Table of contents for February 2024 in Practical Fishkeeping

Josh is freshwater manager at Finest Aquatics and has a passion for South American fishes. HERE'S AN AQUARIUM with two different fish species, each with their own unique sense of style. Look (not so) closely and you'll see peacock gudgeons and threadfin rainbows; both come from the same part of the world, but couldn't be further apart from each other in appearance. This tank was conceived to show what aquarists can do away from the usual blackwater and South American aquaria that tend to dominate amongst hobbyists. Instead, we've gone on an exploration of the tropical wonders of Papua New Guinea, and hopefully our set up will spur others to try their own hands at something a little off the beaten track. What's more, with the fish grown in and…

1 What is hardness? Hardness is the aspect of water chemistry that many aquarists tend to either ignore or take for granted. When we talk of water hardness, we are referring to the amounts of specific dissolved minerals dissolved within a body of water. That's not to say that we're referring to all minerals—water can be classed as soft and yet still contain a huge quantity of minerals. It's all about the particular types of minerals. Understanding hardness is important if you're at the extremes of biotope keeping (certain fish may require not just low hardness but also mineral deficient water, so it's worth noting that one doesn't necessarily imply the other), or are invested in aspects such as fish or shrimp breeding. Most of us will be familiar with water…

The most widespread approach researchers employ to age reef fishes involves the quantification of otoliths (essentially bones in the inner ear of fishes). Three pairs of otoliths occur in each fish, allowing fishes to sense vibrations and navigate their environment. Critically, otoliths are composed of calcium carbonate, with fishes continually accreting new calcareous material on their otoliths in a linear fashion during their lives. This process means that the annual rings laid down in otoliths can be counted by researchers, much like counting rings in a tree. Incredibly, daily growth rings can also be readily counted in larval fishes and short-lived species, giving researchers an indication of a fish's age to the nearest day. Given the way otoliths grow, they readily incorporate different environmental and chemical signatures into the calcareous…

NT LABS AQUARIUM LAB MULTI-TEST KIT Tested by: Nathan Hill Price: RRP £36.99, usually sold around £25 More info: ntlabs.co.uk NT Labs’ Aquarium Lab sits at just the right point between accuracy and affordability (Finest Aquatics currently has it listed on its website at £23.99, which is about the going rate). For your money you get tests across six essential parameters: ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, general hardness, and carbonate hardness. Inside the box, you find six plastic test tubes with screw on lids, one 5ml syringe, and ten bottles of testing reagents. There are also instructions for use, as well as a handy sticker pack, so that you can label each tube and (just as importantly) lid. Juggling multiple tests at once, it's easy to forget what drops you're adding…

CATFISHES ARE POPULAR in aquariums across the world, with Corydoras and Loricariids (plecs) leading the way. However, the order Silurformes (the catfishes) contains around 4,200 valid species, with Corydoradinae and Loricariidae only accounting for less than a third. This leaves a few thousand species as potential alternatives, if the keeper is willing to also include the more unusual and nocturnal species. One such family of catfishes is the Amblycipitidae, which contains just under 50 valid species (with more to be escribed). Restricted to Asian waters, they are sometimes called ‘torrent catfishes’ or ‘biting catfishes’, but don't those names put you off. Amblycipids are occasionally imported into the UK, most usually as Amblyceps mangois. This is the oldest Amblyceps species known to science and swims in waters of the Indian subcontinent.…

SPECIES SHOWCASE Daisy's ricefish Skilled breeder Gabor has a considerable list of spawning successes from his Welsh fish house. ON A RAINY and windy day—just like the one today when I'm writing this piece —having a fish-house is a real godsend. Knowing that I can leave behind the cold and damp weather even just for a short time and relocate somewhere nice and warm helps me to get through a difficult day. When I feel really under the weather, I always go to a tank which is full of life and flashy colours. The aquarium in question is the home of my group of Daisy's ricefish, Oryzias woworae, a fish that will surely bring sparkling joy into your life, too. I still vividly remember the hype that surrounded the discovery…

Robin is owner and managing director of Pholium Mariculture UK in Cornwall. I F YOU'RE ANYTHING like me, whenever you are thinking about keeping a new species, you'll immediately start to wonder how they reproduce. Breeding behaviour is one of the most fascinating aspects of fishkeeping and can be incredibly rewarding—and occasionally even lucrative! You probably won't be able to quit the day job right away, but in many cases you might be able to offset some (if not all) of the expense associated with the hobby. With the rising energy costs affecting not only our friendly local aquatics shop, but also the average fishkeeper with one or two aquariums. Setting up a couple of breeding projects can go a long way to bringing down the costs. In this article…

GIVEN THE TASK of categorising the over 2,000 species found in the ornamental aquatics trade it is inevitable that compromises have to be made somewhere. One group of species which falls foul of this philia for organising are the half-beaks, who are most often found alongside the ‘oddballs'. Of the oddballs, however, they are undoubtedly something of a contrast to the living fossil bichirs and lungfi sh; the highly adapted molluscivore puffers; or the benthic, rheophilic gobies. A member of the order Beloniformes, their closest relatives in the trade are the ricefishes (see feature on page 22); nonetheless, they are as closely related to these as they are to the marine flying fishes, another family within the Beloniformes. Meet the beaks The discrete family within the Beloniformes that the halfbeaks…

Hold bottle totally upright Test kits are designed to work with a specific droplet size, and this droplet size is only achieved if the reagent bottles are held vertically at 180°. Don't add your drops at a 90° angle as this can cause inaccuracies. Label those tubes Try to use the same test tubes for the same tests and avoid swapping them about. It helps to label what each test tube is used for, and this will also help out when you're trying to carry out multiple tests on multiple tanks at once. Just remember to label tubes above the parts you need to see, not on them. Read (and note) those warning labels Before you carry out any water test, read the warning labels on the bottle. Does contact…

MARINE Lifespans A coral reef ecologist in Australia, with eight years of aquatic retail experience. JUST LIKE IN people, ageing is an unfortunate part of life for fishes both on the reef, and in home aquaria. This simple fact of life inevitably makes one ponder: how long can I expect the fishes to live in my home aquarium? Well, there is an entire field of research dedicated to unravelling the mysteries of reef fish life history that can answer this very question. The answer may surprise you. How long do fishes live on the reef? Invariably the maximum lifespan of fishes differs substantially among species. However, for many commonly kept aquarium species it is safe to assume that their lifespan on the reef can be measured in decades rather than…

INSPIRATION Costa Rica aquarium David is a Denmark based biotope aquarist. See more of his work on Instagram @northfish_biotope. IN THE QUIET outskirts of Saarbrücken, a lazy city situated where Germany ends and slowly turns into France, I began on a somewhat unconventional aquarium venture. It all started not in the familiar aisles of a local aquarium store, but within the unassuming walls of a small business hotel—a setting not usually associated with an enchanting world of aquatic wonders. Nevertheless, it's where this story begins. Or rather, I have to go back a little bit further. Back to the planning of this particular summer's holidays. Ever since I was a kid, I've dreamt of catching my own fish and keeping them in an aquarium. This is, however, rather difficult since…