild, they live in large schools, so if you are interested in including the Denison's barb in your collection, it is best to have a few…

1 INTO THE DARKNESS When you have your fish secured and bagged, the worst thing you can do is carry them about in the light. Place the fish bags into a dark container, or wrap them in a towel or some newspapers. Being in the dark will help to calm them for their journey, and wrapping the bag in something will help to insulate it and keep them warm. 2 NO MIX AND MATCH! Be wary of mixing fish together in a bag. Some of them (and this is especially noted with Corydoras catfish) seem to have the ability to release a toxin that poisons themselves and their travel companions. Stick to one species per bag to be safe. 3 ANY OLD BAG? Ideally you want a purpose made fish bag,…

OCCASIONALLY, YOU want to try out a fish just to experience its behaviour in the home setting. I had exactly this desire with a fish from the Hepsetus genus, a fish that calls West Africa its home. Now I look back on the experience, I can safely say that mine were true ‘aquarium monsters’. When Bloch described the species Hepsetus odoe in 1794, he was convinced that the genus was monospecific and contained only one single species. Many years later, research on Hepsetus catches from different locations across West and Central Africa showed that there in fact appeared to be many more species than just H. odoe. In biogeography terms, the Lower Guinea pertains to a stretch of coastal tropical forests reaching along the Gulf of Guinea, encompassing Benin, Cameroon,…

SPECIES SHOWCASE Sartor AS FISH GO, headstanders are an unusual bunch. The name is a nod to their headdown swimming posture, a behaviour facilitated in many by having their swim-bladder set further back towards the tail. The scientific family name Anostomidae can be broken down into the Greek ‘ana’ and ‘stoma’, meaning ‘up’ and ‘mouth’ respectively, on account of their superior-facing mouths. You could be forgiven for presuming this oral orientation reflects their surface-feeding habitats, but for the most part, this isn't the case. Being constant grazers, feeding on algae and the micro-fauna that dwells within, their specialised, upturned mouths enable these fish to poke and pry into all manner of cracks and crevices, and it's not uncommon to see certain members go one further and swim upside down in…

PRODIBIO WORMS & PARASITES TREATMENT (SALT- AND FRESHWATER) Price: around £12.99 for six ampules More info: prodibio.com ‘Ne pas nourrir les poisons.’ As an editor, I love a good typo, though not always on the instructions for medicine. It's a minor slip though, when contrasted against the good product it's advising on, so I'll let it slide. Besides, my boxes of the Prodibio Worms & Parasites treatments were early releases, and it's likely been picked up on by now. For the benefit of those who never studied GCSE French at school, it means ‘do not feed the fish’ and it applies to one day in the treatment cycle. Remember that, because it makes up a part of a multi-stage treatment plan. So, Prodibio treatments. Despite the obstinacy of some folks…