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THE EXPERTS
Polypterus –
but how is it
STEVE pronounced?
BAKER
As well as squeezing
in a long road
trip to Devon, Steve has been busy
investigating Polypterus and Celestial
pearl danios. See more on page 42.

INGRID
ALLEN
Ingrid has been
immersed in a world of
community oddballs this month. She’s
also been looking at community cichlids
to try at home. Find them on page 22.

TIM
SMITH
Ichthyologist Tim has
come up trumps again
this month with his fabulous take on
those awesome spitters, the archerfish.
Learn all about them on page 24.

OH HECK, did I learn

TAI
STRIETMAN
Tai has been setting
up a brackish-type
aquarium for the charming, practically
transparent Indian glassfish. Take a
closer look on page 36.
JAMES STARR
MARSHALL
James has been doing
what James does best
– growing aquarium plants. This month
he’s telling us all about the nutrients
they need. Go find it on page 62.
GABOR
HORVATH
Hands-on Gabor has
been sharing how-to
tips from his fish house for us, teaching
us what he knows about live food
cultures. Grow your own on page 68.
Stay in touch
Email us at editorial@
practicalfishkeeping.co.uk
ON THE COVER
something this month. I’ve been
in this hobby for a long time.
Celestial pearl danio,
Danio margaritatus.
I’m 42 now, I had my first fish at Photograph by
the age of four, and by the time Chris Lukhaup.
I hit my teens my bedroom was
full of tanks. And now, 38 years
later, I find that I’ve been
pronouncing a fish name wrong for my whole life.
The fish in question? Polypterus. I bet in your head you
just read that as poll-ip-tur-uss, right? It looks the correct
way to say it. But it turns out that the division in
pronunciation is before the ‘p’. Not polyp-terus, but
poly-pterus. And ‘pterus’ has the same Greek origin as
Pterosaur or Pterophyllum (for the angelfish fans). The ‘p’
is silent…
So, all these years, I should have been calling it
‘polly-teh-russ’, and now I know. That’s what I love
about this hobby, I just keep on learning things!
t
Nathan Hill, Associate Editor
defi uses
your plan to get
dark spots on their
leaf edges?
Find out on page 62
Watch us on youtube.com/ Follow us at www.facebook.
user/practicalfishkeeping com/PFKmag/

WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 5
Contents
INSPIRATION
SIGHT FOR FOUR EYES
08
Meet Anableps anableps, the
fish with 40-40 vision who can
see below the surface and
above it at the same time.
AFRICAN HISTORY
12 Once believed to be the
missing link between fish
and amphibians, here’s the
extraordinary tale of ‘living
fossil’ Polypterus.
A CICHLID FOR
22 EVERYONE
With over 3,000 species known
to science, there’s a cichlid out
h i
OCTOBER
42
12
SHARP SHOOTERS
24 The remarkable archerfish
Read editor
Nathan’s favourite
why not check out some of
their more amenable cousins?
fires droplets of water to shoot article this issue
down its prey – and shoots
straight to our hearts, too.
– all about plant
nutrition. 82 SAVING THE REEF
How a Bali-based NGO is
PAGE 62 helping to protect the delicate
36 A TOUCH OF GLASS
Take a peek into the world
ecosystem of the coral reef.
Editor’s KINGDOM OF CORALS
of the charming, practically
transparent Indian glassfish,
Pick 88 A beginners’ guide to stony
and show off its true colours in corals and how to keep them.
a brackish-type tank.
NEWS & VIEWS
PRECIOUS PEARLS
42 The tiny Celestial pearl danio
10 FISHKEEPING NEWS
hit the fish world with such a
bang it sparked worries about
Climate change threat to fishes’
senses, shark heist foiled, and
the species’ survival. Now the a Weever weather warning.
frenzy’s over, it’s time to get to
ETHICAL DEBATE
know these heavenly gems.
20 PFK editor Nathan and writer
THE LURE OF Steve go head to head on the
THE ODDBALL subject of online fish sales. Is
Lovably weird fish can be the shift away from bricks and
frustratingly hard to keep, but mortar stores inevitable – and
5
THINGS
YOU WILL
LEARN IN
THIS ISSUE
which environment is actually
best for the welfare of fish?
LETTERS
32
The Rams who rewrote the
rule book, fishy reading matter
suggestions, and a call-out for
aquatics shops that refuse to
sell tankbusters.
GEAR & REVIEWS
ROADTRIP
94 The PFK team visits four
aquatics shops in Devon.
GEAR GUIDE
104 Product news and buyer’s
guides. This month: lighting
options to suit all tanks and
budgets, and a new freshwater
aquarium from Evolution Aqua.
108 Vote for your favourite UK
READERS’ POLL 2018
1 All about
micronutrients 2 How to culture
your own live 4 How the glorious
archerfish
and macronutrients
and how they
foods such as
blackworm 3 Which woods are
safe to collect
catches its dinner
and how to set
affect your and and use in your up the perfect
aquarium
plants
Daphnia aquarium without
being toxic
environment for it 5 The best species
to start with if
you want to keep
stony corals.
88
24 22
aquatics shop – and enter our about macronutrients,
free prize draw with Fluval gear micronutrients and keeping
up for grabs. Practical your plants in tip-top health.
Fishkeeping
REGULARS delivered to KNOW HOW: BREED
your digital 68 YOUR OWN LIVE FOOD
FISHKEEPING ANSWERS device
49 PFK’s crack team of aquatics PAGE 74
A step-by-step guide to growing
your own Daphnia, Blackworm,
experts are on hand to answer Artemia and more.
your questions. This month:
SUBSCRIBE TO PFK
getting to grips with algae,
identfying a loach, strange 74 Get Practical Fishkeeping
catfish behaviour and Tomato
clowns, to name just a few.
delivered to your door for only
£3.70 an issue.
KNOW HOW: THE LITTLE
58 FRESHWATER GLOSSARY 103 NEXT MONTH
What’s an elasmobranch?
Lovely Leopard bushfish, Botia,
Nannacara taenia, and the
What does sympatric mean? wonderful world of Otocinclus.
All is revealed in PFK’s
essential jargon buster.
114 TAILPIECE
Nathan reminisces about the
KNOW HOW: FEEDING
62 dark, cave-like fish shops of old,
AQUARUM PLANTS
All you ever wanted to know
and wonders about the ‘buzz’
today’s lucky fishkeepers feel.
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 7
FASCINATING FISH
Four-eyed Anableps

Four eyes SIGHT FOR

Meet the fish with 40-40 vision.

WORDS: STEVE BAKER

Y
OU HEAR the phrase the surface in the changeable, split into two – the top section being
‘livebearer’ a lot in brackish tidal zones of north-eastern flat and suitable for looking above
this hobby. To many, South America, only ducking down the waterline; the lower section
that means a group of if a tasty morsel is available below. rounded like a ‘normal’ fish eye so it
innocuous, brightly Like most oddities in nature, it has can see underwater.
coloured community evolved to fill a particular feeding There are plenty of fish that swim
fish particularly loved niche that others can’t exploit as close to the water surface and take
by children and those effectively without adaptation; in advantage of the flies and beetles
relatively new to fishkeeping. But this case, the strange and prominent that land there. And there are a
here’s a livebearer that doesn’t fit the adaptation being four eyes… handful of fish that can see above the
usual format one little bit. Well, OK, not really four eyes, but waterline well enough to shoot down
Anableps anableps, or the Four-eyed this fish’s common name does allude arboreal prey or even launch
fish is a curious creature. It lives to the eye adaptation that’s enabled it themselves at it. But the Four-eyed
nearly all its life bobbing around on to fill its niche. The iris is effectively fish takes this further. It uses the ebb

8 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
and flow of the tide to its advantage,
regularly jumping out onto muddy
surfaces to snatch terrestrial insects
for a low-tide snack. And it’s been
observed not panicking about being
a fish out of water, but lying happily
in the sun for several minutes before
making the effort to push its way back.
Four-eyes can also be seen stalking
their prey, slowly positioning
themselves at the base of exposed
mangrove roots to intercept the small
crabs that climb down the roots.
At high tide the feeding focus shifts
to the red macro algae that grows
on the mangrove roots and is said to
be beneficial to both fish and plant.
Gammarus shrimp, snails, mussels
and worms are also considered tasty
morsels by our four-eyed friend.
These curious fish are really only
suited to large aquaria, as the females
grow up to 26cm and males to 20cm.
ALAMY
They are also schooling fish that Above: Life is in
should be kept in a group of at least two dimensions
six – 10 or more would be better for the Four-eyed
still. For six adults you would need a fish.
NEIL HEPWORTH
tank with a minimum footprint of
180x60cm and a depth of 30cm or
more. Realistically they’re best
suited to public aquariums – and, of
course, their natural habitat.
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 9
 Aquatic News
NEWS

Latest news and events from the world of aquatics

RESEARCH STUDY

CLONING
Climate change MYSTERY SOLVED
Researchers from Hokkaido

threatens fish senses

High carbon dioxide levels found to reduce Sea basses’ sense of smell.
University, Japan, have got to
the bottom of how some all-
female populations of Weather
or Dojo loaches, Misgurnus
anguillicaudatus, manage to
clone themselves. In a ‘normal’,
sexually reproducing fish,
reproductive cells that contain
50 chromosomes produce an egg
that contains 25 chromosomes,
needing to double the
chromosomes once.
Using their own advanced,
fluorescent, DNA-marking probe,
the scientists were able to show
that chromosomal material in the
all-female population doubles
twice, so that each egg they
produce already has the required
50 chromosomes and only needs
sperm to activate its development
into embryos.
And that sperm doesn’t even
need to come from a Weather
SHUTTERSTOCK

Predictions aren’t loach – the presence of goldfish

good for the fish sperm proven to be sufficient!
in our seas.

MORE INFO
T
WO RECENT studies looking monitored their behaviour in both
into the effects of rising carbon current water conditions, and those OCEAN Read the scientific paper at
dioxide levels have shown they predicted for the end of the 21st BREEZE tinyurl.com/y7htkpsd
can have a serious impact on the century, by which time carbon The oceans
sensory systems of fish. dioxide is thought to be at two produce up
Heightened carbon dioxide levels and a half times the level it is now.
to 85% of
have been shown to raise the acidity Those kept in the heightened levels
of seawater and now a new study were more lethargic and less likely the earth’s
by researchers from the University to notice predators. oxygen by the
of Exeter has demonstrated that Earlier research has already photosythesis
Sea bass lose up to 50% of their shown that rising levels of acidity of billions
sense of smell as a result. This affect fishes’ nervous systems of tiny
could have a major impact on the and disrupt the way their brains phytoplankton
species as smell is vitally important, process information.
both in the bass’s hunting behaviour Studies carried out elsewhere
and in avoiding predators. have previously shown that rising
SHUTTERSTOCK

For their study, the scientists ocean acidity levels damage the
used young, captive Sea bass and hearing of Clownfish.

10 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING

KEEP FISHBASE AFLOAT
Globally renowned resource Fishbase has made a
plea for help after a significant chunk of its annual
funding fell through. The site now has a gap of
around $200,000, and is calling on the kindness of
donors to keep it afloat. Fishbase is one of the most
important assets the fishkeeping community has.
You can donate at fishbase.org/donate/donate.php
BABY SHARK
Adorable
baby photos…
‘Miss Helen’ heist foiled
Many visitors to public aquaria
wish they could mimic the displays
they see there at home, but brazen
thieves in Texas went a step further
when they decided to help
themselves to a shark – with the
aid of a pushchair! The fish-loving
felons were captured after CCTV
showed them taking ‘Miss Helen’,
a 2ft-long grey Horn shark, from
an open-topped tank at San
Antonio Aquarium, bundling the
fish in a wet blanket and bucket,
before casually pushing their new
‘baby’ out of the aquarium.
Fortunately, the thieves’ orange
BUSTED
GRAND THEFT AQUA
Two bungling would-be aquarists
who helped themselves to a free
aquarium failed to get far with their
ill-gotten gains – or the hobby.
Police officers in Niles, Ohio, USA,
were responding to a pet shop’s call
about a stolen fish tank when they
drove past two men on a motorbike,
the pillion passenger carrying a
still-boxed aquarium on his lap.
The officers turned to follow the
LIVING FOSSIL
FISH TRAGEDY
A fish once thought extinct has been
killed by ingesting a crisp packet. The
Coelacanth was found dead in Indonesia
in August and highlights the problem
with plastics in our oceans. PepsiCo,
owner of the crisp company, said
it wants to use biodegradable
or recyclable packaging
by 2025.
SHUTTERSTOCK
getaway vehicle was easy to trace
and led police to the home of
Anthony Shannon. Inside they
found Miss Helen safe and well in
what appeared to be a smaller-scale
recreation of her normal residence.
She has since been returned to
the aquarium and Mr Shannon
has been charged with theft.
In a twist to the tale, Mr
Shannon claimed that he is an
activist, not a thief, and took the
shark due to welfare concerns,
having previously posed as an
aquarium salt distributor to test
the facility’s water conditions.
duo, who soon realised they’d been
rumbled. The inept pair parted
company, with the passenger
leaping from the motorbike and
breaking the tank in the process.
The bike rider was found nearby,
behind a house, nervously ‘pruning’
a tree with his bare hands.
Both men were arrested and
charged with theft. They have
entered a plea of not guilty.
A NEW KIND OF FISH TANK
Environmentalists in Lebanon have found a
peaceful use for 10 old tanks retired from
military service. They’ve been sunk 3km off the
Mediterranean coast to form an artificial reef.
Once bedecked with algae, it’s hoped they’ll
become the ideal nursery for fish species, as well
as affording them protection from fishing nets.
UK DROUGHT
GOLDFISH RESCUE FAILS
TO PLEASE COUNCIL
When Brighton resident Sue Davis noticed thousands of
goldfish were at risk of death in her local park’s pond
due to the recent drought, she organised a rescue
mission. The pond in Wild Park, Brighton, had dropped
to just a few muddy inches in depth and fish
were dying on the surface or being picked
off by local birds. The rescue team
organised a bucket chain to grab
the ailing fish from their
impending doom and then
redistribute them at
private ponds
throughout the city.
However, a spokesman for
CK
TO
RS
the local council said
TE
UT
permission had not been sought,
SH
and that rescuing the fish was illegal
without a licence from the Environment
Agency due to the risk of spreading disease.
The goldfish themselves arrived in the pond over a
number of years, many being dumped as unwanted
pets, and the council has asked that people rehome any
future surplus goldfish more considerately once the
pond refills to prevent a repeat scenario.
STUNG!
Weever weather warning
The hot summer weather has brought thousands of
people to Britain’s beaches to cool off. However, this has
led to a spike in Weever fish stings, with over 70
reported by the RNLI in Cornwall in a week.
There are two species of Weever found in UK waters:
the Lesser weever, Echiichthys vipera, and the Greater
weever, Trachinus draco, both of which sport venomous
dorsal spines. It’s the Lesser weever that’s largely
responsible for the stings, being a shallow water species.
While the stings can be painful, they’re easily avoided
by wearing a wetsuit and swimming shoes or, if barefoot,
by dragging your feet in the sand as you walk. This usually
scares off the fish who only sting when they’re trodden on.
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 11
SPECIES SHOWCASE
Polypterus
AFRICAN
HISTORY
Living fossils, or the missing link between fish and
amphibians? Whatever your take, there are many
reasons to admire these steel-hearted predators…
WORDS: STEVE BAKER
ALAMY

Nature’s
evolutionary
throwback.
SPECIES SHOWCASE
Polypterus
I
N 1802, while Britain was in
the middle of King George
III’s reign and William
Wordsworth’s sonnet
‘London’ was written,
Étienne Geoffroy Saint-
Hilaire was off discovering,
scientifically describing and
naming Polypteridae in Africa.
Fossil records show that the fish’s
lineage dates back over 65 million
years, and during that time there’s
been little physical change in the
family. Many of the true bony fish
of the Cretaceous period had basic
lungs and ganoid scales, just as we
see in modern-day members of
Polypteridae. You might imagine
primitive fish like Lungfish and
Garfish would be closely related but
this is not the case – similar features
and shapes were commonplace, and
there are only two genera included
in the Polypteridae family. These are
separated from similar, primitive fish
by the bone structure at the base of
their paired fins.
Erpetoichthyes is the first genus of
Polypteridae, upheld by just one
member, E. calabaricus, commonly
known as the Reed or Rope fish.
The Reed fish is differentiated from
the second genus, Polypterus,
through a lack of pelvic fins and a
much longer body.
Members of Polypterus have a
unique biology. First, they have
paired, primitive lungs and these are
not equally sized. One lung runs
nearly the full length of the body,
while the second is substantially
shorter, around one third of the
body length, clearing space for other
vital organs within the body cavity.
Polypterus is also the only known
vertebrate to have lungs, but no
trachea – its lungs connect to the
oesophagus via vocal folds. As young
fish, the lungs are not developed,
Fish, worms, frogs or rodents, dead
or alive, it doesn’t matter to these
ancient hunters – as long as it fits in
their mouths, it’s food
FACTFILE
ORNATE BICHIR
6Scientific name: Polypterus ornatipinnis
6Pronunciation: Poll-ee-tare-uss or-nat-ee-pin-is
6Size: 60cm maximum, but rarely over 45cm in aquaria
6Origin: Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of
Congo, Tanzania
6Habitat: Slow-moving rivers, ponds, marshes and lakes,
including Tanganyika
6Tank size: 180x60cm footprint, 30cm high minimum
6Water requirements: 6.0-8.0 pH, 5-20 °H
6Temperature: 25-27°C
6Availability and cost:
Quite common;
around £15-25 325 l+
If there’s such a thing as a pretty Polypterus, the
Ornate bichir is it. It’s by far the most heavily patterned
of the bunch with varying levels of yellow colouration
on the paired fins and sometimes on the body. It’s one
of the few species that is tank bred for the industry.
RIGHT:
Ornate bichir,
an oddball
favourite.
BELOW: You
can see the age
in the design of
this fish.
SHUTTERSTOCK

and instead, the young of some

species possess external gills that
they lose as they mature, much like
those of certain amphibians, such as How do I
salamanders and axolotis. target feed
In the early 1800s, many naturalists
were unsure whether to regard
Polypterus?
Polypterus must be able to Polypterus as a fish or an amphibian. METHOD ONE
reach the surface to breath Some even regarded Polypterus as Feed other fish at one
atmospheric air. If unable to a living fossil – the missing link end of the tank, giving
do this for any reason between fish and amphibians that them a few seconds to
they will drown. showed how fish fins had evolved to get over there before
become paired limbs. releasing food for the
Towards the end of the 19th century, Polypterus in a
biologists John Samuel Budgett and completely different
Nathan Harrington made repeated area of the tank.
expeditions to Africa in an attempt
to answer the questions Polypterus METHOD TWO
raised. But the central African As method one, but use
countries were riven by war, and the a pipe to protect the
swamps the species inhabit are rich food on the way down
breeding grounds for malaria-carrying and to direct the food
more specifically.
mosquitos. Harrington, attempting to
find Polypterus embroyos, contracted
METHOD THREE
Nile fever and died before even
Use long-reach tongs to
reaching his destination. Budgett
position pieces of food
made four expeditions to collect
BEN LEE, AMIIDAE.COM

right in front of the

Polypterus and exhibited a live pair to desired fish, so the
the Zoological Society in 1899. He others can’t grab it first.
finally achieved his goal of fertilising
eggs and observing the key stages

WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 15
SPECIES SHOWCASE
Polypterus
of embryonic development in 1903,
but died of blackwater fever shortly
after his return to England, aged 32.
Budgett’s findings were written up
and published by his friend, the
embryologist John Graham Kerr.
In the early 1900s, the zoologist
E S Goodrich drew upon Budgett’s
earlier work and reported that
Polypterus should be placed within
the palaeonisciformes – the most
primitive of the ray-finned fish.
To date, no viable links to
amphibians have been made.
Many fins
The family name Polypteridae stems
from observations of the rayed fins.
The Greek word ‘poly’ translates to
‘many’, while ‘pteron’ means ‘wing’
or ‘fin’. So, the family is literally
‘many fins’ and it’s easy to see why.
In nature Polypterus are nocturnal
carnivores that both hunt and
scavenge any animals they can find.
Fish, worms, frogs or rodents, dead
or alive, it doesn’t matter to these
ancient hunters – as long as it fits in
their mouths, it’s food. It’s the same
when keeping Polypterus in aquaria.
Unless sufficient hiding places are
provided, there will be friction if
they are kept alongside larger fish –
Polypterus like their daytime shelter.
An ideal tank should be strewn with
driftwood, branches, slate caves or
lengths of cut pipe to create hides.
Lighting should be dull and the water
level needn’t be deep. When keeping
them with diurnal fish in open water
and stronger lighting, you should
16 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
accept that when viewing them in the These fish come into their own
daytime they’ll seem pretty much when the lights go out though, and
immobilised. With more than one feeding time is a pleasure, especially
specimen in the tank you might if you’re a fan of predators.
even see them sitting on top of Most Polypterus are quite slow
one another as they relax to get to their food, due to
These fish are naturally able
during the daylight hours. poor eyesight and a
Tank-raised specimens
to ‘walk’ on their fins from one tendency for many owners
are often more active water body to the next. They to feed them with the lights
through periods of jump well too, so fit a glaring. In a mixed tank with
illumination, while wild-caught tight lid to your competitive feeders they may
fish tend to be far more stubborn tank! need target feeding (see panel, page
about it. One trick to add to the 15). Once they know where food is,
viewing pleasure (and this works they generally need very little
with any nocturnal fish) is to fit a encouragement to eat, and during
small, auxiliary red light to run for a hours of darkness their superior
short time when the main light is off. sense of smell will guide them in.
Red light goes largely undetected by Feeding should be with meaty live
fish, and especially so by those with and frozen foods, and high-protein,
poor sight in the first place. sinking dried foods for carnivores
FACTFILE
SADDLED BICHIR
6Scientific name: Polypterus endlicheri
6Pronunciation: Poll-ee-tare-uss end-lick-er-eye
6Size: 75cm, but rarely more than 60cm in aquaria
Origin: From Mali and Ivory coast in the west, to Chad and the
6
Central African Republic
Habitat: Shallow rivers and marshes, occasionally found in
6
brackish mangroves
Tank size: 210x120cm footprint, 30cm high minimum
6
Water requirements: 6.0-8.0 pH, 5-20°H
6
6Temperature: 22-27°C
6Availability and cost:
Quite common;
around £30+ 750 l+
The young of P. endlicheri tend to hold on to their
external gills longer than most species in the genus,
sometimes up to 25cm. Adults are also more
assertive than other Polypterus during feeding time.
A sub-species of the Saddled bichir, P. endlicheri
congicus, grows larger, up to 1m.
FRANK TEIGLER
 FACTFILE
MARBLED BICHIR
6Scientific name: Polypterus palmas
Pronunciation: Poll-ee-tare-us
6
pal-mass
Size: 35cm, but rarely more than 30cm
6
in aquaria
Origin: Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea,
6
Ivory Coast and Ghana
Habitat: Found in slack and shallow
6
areas of lowland coastal rivers
Tank size: 120x45cm footprint, 30cm
6
high minimum
Water requirements: 6.0-7.5 pH,
6
5-15°H
6Temperature: 25-28°C
6Availability and cost: Quite rare; £35+

FRANK TEIGLER
160 l+
Also know as the Shortfin bichir,
P. palmas is more manageable
A typical Bichir
than many due to its more
swampy habitat.
modest size. Accounts of
sightings in Cameroon and the
Democratic Republic of Congo
are likely a confusion for P. polli,

SHUTTERSTOCK
which was previously known as
a subspecies of P. palmas.
SPECIES SHOWCASE
Polypterus
with high levels of oil and fat –
Hikari Massivore Delite and Northfin
Jumbo Fish Formula are both good.
Live foods for these fish are scarce
on the ground though. River shrimp
are often too quick-moving and fish
are a definite no-no due for legal and
moral reasons. Earthworms,
however, are perfect once given a
quick rinse under a running tap.
FACTFILE
CROSS RIVER BICHIR
6Scientific name: Polypterus teugelsi
Pronunciation: Poll-ee-tare-us
6
tew-gel-see
6Size: 40cm
Origin: Only from Cameroon in the
6
River Cross drainage system
Habitat: Shaded, slow-moving forest
6
streams and rivers ,often with lush
plant growth
Tank size: 150x60cm footprint, 30cm
6
high minimum
Water requirements: 7.0-7.5 pH,
6
1-5°H
6Temperature:25-28°C
6Availability and cost: A rarity; £45
270 l+
P. teugelsi is more picky than
most of the genus when it
comes to water parameters,
due to a limited distribution and
lack of different habitat types.
Specimens will be wild-caught
fish, which again limits their
adaptability. Other care is on a
par with the rest of the bichirs.
18 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
There are many frozen foods from
the seafood counter you can use –
prawns, cockles and mussels, plus
slithers of fish or whole lancefish.
Avoid giving them very oily fish like
mackerel, simply because it’s more
likely to mess up your tank and
affect water quality. Smaller
specimens will do well on frozen
Mysis shrimp, Krill and bloodworm.
Having mentioned their slow FACTFILE
feeding antics, there are exceptions SENEGAL BICHIR
to the rule, of course. PFK associate 6Scientific name: Polypterus senegalus
editor Nathan recalls feeding adult 6Pronunciation: Poll-ee-tare-uss sen-egg-al-uss
P. endlicheri that were so ferocious he 6Size: 50cm maximum, but rarely over 35cm in aquaria
was scared by them. (Ed’s note: This 6Origin: Widespread over 26 countries in Africa
Habitat: Shallow, slow-moving water, swamps, marshes and
6
is true; big Polypterus have a bite that
freshwater lagoons
sends water and food flying.) 6Tank size: 150x60cm footprint, 30cm high minimum
Once settled, they are hardy fish in
6Water requirements: 6.2-7.8 pH, 5-18°H
the aquarium and they adapt to a 6Temperature: 24-28°C
range of parameters. Most species Availability and
6
are happy to sit in slightly acidic cost: Common;
softish conditions to slightly alkaline around £15
harder conditions. Some even venture 270 l+
into brackish conditions in the wild.
The Senegal Bichir is the most common
Naturally, they all inhabit either Polypterus to find – partly because it was initially
sluggish-moving shallow rivers, or easy to collect with its huge range, partly because
still waters including marshes and it’s the easiest to cater for in terms of size, and
swamps. With their air-breathing also because it can be commercially bred. Albino
abilities they can inhabit waters of specimens are relatively common.
very low dissolved oxygen, which
many fish simply wouldn’t survive in.
Taking this a step further, they can
hold out in wet mud, and even exist
for long periods out of water as long
as their skin remains damp. They
really are true survivors of
challenging, natural conditions over
FRANK TEIGLER
many millions of years. I suspect
they’re going to be around for some
considerable time to come.
FRANK TEIGLER
 FACTFILE
ARMOURED BICHIR
6Scientific name: Polypterus delhezi
6Pronunciation: Poll-ee-tare-uss dell-he-zee
6Size: 44cm, but rarely more than 32cm in aquaria
6Origin: Africa: Democratic Republic of Congo
6Habitat: Lakes, streams and flooded basins, often with lush
plant growth
6Tank size: 120x60cm footprint, 30cm high minimum
6Water requirements: 6.0-8.0 pH, 5-20°H
6Temperature: 24-29°C
6Availability and cost: a
slight rarity; £35
215 l+
Also known as the Barred bichir, this species is bred
for the hobby with the use of hormones. Many still seen
for sale, however, are wild-caught fish, so it’s worth
taking precautions against internal parasites, and
quarantining to safeguard your existing stock.

WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 19
OPINION
NATHAN HILL & STEVE BAKER
Traditionally, livestock sales have taken place in a retailer’s
fish house. But increasingly the shift has moved to mail order
purchases. Is that bad, or just another sign of progress?
W
hat kind of fish buyer
are you? Do you prefer
to visit the store where
the fish live, and
choose them yourself,
or are you happy to
place your trust in
someone else to
pick out a fish you would like from a
selection of potentially hundreds? Why
do you buy your fish the way you do?
SB: I’ve never yet bought a fish online; all my
fish purchases have been in the flesh from
traditional shops. It’s not that I’m totally
against the idea, but I’ve not had the need
and I enjoy going to a shop to see all that’s
on offer. I’d certainly be concerned about
fish health if I did order fish to be delivered,
and I’d rather spend the postage costs on
fuel going to collect my fish.
NH: On balance, there’s a
Tank slapping
lot of trust invested with is as common
mail order fish, and a lot of
things that could go wrong an incident in
along the way. I’ve seen
couriers and how they
fish shops as
handle some boxes – even
those marked as fragile.
drunkenness is
Couriers can also be in bars...
delayed, although I’d add
that this could just as easily happen to a
person collecting their own fish from a store.
However, there is one thing that a ‘closed’
mail order fish house wouldn’t experience,
and I’m just going to come out and say that
this can be the blight of brick-build retailers.
It’s the reason I’ve walked away from many
shops without buying fish – kids slapping on
tanks. Despite having signs up everywhere
requesting that parents closely supervise their
children, they are all too often so abysmal at it
that tank slapping is as common an incident
JACQUES PORTAL
in fish shops as drunkenness is in bars.
Slapped tanks means weak immune systems.
Weak immune systems means diseases
waiting to happen. I can only guess at how
many folks have bought inadvertent ‘time
bombs’ of disease out of a tank that received
a good slapping two minutes before they
walked into the store.
SB: Yep, I think over-illuminated tanks stress
fish in most retail tanks, too (though nowhere
near as much as tank slapping), and this is
something else avoided in a warehouse-style
mail order business. But it’s not as if there are
many dedicated, non bricks-and-mortar live
fish suppliers out there – most places you
order from are retail shops that also offer mail
order, so there’s still a chance your fish is
caught just after a child has slapped a palm
on the tank, and then it still has to run the
gauntlet of the dreaded courier handling.
That’s without even mentioning trusting the
ability of the staff to catch strong, healthy
specimens, or even the
right species...
NH: Oh, entirely agreed.
In the event of a cash and
carry retailer offering mail
order fish, I would be at the
pinnacle of wariness.
I mean, the risk of slapping,
combined with the risk of
rough transit, is just too
much for me. But from the
perspective of a mail order, non cash-and-
carry store – of which I suspect there are
more than you think – there’s actually a
chance that, in an ideal world, the fish could
be healthier than those sold by many cash
and carry retailers.
Take the time needed to upkeep aquaria, for
example. It’s no quick task managing
livestock. And let’s be brutal here – the
biggest consumer of time is the customer.
From the person who has no idea which light
tube they need, but insists on having a
20-minute conversation about it, to the
person who comes in to speak to the captive
audience of store workers because they’re
feeling lonely, the time of an aquatics retailer
is constantly being trespassed upon. In a site
where the public aren’t allowed, I imagine
fishkeepers could have excellent and
undisturbed regimes of feeding and tank
cleaning, plus more time in the fish house to
spot potential problems. That’s not to say that
a cash and carry retailer can’t invest that time,
just that by definition they’ll be distracted by
the first person who speaks to them.
As for identifying a fish or viewing it before
buying – is that not now part and parcel of
the process with folks who simply request a
video beforehand? I know I would, and I’d be
awful picky about which fish I’d want, too.
SB: The cynic in me says that if mail order
staff aren’t having their time taken up by
customer questions (or sending videos to
NEIL HEPWORTH
confirm a sale) then fewer people are likely
to be employed, and still there isn’t time for
all jobs to be done thoroughly. (I think it’s
a common trend to employ as few
people as possible in order to
increase profits).
There’s definitely a
case to make for
warehouse-style
businesses
supplying fish and
I’m sure we’ll see
more of these as
high street stores
continue to close
and internet sales
increase in general.
That said, I still can’t
see me buying from
them over a bricks and
mortar, cash-and-carry retail
shop where I can judge health and
species identification for myself and see if
kids are slapping tanks. Not unless I simply
couldn’t get anything interesting within a
three-hour drive from home.
NH: To be cynical back, I’m not sure I know
of many heavily staffed aquatics stores at all.
An increasingly squeezed market and lack of
staff applying for jobs has left many stores
with a skeleton crew at best. Having visited
mail order facilities and countless bricks and
mortar retailers over the years, I certainly
noticed how much more organised the former
have become, with regard to staffing. Nothing
had to be dropped at a moment’s notice to
tend to another task.
But yes, I agree. I think the ‘Amazon’ culture
Do you have an opinion on buying fish that you would like to share, or perhaps
a topic you would like to see discussed? If so, you can find us at
www.facebook.com/pfkmag or email editorial@practicalfishkeeping.co.uk
we now live in is here to stay, although I do
think that aquatics will be less affected than
other high street retailers for the reason you
already mentioned – people do like to see
their fish in the flesh before buying. Because
of that, they’ll keep patronising stores.
Besides, isn’t visiting stores part of the
enjoyment of aquatics? I know it is for me.
Either way, I note one of your reservations is
about staff selecting healthy or unhealthy fish.
Do you really think that’s an issue these days,
with the level of training and understanding
now generally found in the trade?
SB: Yes. No more than a few weeks back a
friend bought some new fish from a shop, only
to get home and find a different fish in with
them. In the same week my parents bought
eight Cherry shrimps (for a deal) to get home
and only find seven in the bag. During my
last four years working in retail I didn’t see
one bit of staff training, and I’ve seen many
people start in the industry who were
complete novices, so I’m afraid
I hold very little faith in the
industry as far as training
and managing staff is
concerned.
I feel you’re lucky if
you get served by an
enthusiast who does
all their own research.
This is why I believe
so much in holding
staff long-term, but it
seems low on many
employers’ priorities.
NH: I suspect we’ve had wholly
different experiences on this one,
and I’d be keen to see how this was reflected
when put to a wider vote. But this actually
plays to my hand with regards to a non
cash-and-carry retailer. The last one I met
was very switched on, really knew her stuff.
I’d have been confident buying pretty much
anything from her, and the failsafes they had
in place (double checking against invoices by
packers) would ensure that species and
numbers would all be present and correct.
There you go, you’ve sold it to me, my next
set-up will be populated by mail order
livestock only. INSET: In
I don’t think stores need worry about losing store or online?
their livelihoods to online fish sales. But I also What’s your
think online fish will become a bigger part of choice?
the trade in the future, and as long as traders
maintain standards, they should do just fine.
TROPICAL
Cichlids

FACTFILE
FIREMOUTH CICHLID
6Scientific name: Thorichthys meeki
6Size: 12cm
6Water requirements: Neutral to
medium hard, 7.0-8.0 pH

SHUTTERSTOCK
6Availability and price: Quite common;
bout £5

A cichlid for everyone

Their reputation precedes them, but
here’s how the casual hobbyist can
enjoy cichlids in their family.

FACTFILE
INGRID UMBRELLA CICHLID
ALLAN 6Scientific name: Apistogramma borelli
MP&C PIEDNOIR AQUAPRESS

A freelance writer 6Size: 3.5cm

with a day job in 6Water requirements: Soft, acidic,
aquatics retail, below 7.0 pH
Ingrid is a huge fan 6Availability and price: Quite common;
of anabantoids and from about £8
biotopes.

22 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
 FACTFILE
FESTIVE CICHLID
6Scientific name: Mesonauta f
6Size: 10cm
6Water requirements: Soft to medium
hard, 6.0-7.5 pH
6Availability and price: Quite common;
from about £6
ALAMY

C
ICHLIDS: THE name alone
divides opinion. Perhaps
you recall the beautiful
Apistogramma borelli that
dazzled among the leaves
of your blackwater biotope,
or you shrink back in horror
at the memory of the
bullish convict that obliterated everything
in your childhood aquarium. Cichlids either
unnerve the novice fishkeeper into passing
them by or, worse still, encourage them –
with stunning colours and bold, confident
personalities – to take them home and
deposit them in a totally unsuitable tank.
With this in mind most shops do their
best to divert the casual hobbyist from their
cichlid tanks. But recent upswings in the
popularity of certain species have made me
question whether this is the right approach.
I’m just going to come right out and say it
– not all cichlids are bruisers. With over
3,000 species known to science, it’s time for
a commonsense approach. Obviously you
wouldn’t dump a 2ft-long Parachromis in
your community and expect it not to eat
everything in sight, but that doesn’t mean
smaller species like the dainty, peaceful
Festive cichlid, Mesonauta festivus, can’t
have a place among your shoals of tetra. If
Angelfish and Discus would be readily
accepted into the larger planted set-up, why
not make room for their triangular cousin?
Having unpacked 200 individually bagged
Rams at work, I know their popularity isn’t
waning any time soon. Mikrogeophagus
ramirezi remains beloved of beginners and
seasoned cichlid keepers alike for its
stunning colour and manageable size, but
many in soft water areas who have never
strayed beyond the basics are now
discovering Apistogramma species too.
I’m also delighted to report that after a
decade in decline the Firemouth cichlid,
Thorichthys meeki, is finding favour with
those who’d like to venture into cichlid
territory but aren’t quite ready for a 6ft tank
of square-jawed brutes. From what I’ve
seen, recent imports are small but brightly
coloured, bearing no resemblance to the
drab grey fish of a few years ago. I’m not
saying they’re ideal community citizens, but
they can work well with larger livebearers,
catfish, oddballs, even barbs.
And I won’t rule out the big beasts either.
I was initially crestfallen to see a number of
unwanted Oscars donated once, only for
all five to find new homes within the week.
For those with the space, the larger cichlids
come with bucket-loads of character and
people quickly fall in love with them.
There’s a cichlid out there for everyone,
no matter what their experience level.
Choose wisely and you’ll be rewarded with
a pet as intelligent and interactive as any
four-legged friend.

FACTFILE
RAM CICHLID
6Scientific name: Mikrogeophagus
ramirezi
SHUTTERSTOCK

6Size: 4cm
6Water requirements: Sof idi
below 7.0 pH
6Availability and price: Co

WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 23
SPECIES SHOWCASE
Archerfish

SHARP
SHOOTERS
The incredible archerfish, firing a flying
arrow of water droplets to catch its prey, is
guaranteed to shoot straight to your heart.

TIM SMITH
An ichthyologist and
oddball aquarist,
Tim has been
involved with fish
for 15 years, from Archerfish lurk
ALAMY

retail to academia. under the surface

with halfbeaks.

24 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
 The two main species swim
from freshwater conditions
into near full marine
conditions in mangrove
estuaries.

WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 25
SPECIES SHOWCASE
Archerfish

I
CAN’T REMEMBER the
first time I met a celebrity, It doesn’t take much
but I can imagine it was quite
like when I met my first encouragement for an archerfish to
archerfish. Like actors on the
silver screen, archerfish star in
spray at a live insect. Nearly any
countless nature films where movement by the prey will catch the
they’re rightfully acclaimed
for their aquatic marksmanship. It archer’s attention, and it won’t be
would be years before I’d set up a
tank of my own to showcase this long before arrows start flying
remarkable behaviour. But it was
well worth the wait.
The two most commonly seen
species – Toxotes jaculatrix and
Toxotes chatareus – can be mistaken
for one another, but are easy to tell
apart if you know what to look for.
The Barred archerfish, T. jaculatrix,
can be identified by the series of
four or five vertical bars across its
flanks, with the bar towards the rear
of the dorsal seamlessly transitioning
from the body onto the fin.
In the Spotted archerfish,
T. chatareus, these vertical bars
alternate in size, with the dorsal bar
rarely (if ever) forming a continuous
pigmentation pattern between the
body and fin; the pigmentation on
the dorsal fin is an isolated spot. In
young fish the bars appear to be very
similar in size, hence the regular
(and understandable) confusion
between this species and T. jaculatrix.
The third member of the archerfish
trio, the wonderfully named Clouded
archerfish, is arguably the prettiest
of all. Toxotes blythii is stunning and
the only species of archerfish to
sport horizontal body lines instead of
vertical ones. Unlike the other two
species, T. blythii can live happily in a
freshwater environment too.

Setting up the shots

As with any tank design, your first
consideration should be space.
Given a moderate adult size in these
fish – up to 20cm in T. jaculatrix and
T. chatareus, and about 15cm in T.
blythii – and their active schooling
behaviour, you’ll need to provide a
decent-sized environment. As they’re
primarily surface-dwelling fish,
archers appreciate a greater tank
footprint than volume, so aim for
something around 120-150cm long
and 60cm wide if you want a
Their shooting
reasonably-sized school. Depth isn’t prowess really is
quite as important, but archers are a amazing to see.

26 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
 deeper-bodied fish, so you’ll need to
allow for that. For adults, water
about 30-45cm deep will suffice, but
if you’re planning on adding other
species, you’ll need a deeper tank.
SHUTTERSTOCK
To see archerfish behaviour at
its best, you need to create a
paludarium – an enclosure that has
elements of both the aquatic and
the terrestrial. To what extent
this exhibit is terrestrial is
entirely up to you, but
ensure you leave
adequate room for
the surprising
amount of space
a school of
archerfish takes up.
Many paludarium-
type set-ups incorporate
some form of terrestrial
3D structure as a background,
This gives a sense of depth, as well
as providing additional vertical
habitat. It’s this vertical habitat your
archerfish will make use of when
eyeing up prey and it needs to have
a rough surface where the fishes’
invertebrate victims can cling before
being targeted.
As well as saving space, as the
background is only a few centimetres
deep, you can hide all your pipes,
wires and so on behind it too, so
they don’t detract from your set-up’s
natural charm.
Live or dried,
roots and shoots
help to mimic a
natural setting.
ALAMY
Planting for archers
In a brackish environment, aquatic
plants aren’t really an option, as few
will tolerate the saline environment.
Terrestrial plants don’t mind so
much though, and they also provide
an ideal perch for your archers’ prey.
A number of plants will thrive in a
humid paludarium environment.
Moss is a simple addition, and
some species like Java
moss can be used in
both the aquatic and
terrestrial portions
– it also has a
tolerance for the
low-end brackish
waters some
archerfish prefer.
Common houseplants
like Devil’s ivy and Pothos
(Epipremnum spp.), ferns
(particularly Nephrolepis spp.), and
bromeliads will all feel at home with
the extra humidity, and either have
shallow roots or can be attached
directly to the 3D background.
Some brackish fans like to take the
‘mangrove root’ route. This looks
very effective and full of impact,
and can be achieved by using a
variety of driftwood and vines.
Besides allowing for archer target
practice, the submerged root
structures provide somewhere for
your fish to retreat to if they wish.
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 27
Filters & lighting
Being predators, archers can put out
a fair amount of waste, so you’ll
need a form of filtration that can
cope with that. A sump-type system
won’t work with the reduced water
level without modification, but any
other large filtration solution is fine.
Canister filters are well equipped to
deal with the greater water volume,
and being external, will interfere less
with the aesthetic of your set-up.
FACTFILE
ARCHER
6Scientific name: Toxotes chatareus
6Pronunciation: Toxo-tees chat-ah-re-us
6Size: 40cm
6Origin: Widespread from Pakistan, India,
through mainland Southeast Asia to
Northern Australia, including Sri Lanka,
Philippines and Papua New Guinea
6Tank size: 150x60x45cm minimum
6Water requirements: 7.0-8.0 pH,
20-30°H, SG 1.005-1.015
6Temperature: 25-30°C
6Temperament: Peaceful with large fish
6Feeding: Flake and floating pellets,
frozen and live bloodworm, glassworm
and so on, live fruit flies and crickets
6Availability and cost: Quite common;
from £5.50
400 l+
SHUTTERSTOCK
SPECIES SHOWCASE
Archerfish
You don’t need to shy away from
internal filters, though. Archers will
enjoy the flow a powerhead gives,
provided they don’t get blown away.
Lighting is important. Archers
spend much of their time looking
upwards for food, so while you don’t
want to blind them, you don’t want
them unable to spot their prey either.
Fluorescent or LED tube lighting
work well and also don’t burn too
warmly, so there’s less risk of them
‘popping’ if a stray watery shot from
your archer hits the bulb. Create
some shady spots around the tank
too, for when your fish want to step
away from the action.
Both main species of archer inhabit
brackish, mangrove waterways,
where they may experience both
near-freshwater and completely
marine conditions. Reportedly,
T. chatareus is more tolerant of a
freshwater lifestyle than T. jaculatrix.
With either species, I would opt for
FACTFILE
BARRED ARCHERFISH
Scientific name: Toxotes jaculatrix
6
Pronunciation: Toxo-tees jack-u-lay-trix
6
Size: 30cm
6
Origin: Widespread from India, China, through mainland
6
Southeast Asia to Northern Australia, including Philippines
and Papua New Guinea.
Tank size: 120x60x45cm
6
Water requirements: 7.5-8.0 pH, 20-30°H
6
Temperature: 25-30°C
6
Temperament: Peaceful with large fish
6
Feeding: Flake and floating pellets,
6
frozen and live bloodworm, glassworm
and so on, live fruit flies and crickets
Availability and cost: Uncommon; £5.50
6
28 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
a low-end brackish environment at encouragement for an archerfish to
first – an SG of 1.005 or about 6.6 spray at a live insect. Nearly any
ppt – as many young fish are brought movement by the prey will catch the
in at low-salinity or freshwater. Over archer’s attention, and it won’t be
a period of weeks, with successive long before arrows start flying. Their
water changes, you can bump up the skills aren’t limited to moving foods,
salinity by about 0.002 each time. though – any item they recognise
These fish will happily live in water as food (and they have excellent
with an SG between 1.005 and 1.015, A national eyesight!) will be water-cannoned.
so long as it’s stable and salty. treasure, The tricky part when feeding
On the opposite side of the coin, celebrated on archerfish is securing the food item
T. blythii is freshwater to the bone. stamps. to a good spot, but most defrosted
The waters it originates from are soft fresh foods will readily stick to the
and it requires an acidic to neutral glass, or can be perched on the
pH (6.0-7.2), with temperatures in
the realm of 25-28°C (77-86°F).
Target practice
The archerfish’s mighty claim to
fame – some specimens have been
known to blast a target from 5ft
away – is not a talent lost to fish in
captivity. They acclimate very well
and display natural behaviours soon
after settling in. It doesn’t take much
Right: When WATERLINE
setting up For an authentic archerfish
a specialist set-up, you want a defined
archerfish tank, submerged and emerged
there are just a area. Be careful not to lower
few key details the water level too much, as
to address. this will reduce the overall
volume, in turn making it
harder to manage.
325 l+
T. jaculatrix,
the Barred
archerfish.
WOOD
When creating a natural set-
up, try to replicate the look
of mangrove roots creeping
into the water. Red moor root
or Mopani wood can both be
SHUTTERSTOCK
used to good effect here.
terrestrial background or planting.
Younger fish are less successful
shooters than adults, which implies
some sort of learning process, rather
than a natural-born talent.

Jump to it
Archerfish aren’t just one-trick ponies.
Their fame deservedly lies with their
marksmanship, but they have
another talent too. As their prey can

SHUTTERSTOCK
be some distance away, archers can T. blythii displays
determine precisely where the prize horizontal markings.
will land in the water, so they make

PLANTS
Create a canopy of foliage
above the tank and this will
become the firing range once
you populate it with insects.
Plastic plants will require
less care, and won’t create
any pollution if leaves fall off
and drop into the water.

MARINE ROCK AND SAND

These are usually fish from
very hard, alkaline waters,
and the presence of real
wood risks lowering this.
Use marine sands and ocean
rock to help buffer the water,
keeping it hard and stable,
and not acidic.
STEVE HALL

WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 29
SPECIES SHOWCASE
Archerfish

a start in that direction immediately encourage the fish to jump once

after firing. But there’s always the they get used to seeing it there.
risk someone else will get there first. Given their remarkable jumping
This is where jumping comes in. talents, you need to ensure your
In a feat only slightly less impressive archers stay well within the tank.
than the way they shoot down prey, The reduced water level puts some
archers will eject themselves from distance between your pet and a
the water and grab prey from dry doom, but a good tank
an overhanging branch. hood or sliders will help
Such behaviour can only keep your archer school
be elicited with the intact, and limit their
right circumstances Crickets and mealworms party tricks to
– archers won’t the aquarium.
are safe and cheap, and
jump too far out of
the water when they
can be cultured Archer appetites
can simply spray their at home. In the wild, archerfish
targets, and typically only spend quite a bit of time
make the leap when prey is dislodging prey insects from
close to the water’s edge. So your overhanging trees, but on occasion
set-up needs the ‘terrestrial’ portion they like something different. Above
to lead right to the water’s edge to the water, they’ve been known to
As well as being
allow the prey items to haplessly shoot down insects, spiders and
skilled hunters,
wander to their doom. Alternatively, even small lizards! archers are
frozen prey items stuck to the glass Beneath the surface, they’ll happily attractive fish.
near the water’s edge could also snap up anything that fits in their

Archers are
happy to
show natural
behaviour in
captivity.

30 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
 How many fish should
I keep?
In the wild, archerfish are found in schools
of 10 to 40 individuals, but a smaller
school will suffice in an aquarium setting.
I prefer a minimum of five, but if you have
the space, then the more the merrier.
Archers kept in very small groups can
display a range of undesirable behaviours.
I’ve found small schools to be somewhat
timid and retiring, and in groups of two
or three there can be bullying behaviour,
with chasing and nipping. This nastiness
is particularly prevalent where small
specimens are kept with bigger ones,
although in larger-sized schools the
problem is markedly diffused.
Mixed-species schools of archerfish cause
few problems; they will generally spend
some of the time mingling with the other
species, the rest with their own kind.
ALAMY

In a feat only slightly less impressive than the way they shoot
down prey, archers will eject themselves from the water and
grab prey from an overhanging branch
mouths – shrimp, crabs, aquatic
insects and small fish are all fair
game, which is something to consider
if you’re thinking of tankmates.
The most commonly available
insects for fishkeepers are crickets,
mealworms and their adult forms.
Home and garden insects will be
devoured too, but exercise caution.
Avoid brightly coloured bugs and
any invertebrates that might have
been exposed to insecticides.
In general, insects will provide a
good source of protein for your
archerfish, and their nutritional value
can be greatly enhanced by
gut-loading them with dry fish foods
and vitamin-rich vegetables.
In time your archers will happily
consume frozen foods and pellets
too. Crustaceans make up a good
proportion of their prey in the wild,
so try shrimp, prawn or crab meat.
Fish don’t feature heavily in their In nature,
archerfish
SHUTTERSTOCK

natural diet, but being opportunistic

congregate in
feeders, they’re not likely to reject large shoals.
ALAMY

any small pieces of fish you offer.

WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 31
 Win
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Letters
TANK COMMUNITY

The writer of our Letter of the month will win a 250ml pot of their
choice from this quality range of Fish Science food, which uses
natural ingredients. Email: editorial@practicalfishkeeping.co.uk

Your letters, your thoughts and

your experiences shared.
PROUD PARENTS
I wanted to write in to PFK to share
my story of hope…
I haven’t been fishkeeping long.
A year or so ago, my mum took my
then six-year-old daughter to the fair
and they won a goldfish. The utter 2nd brood
panic of trying to keep it alive in an
uncycled tank led to endless Googling
and learning, and had me thoroughly
1st brood
addicted. I now have four tanks,

with a fifth waiting to be set up.
The first time I saw German blue
rams, I fell in love with them.
The iridescent blue scales that
scatter their body, the pinks
and yellows, along with the
varying striking black patterns,
had me captivated. I resisted
the urge and didn’t buy them for
the Month
a while. I went away and
researched the species, learning
about their requirements. So many
times during that research I read
how difficult Rams are to keep, how
sensitive they are, and how they
often die very quickly after being
introduced to the home aquarium.
Needless to say, I was nervous, but
tentatively purchased my first ‘pair’
of Rams from a local fish shop. I
was never convinced I’d got a male
and female because they were
young, and so washed-out and pale
from the outset that it was
impossible to tell the sex. I thought I
had everything right for them. My
water comes out of my tap at 5dGH,
3dKH and pH 6.8, my research had
suggested this was pretty suitable,
and my tank had been fully cycled
for a good few months. However,
these poor Rams didn’t live beyond
a week. I was really disheartened by
the fact that the ‘hard to keep’
theory had proved to be true.
A few weeks passed. with all other
tank inhabitants thriving and no tank
issues. Despite swearing since the
demise of my last Rams, that I
would never do it again, I saw a
Leer of beautiful true pair in a widely known
UK pet store. They were guarding a
plastic plant, and I thought that was
a sign of happiness and good health.
I couldn’t resist them.
On the way home, my daughter
ABOVE: Louise’s named them Rex and Ruby. I was
doubly broody feeling apprehensive, yet determined
German blue
to get it right this time. Within two
rams.
weeks Rex and Ruby had spawned
and seemed to be thriving. Their
colours were – and still are –
amazing, and I wasn’t finding them
any harder to keep that my other fish.
During my research I’d also read
that German blue rams are
notoriously bad parents, eating
spawn after spawn of eggs. This
didn’t concern me too much, as I
don’t have the set-up or experience
to raise fry. However, this pair proved
my research wrong again! They
began to spawn every 10 days and,
granted, they did consume five
spawns, but the sixth batch of eggs
made it to wigglers, then free-
swimming and are now six weeks old
and in their own tank.
In an amazing twist, and yet more
proof against the ‘hard to keep’ and
‘bad parents’ theories. I’ve had
further spawns from Rex and Ruby
in those six weeks. I had no spare
tank to put the seventh spawn in, so
LOUISE DAVIES
unfortunately they had to be left to
their fate; I knew that when the pair
spawned again, they would dispose of
these fry. The thought made me sad,
but there was nothing I could do.
Ten days passed and Ruby’s belly
was swollen and her ovipositor was
protruding. The spawning occurred
that night and within 24 hours
there was a lovely little grey pile of
wigglers in the centre of the
bogwood. But to my absolute
surprise, they had not eaten the
free swimmers of the previous batch.
In fact, quite the opposite – they
were tending them as normal!
Last night I observed Rex and
Ruby putting their free-swimming fry
‘to bed’ in the same nest as the
wigglers. I was astounded by this
behaviour as it went against
everything I had read about Rams.
These two have surprised me in so
many ways and, seemingly against
all odds, are now tending two broods
of fry at the same time. Unbelievable,
and a story of hope I thought worth
sharing with the PFK community.
Louise Davies, email
NATHAN SAYS: A story with a happy
ending! I was all smiles by the end
of this, Louise. I love how our fish
never play by the ‘rules’ that the
books say they should!

32 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
 Write to us at Practical Fishkeeping, Bauer Media, Media House,
Lynchwood Business Park, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire PE2 6EA
Email us at editorial@
practicalfishkeeping.co.uk
BRACKISH BLUES
I’ve kept fish on and off for 22 years
now, and in that time I’ve mainly
had tropical freshwater fish, two
marine tanks (one with a selection
of basic corals and a Trachyphyllia
that came in on a piece of live rock
and then refused to die), fancy
goldfish in the house (I even
spawned my Ryukins on more than
one occasion) and bigger goldfish in
a 2,000-gallon pond outside.
The next tank I want to set up is
a brackish tank, but I notice this
is the one part of the hobby that
doesn’t seem to have kept up with
the rest. I see loads of new
equipment and techniques for
keeping marine fish, like the
low-nutrient set-ups and the Triton
system, and freshwater seems too
have diversified into aquascapes,
biotopes and more. Even goldfish
strains have moved on considerably
since the time I started.
But the brackish tank seems to be
the one that’s the same now as it
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com/PFKmag
was in 1996. In the few stores
that I can find stocking them, the
selection of brackish fish is still the
same. It will be some monos, some
scats, a few archerfish and maybe
a shark catfish.
Is there a reason for this? Is there
something I should know about why
brackish keeping has stayed in the
dark ages? If I set up a tank now,
will I be alone, like some sort of
brackish pioneer?
Duncan Magoohan, via email
NATHAN SAYS: You’ve got me there,
Duncan. I guess that from an
economic perspective, brackish fish
have always been against the wall
a bit. For one, there aren’t many
species (and many of those are only
there temporarily), and some of
those get big.
Next, for such a small selection of
fish, it’s a big ask – brackish water is
harder to keep than freshwater
(which has an over-representation on
the fish side of things) and nowhere
near as exciting colour-wise as
WE ASKED...
Which do you use as your
main food source? Dried foods
like flakes, or frozen and live foods?
º DRIED FOOD
º FROZEN / LIVE FOOD
YOU SAID...
29%
DRIED FOOD WINS!
71%
marine fish. Based on those points,
brackish was never going to be a big
market, and if it can’t be monetised,
then nobody is going to pour loads
of effort into technology research
BELOW: and development.
Brackish shark That’s not to say a potential market
cats – stunning, isn’t there. This month we’re holding
but they get big. a candle for archerfish, a brackish
staple, and those folks that enjoy the
‘slightly salty’ set-ups love them as
much as the most reverential
aquascaper loves plants.
Let me know how it pans out. If
you come up with any ways to make
brackish big (and turn a profit from
it) then I’ll want in!
WHERE HAVE ALL THE
FISH BOOKS GONE?
I’m of the generation that still
enjoys reading (74 years young)
and the problem I have is that
aquatics shops don’t stock books
any more, except for some outdated
ones they couldn’t even sell in the
first place. Dedicated bookstores
only have beginners’ books, set for
a very general audience, and I like
to be able to leaf through a book
before buying, so the online stuff
doesn’t interest me.
SHUTTERSTOCK
Can you or your readers please
recommend some titles for me? I’m
❯
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 33
 Letters
TANK COMMUNITY
interested in freshwater fish rather
than saltwater, and have no interest
in ponds or goldfish. I’m unfussed
about which part of the world the
fish are from, but I do want words
more than pictures.
Keep up the excellent work with
the magazine.
Terry Hughes, Richmond
NATHAN SAYS: There aren’t a huge
number of new books, I’m afraid
Terry. The best I’ve come across
recently was the ‘Field Guide to the
Fishes of the Amazon, Orinoco and
Guianas’, edited by Peter van der
Sleen and James S. Albert. As a
fishy reference, it is absolutely
superb, and not too expensive either.
My personal and long-standing
favourite is the ‘Tropical
Fishlopaedia’ by Mary Bailey and
Peter Burgess. It’s getting on a bit,
first printed in 2002 I think, but it
still leads the way as the most
comprehensive and up-to-date book
on fish health and welfare. You can
pick it up for pennies nowadays, and
if you ever bump into Peter and ask
him to sign it for you, he will.
Also, check out ‘Tanganyikan
cichlids in the Natural Habitat’,
by Ad Konings. A book based on an
ichthyologist’s lifework studying the
fish in the lake. Superb.
Lastly, if you prefer a bit more of a
first-hand narrative, I heartily
suggest ‘A Selection of Freshwater
Fish Biotopes in Mexico’, by Kai
Qvist and Rune Evjeberg. The book
does exactly what it says on the
cover, and does it well.
Email us at editorial@
practicalfishkeeping.co.uk
SHOP-BOUGHT LIVE FOODS
I made the mistake of asking a
question on social media, and now
I have a million contradictory
answers and I’m none the wiser.
So, I’ll ask one of your experts instead
and then I can blame you if it all
goes wrong (joking).
Is it safe to feed live foods bought
from a store? I’m wary because in the
past I had a community tank (Blue
gourami, angelfish, Ancistrus, platies
and Black widow tetra) that was almost
wiped out by whitespot and a bacterial
infection that we never successfully
diagnosed after I fed the tank on
Tubifex worms. Now, admittedly, when
I did that I was already suspicious of
the food as it was in quite dirty water,
but even now that the water in the bags
looks cleaner, I don’t quite feel safe.
Can you put my mind at ease or
should I not bother?
Lauren Duffy, via email
NATHAN SAYS: Okay, I’ll take the rap
for this one. So, first of all, live food
has indeed come a long way – for the
most part. Reputable suppliers grow
their food in controlled conditions
these days, as opposed to wild
harvesting and hoping for the best and,
on the whole, the majority of live foods
are problem free.
BUT. No live food is ever free of risk.
Different foods have different risk
levels – Brineshrimp is pretty much
foolproof, Daphnia is usually good,
Follow us at www.facebook.
com/PFKmag
Tubifex terrifies me (I’m not brave
enough to use it myself).
Which leads me to a rhetorical
question. If you have even the tiniest
doubt, then why use live foods at all?
Quality frozen foods are all irradiated
– nuked – to kill off any pathogens
before freezing, and their nutritional
profiles are superb. Because what you’re
offering is dead, you also don’t run the
risk of a few morsels ‘developing’ into
something else if they don’t all get
eaten. I once tried to feed a young
piranha on a bag of bloodworm, and he
didn’t touch a single one. Next thing I
knew, my house had filled with midges,
all hatching out from his tank.
I rarely feed live foods any more. With
prepared foods of such a high standard,
the price of frozen being so much more
economical than live, and with me
having little time to either culture or
prepare my own, I just see no point.
However, if you do still want to try,
Lauren, why not have a look at Gabor’s
tips for growing at home on page 68?
At least this way you’re accountable for
the source, so that takes some of the
unpredictability out of it all!
TOP:
Live foods
always carry
some risk.
RIGHT: Frozen foods
SHUTTERSTOCK
are treated for full security.
 Write to us at Practical Fishkeeping, Bauer Media, Media House, Lynchwood
Business Park, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire PE2 6EA

get a tankbuster in to order? Let me

know if you are, and I can get a few
names written up in the next issue
to hopefully help Jane out.

AQUASCAPE ANGST
As a fishkeeper for 20 years, I’m
in awe of aquascaped aquariums.
Everything about these carefully
crafted masterpieces fascinates me,
from the exquisite clear tanks,
super high-tech CO2 systems and

NEIL HEPWORTH
zen-like approach to plant choice,
placement and maintenance.
But when I see these aquatic
marvels in print and online, I can’t
ARE BIG FISH BACK? up on plenty of other giants instead. ABOVE: Things help but wonder what happens to
seem to have
I’m returning to the hobby after five More importantly, I’m struggling to the fish once a display has been set
gone sideways
years away, living in Thailand, and find stores near to me that DON’T recently with up and photographed? It often
I’m a bit confused. When I left, all have one or two tankbusters on sale tankbusters in seems to me that the fish are an
the stores were joining arms to stop somewhere. So far, I refuse to spend the trade. afterthought, and the main focus is
selling big fish, or tankbusters as any money in shops that sell them, on how trimmed the plants are, and
they called them. I even recall the but it’s proving so difficult that I INSET: how clean the inlet and outlet pipes
start of the Big Fish campaign, back might just not bother. Wayside – the can be. An aquarium is a home for
now-gone shop
in 2005, and I recall Practical I guess what I’m saying is that I’m that didn’t aquatic creatures, but the beautiful
Fishkeeping getting behind it. looking for stores that only sell kept giants. rasboras and tetras all seem to take
NEIL HEPWORTH

I went to my local store, which is smaller fish, before I give up. If you a back seat to the glory and praise
where I used to shop before I went can name a couple of places that do heaped on the technical side.
away, and they had lots of fish that that, I’d be grateful. I currently have a 100 l Juwel tank
many would consider way too Jane Leddy, email with Black neon tetras (which have
large to keep in tanks. There spawned!), Harlequin rasboras,
were migratory South NATHAN SAYS: Well, I Glowlight tetras and a Siamese
American catfish, a could have done with a flying fox. My fish choice was
Lungfish, some type region ideally, Jane, inspired by aquascaping but all my
of Gar, and what and my emails decor is artificial as I prefer to spend
looked like a don’t seem to time on maintaining water quality for
Nile perch be getting my fishes’ wellbeing, over showing
(though it was picked up, but off how little iron my glass has.
unlabelled). maybe you’ll read I’m interested to hear what you and
What happened? this! Anyway, off the top readers think about this. Keep up the
I can’t believe that all the of my head there were only great work. Loving the new-look mag.
stores started to lose all their a handful of stores that Tyrone Richards, email
revenue because they were only committed to exclusively stocking
selling species that can actually be only small species, and sadly the NATHAN SAYS: In a nutshell, they
kept in tanks. It’s like the stores best of those (Wayside Aquatics in usually keep their fish, Tyrone!
have given themselves a trophy for Essex) has since closed down. However, I too would be interested
not stocking Giant gourami and So I’ll leave it to retailers to tell me. in feedback from our readers. How
Pacu, which were all part of the old Are you one of the stores that ONLY do you feel about layouts over fish,
Big Fish Campaign, while stocking stocks small fish, and won’t even folks? Write in and let us know.

STARTING WITH CLUE 5 GUESS THE FISH USING AS FEW CLUES AS POSSIBLE

5 This fish is jet black in the body, and

the only other markings are two
white rings that go around the tail.
4 Like others in its family, this fish
uses a massive anal fin that
stretches all the way along the
3 Along with sensitive eyes for night
underside to propel itself.
vision, this fish relies on a sense of
electrodetection to find its way about,
creating an electric field around itself.
2 Often sold as a community fish, and
appealing when young, it can
eventually grow to 50cm or more, and
1 The scientific name is Apteronotus
albifrons, which roughly translates
as ‘missing back fin’, as this fish
can prey on smaller tankmates. doesn’t possess one.

Answer on Tailpiece, page 114.

WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 35
INSPIRATION
Indian Glassfish
A touch of
GLASS The small, unassuming, practically transparent
Indian glassfish needs only a brackish-type set-up
to show off its considerable charms.
HERE ARE scores of
T
aquarium set-up ideas
that go through my
mind when I look at
magazines, websites and
documentaries, or think
TAI about habitats I’ve seen
STRIETMAN in the wild. Usually,
I lean towards planted or acidic
Formerly an aquarist
leaf litter biotopes. I love rushing
at ZSL London Zoo,
Tai is a freshwater hillstream tanks full of gobies or
habitat specialist. loaches, or a set-up mimicking the
Biotope aquaria shallows of a lake with gouramis and
are his passion. rasboras sheltering under lily pads.
Invariably, these are freshwater
tanks, and despite years of
fishkeeping, mention ‘brackish’ to me
and I begin to fidget nervously and
start looking for the exit. Why?
Well, in part, I grew up looking at
brackish tank set-ups that nearly
always contained stunted Banded
archerfish (Toxotes jaculatrix), some
TAI STRIETMAN
36 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
sorry-looking Monos (Monodactylus
sebae) and Scats (Scatophagus argus),
and were planted with… Java fern.
Now I’ve been lucky enough to
visit mangroves on three continents,
and I can tell you, there ain’t no
Java fern there. It might be
convenient that a semi-aquatic plant
which grows along the edges of
freshwater waterfalls and rapids can
handle salt water, but wow, it makes
me uncomfortable to see it in a
brackish tank.
But what really got me when I
started taking the hobby seriously,
was the lack of suitable species for
brackish aquaria. As PFK Staff
writer Steve Baker will readily tell
anyone, there are plenty of great
brackish species, and tank ideas well
worth setting up, but finding the fish
and getting people interested in
brackish tanks can be a challenge..
Transparent from
a distance, but a
close-up shows
some pretty colour.
 In the wild, Glassfish will
congregate with the young of
other species among roots
and plants to scout
for food.

I’ve been lucky enough

TAI STRIETMAN

to visit mangroves on three

continents, and I can tell you,
there ain’t no Java fern there
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 37
INSPIRATION
Indian Glassfish

“Get the dyed versions in, they’re way nicer.” I resisted the
urge to grab the nearby ‘Caution Wet Floor’ sign and adhere it
at high velocity to said customer’s face
Memory lane while, I didn’t think it was feasible. don’t seem to know anything about ABOVE: Note
Growing up, I was hooked on Peter But then I thought, ‘Why not cheat?’. them. “No, they WON’T be fine with the see-through
W Scott’s book ‘The Complete What about a brackish set-up that your big, overactive Rainbowfish!” bodies.
Aquarium’. I was given a copy for my wasn’t brackish at all? I’ve wanted to yell more than once.
BELOW:
ninth birthday and I still turn its These underhand thoughts were And the time a customer suggested a Glassfish sitting
water-damaged, salt-stained pages all partly inspired by some almost shop “Get the dyed versions in, under cover of
these years later. ible fish in my local aquatics they’re way nicer,” I resisted the urge mangrove roots.
To be frank, it’s very outd he Indian Glassfish, to grab the nearby ‘Caution Wet
some of the fish combos mbassis ranga, is a hard Floor’ sign and adhere it at high
in the ‘biotopes’ would ll. Glassfish are a) see- velocity to said customer’s face.
inspire armed rebellion through; b) don’t travel Sadly, Glassfish are sold in large
among ethical well; and c) often numbers around the world injected
fishkeepers now, thrown into shop with coloured dyes – a practice
and the plants, tanks with bigger, particularly common in Asia where,
fish and boisterous fish in parts, the ethics of fishkeeping are
materials available
Glassfish should always be and just sit there woefully underdeveloped.
to the author in kept in groups – the (invisibly) terrified. The process of adding dye requires
1991 clearly weren’t bigger, the repeated injections with a hefty
what they are today. There better. Hidden lights needle and the literature suggests
was indeed a brackish tank P. ranga is remarkably adaptable, that most fish do not live for very
with Java fern, Monos, Scats and being able to thrive in both fresh long afterwards.
Archerfish – but also a brackish tank and brackish water conditions across Our desire to ‘improve’ on nature
set-up for Mudskippers (Oxudercinae) a huge range, but it doesn’t like shop has led to dyed fish, glow-fish and
that utterly enthralled me! tanks. As customers pass the rows of (whispers in fear) Parrot cichlids.
I always wanted to try to recreate darting, brightly coloured livebearers, When we’re prepared to develop dogs,
such a tank but it never happened. tetras and barbs, it’s unlikely their eye our supposed ‘best friends’, into
Recently I was again tempted to try will be caught by some transparent, breeds that can’t breathe, have skulls
my hand at a brackish tank, but given nervous-looking skinny fish. too small for their brains, or suffer
impending preparations to move to As I’ve seen in shops from time to constant joint pain, it’s not surprising
the other side of the world for a time, it also doesn’t help that staff we treat fish with even less regard.

38 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
Little charmers
Glassfish have a certain charm.
The juveniles are downright cute,
especially when they flex their fins in
mini displays to others, or when they
casually yawn and raise their dorsal
fin at the same time. Adults appear
grumpy, which I approve of. Their
bass-like mouths, set in a permanently
disappointed expression, somehow
endear them to me, and their large
eyes seem to judge you from the
other side of the glass – and never
seem to like what they see…
So, what do these fish need to keep
them happy? Well, principally, plenty
of their own company. These are fish
that will swarm through estuarine
habitats, feeding in large shoals at the
mouth of a river, and taking refuge
among the roots of mangrove trees
with thousands of other small fish.
They also inhabit smaller inland
streams, coastal waterways, lagoons
and huge, powerful rivers.
They’re found more frequently in
fresh than in brackish water, but their
ability to adapt to either habitat
ensures they can make the best of a
number of food sources and,
ultimately, that makes them a rather
successful species.
Setting up
I discussed the possibility of
borrowing a group for a set-up with
the manager of my local Maidenhead
Aquatics, Max Compton. The
specimens Max had in stock were
very small – mostly juveniles of not
more than 1cm – but he promised to
order larger fish for the next week
and, true to his word, some heftier
adults of about 3cm or so turned up
the following Tuesday.
I was excited about this because I
love having different-sized fish of the
same species in a shoal. In the wild,
it’s unusual to see a shoal of small
fish all the same size; it’s the variety
of sizes that contributes to the
dynamism of the shoal.
In Brazilian rivers, for example, I’ve
seen that larger tetras will lead the
group, with a few dominant
individuals right at the head, the
majority of mid-sized specimens in
the middle and, all the time, smaller
fish desperately trying to penetrate
the shoal to avoid being left on the
fringes or at the tail end, where they’re
FACTFILE
INDIAN GLASSFISH
6Scientific name: Parambassis ranga
6Size: 8cm
6Origin: India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangaldesh,
Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia
and Japan
6Tank size: 90x30x30cm minimum
6Water requirements: 6.5-8.0 pH, 8-20°H
6Temperature: 22-28°C
6Temperament: Peaceful and shy
6Feeding: Unfussy mid-water: flakes,
granules, frozen and livefoods
6Availability and cost: quite common; £2+
ABOVE: easy prey for piscivores. Their lack of
Glassfish in their swimming strength makes this a real
natural habitat marathon for many young fish.
among roots. In the aquarium, a mixed-sized
shoal looks more natural and will
demonstrate hierarchical behaviours.
In my tank, while the adults roved
around, the juveniles darted about,
picking through the sand and leaf
litter, or sat in shadow under a
floating mangrove leaf. Seeing the
adults calm meant they felt free to
explore and search for food.
I wanted to set up a tank that
suggested a shallow, slow-moving
area of mangroves, perhaps a small
lagoon adjacent to an estuarine river,
a calm haven for small fish. To do
this, I needed some leaf litter, so my
80 l+ ever-generous friend Scott Fellman
from Tannin Aquatics sent me a
batch of leaves, mangrove roots and
other botanicals to try out.
I planned to keep my 90x60x30cm
shallow tank simple, with the attention
on the fish. At only 160 l, I couldn’t
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 39
INSPIRATION
Indian Glassfish
have a large group, but it comfortably
accommodated 17 individuals of
mixed sizes. I used fine silver sand,
mixed with a little bit of larger gravel,
to create a bright substrate.
Suitable cover
At their edges, muddy mangroves
often meet the open sand of a lagoon
or shallow stream. This is prime real
estate for small fish who want to be
near the cover of the mangrove roots,
while still taking advantage of the
food sources the open water provides.
Providing cover for Glassfish is
crucial, so I let a few twigs, leaves
and seeds float around and these,
together with roots and shaded spots,
made the fish feel more secure and
confident. A couple of mangrove
roots provided cover on one side,
and I incorporated plenty of leaf
litter, including mangrove leaves,
palm fronds and seed pods, where
40 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
the juvenile fish hunted for micro-
fauna. The current was kept to a
minimum as I wanted to imitate the
near-stagnant nature of a mangrove
fringe at low tide.
As a reminder of the human impact
on mangroves, I added a glass jar
– the least offensive pollution I could
think of. The fish periodically went
inside, got confused, and then found
their way out. Placing JBL Novo-tabs
in the jar created a comic scene in
which the fish all crammed in to feed
in a rush, before filing out one by
one, bellies full.
I used four 36w T5 bulbs (two
daylight and two plant-life), an
external Hydor heater set to 25°C,
and a large external cannister rated
for 2500lph but with the flow turned
right down. pH was maintained at 7.0
and hardness 8-20°H. I carried out
50% water changes weekly using
dechlorinated tap water.
Where do Glassfish live?
Their range extends in a belt from Pakistan,
eastwards through Nepal (not many
mangroves there) and India, to Bangladesh,
Myanmar and down to Thailand and
Malaysia. They’ve also been introduced in
Japan. The IUCN lists them as inhabiting
heavily agricultural lowland regions of
Nepal, the rushing rivers and streams of the
high Western Ghats of India, as well as the
brackish Lake Chilka.
They are recorded in the broad and muddy
Ayeyarwaddy and Sittaung drainages of
Myanmar (these guys might have been
swimming under the ‘Bridge over the River
Kwai’) and in the heavily forested Salween
basin across Myanmar and Thailand, a
well-known hot-bed of aquarium species.
They are, therefore, a remarkably adaptable
little fish and deserving of our attention.
 A mixed diet of dried, live and
frozen foods, along with a bit of green
matter, will bring out the colour in
Glassfish. They are omnivorous and
not very picky, but mine became
rather excited about live brineshrimp.
They also had a go at algae tablets
and ravished a blanched pea. These
fish are wary of the surface and
prefer to feed at mid and lower levels.
A JBL Novo-tab, stuck to the glass
near the substrate, allowed them to
feed at leisure. The adults tore off
chunks and the juveniles flitted
around grabbing smaller particles.
Clear strategy
Glassfish may appear see-through, but
given some love, cover and a decent
diet, all sorts of greens and yellows
will start to appear around the head
and along the lateral line. Shimmers
of iridescence can occur under
decent lighting and with the right
conditions they go from transparent
drabness to precious jewels.
Their transparency, though, is key
to their survival strategy – in essence,
keep a low profile. In small groups,
against the backdrop of open water
or a tangle of roots, they’re hard to
distinguish, and in large shoals, they
seem to overlap, making it very ABOVE: A monsters they need to avoid, and
difficult for a predator to pick out an predatory making sure they are hard to spot is
individual to attack. Crocodile fish. key to their survival. Apart from their
At low tide, in the slower channels, transparency, their compressed body
streams and pools of their native shape helps them disappear and their
habitats, leaf litter and debris are large eyes give them the best chance
scattered across the substrate. This of spotting potential dangers.
is where species like the heavily I would love to set up a large-
camouflaged Crocodile fish,
In the aquarium, especially
scale shallow mangrove tank
Cymbacephalus beauforti, for a bigger group, with live
lurk, hidden in the sand, in a species tank or with other mangroves – and possibly
waiting to ambush prey. placid tankmates, Glassfish even go brackish – because
This predator is only likely to become confident after having these small,
be encountered along the Eastern and colour up unassuming fish at home for a
coast of Malaysia, but across the well. few weeks, they’ve carved quite a
species’ range there are many other space in my aquarist heart.
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 41
TROPICAL
Celestial pearl danio

re e
Its markings are out of this world, its
temperament is heavenly, and it hit the
hobby with a big bang. So why on earth
aren’t you keeping Celestial pearl danios?
WORDS: STEVE BAKER

42 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
 Despite being so tiny, male
Celestial pearls can be extremely
aggressive with each other.
Always watch for bullying
of ‘smaller’ fish.
ALAMY

There’s a lot
going on in
those stunning
CPD markings.

WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 43
TROPICAL
Celestial pearl danio

N
EW FISH are being
found and described
to science, day in,
day out – especially
when previously
hostile countries
become more peaceful
and explorable.
The reason why you don’t hear
about them so much is because
there are very few funds for the
scientists who are striving to log
them all (much of their work is paid
for by charities, if at all), and also
because many are of little interest to
the ornamental fishkeeping hobby.
Another reason is a learned fear
for the welfare of any new species
(and its habitat) that may become an
instant hit with fishkeepers around
the world – and that comes on the
back of what very nearly happened
upon discovery of this little gem,
the beautiful Celestial pearl danio,
Danio margaritatus.

Too good to be true?

The cautionary tale of the Celestial
pearl danio (commonly known as
the CPD) started in 2006. The fish
was first observed in August of
that year in a small, man-made,
spring-fed reservoir at the base of
mountains near Hopong town, east
of Taunggyi in Myanmar, at 1,040m
above sea level. One month later,
images of the fish were sent out by
fish exporter Kamphol Udomritthiruj,
which were initially met with
excitement but after a short while,
scepticism grew. Roughly 1,000
years before, naturalists were
scoffing at eye-witness drawings of
the Paradise fish; now naturalists
were claiming photo-editing
software had been used to proclaim
this fish as spurious – because it
looked too good to be true.
At first it was thought that pictures
of Danio choprai, the Glowlight
danio, and what was then known as
Microrasbora erythromicron, the
Emerald dwarf rasbora, had been
edited with cut-outs of other small
cyprinid species. Udomritthiruj

2cm

LEFT: Males
display for
superiority.
ABOVE: responded by sending out more hobbyists, a must-have for exporters, was not under any immediate threat
CPDs are best images of the fish he dubbed the and breeders just had to get their of over-collection and fortunately
kept in small Galaxy rasbora. These new photos hands on a batch. The problem this that’s still the case today.
groups. not only silenced the sceptics, but spawned was very nearly a disaster Meanwhile in Europe, the scare
created a wave of ‘Galaxy hysteria’. for everyone involved. And, most of was used to drum up business and
The industry went mad for them – all, a disaster for this new species. keep prices very high for such a
they became the ‘in’ fish for Come February 2007, just six small fish. Some canny sellers pitched
months after the fish’s discovery, the fish to environmentally concerned
images of the small reservoir buyers as ‘the’ fish to purchase in
FACTFILE showed heavily trampled margins groups large enough to breed. This
CELESTIAL PEARL DANIO due to overfishing. It was said so would save wild populations by
6 Scientific name: Danio margaritatus many fish had been taken that it supplying the trade with tank-raised
6 Pronunciation: Dan-ee-oh marg-ari-tar-tus was close to extinction, and the specimens that would minimise the
6 Size: 2cm
6 Origin: Eastern Myanmar: Shan and south into northern Thailand
Department of Fisheries in need for future imports.
6 Habitat: Mostly in shallow, clear, still waters with heavy plant Myanmar officially banned exports
growth and surrounded by grassland. One population is said to from this location and of any new What’s in a name?
have been found in ‘deep forest’ populations that might be found. Naming the fish wasn’t a smooth
6 Tank size: 45x30x30cm minimum Thankfully, it turned out to be affair either. Because of the frenzy to
6 Water requirements: 6.5-7.8 pH, 5-16°H more of a scare than a factually get it out there and onto the market,
6 Temperature: 20-26°C
6 Temperament: Timid, males can be
40 l+ based concern, and after an official exporters were throwing different
competitive survey of the wetlands close to names at it – the common name of
6 Feeding: Flake, frozen Cyclops, Daphnia Hopong uncovered five additional Galaxy rasbora was taken on board
and black mosquito larvae populations in June 2007 and a widely in the UK; others included
6 Availability and cost: Relatively common; healthy population in the original Fireworks rasbora and Microrasbora
£3.50-£5 each reservoir, the export ban was lifted. sp. Galaxy. All of these were
The evidence suggested the species incorrect; the fish was not a rasbora,

WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 45
TROPICAL
Celestial pearl danio
nor was it even closely related.
Scientists were in agreement –
this fish didn’t fit into any known
genera. In February 2007, Tyson R
Roberts of the Smithsonian Tropical
Research Institute released his
formal description of the species,
creating a new genus for it.
Danio margaritatus is a descriptive
name; the name Danio comes from
the native language while the
species name translates to ‘adorned
with pearls’. Roberts also coined a
new common name for the fish,
calling it the Celestial pearl danio,
which is the name we all know it by
now. Either way, galaxy or heavenly,
this fish was out of this world and
adored by many.
Over several years, the price of
these fish has slowly dropped from
the heady heights of around £16
each to a far more accessible £4 or
so today. The price reduction is
down to a combination of things.
First, it’s not a new fish anymore
and, quite simply, the hype is over
and the desire to possess it is much
Roughly 1,000 years before, naturalists were scoffing at eye-witness
drawings of the Paradise fish; now naturalists were claiming photo-editing
software had been used because it looked too good to be true
46 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
How to sex CPDs
Males display a steel blue body colour, a
patterned anal fin and a deep red colour in
the fins and underneath the body. Females
have a green metallic background, plain
orange anal fin and more of an orange
outline to the body and fins.
reduced. Second, it turns out that
D. margaritatus is an easy fish to
breed, so once the commercial
fisheries got going with it, there was
enough supply to fill demand. And
finally, after many people failed to
keep it in an average community
tank and we realised it needs
particular care in order to thrive, its
market share was dramatically cut.
That’s not to say the Celestial
BELOW:
pearl danio is a difficult fish to keep
Displays
from sparring – it’s quite hardy, adaptive to water
males can be parameters, demands little and
mesmerising. breeds easily. The restrictions relate
to its feeding and its confidence; in
an average community tank it would
be on the back foot from day one.
Comparatively big and boisterous
platies would scare D. margaritatus
half to death and quick feeding
tetras, rasboras, danios and barbs
would easily out-compete the
diminutive CPD for food.
Little gem
Because of its tiny size of 2cm, and
its need for either a species-only
tank or to be mixed with similarly
small and timid species, the Celestial
pearl danio became a favourite of
fishkeepers with nano tanks.
Sometimes this doesn’t play out so
well. Being kept in small groups can
highlight competitive behaviour
between males, and though it’s
possible to differentiate the sexes in
mature, settled fish, it’s a lot trickier
with newly imported, juvenile fish.
Ideally the CPD is best suited to a
small standard tank (or a large nano);
something around 40-70 l, planted
to give the fish some confidence
 We Recommend...
Tankmates
You need to match both size and temperament to
keep Celestial pearl danios happy in the aquarium.
Anything too large and too confident could well
upset or out-compete them.

SHUTTERSTOCK
CPDs are happy
in bright tanks 6 Normans lampeyes hang out in the upper half of
as long as there the tank and will help to fill this area as the CPDs
is plant cover.
mostly use the lower half.
6 Corydoras pygmaeus will bring life to the bottom
of the tank. (Pictured above).
with places to hide and to break the given the nature of daily pH
lines of sight in case the males get fluctuations and evidence of health,
feisty. A dark substrate (ideally a Celestial pearl danios can be kept
nutrient-rich substrate for happily in a pH range from
healthier plant growth) suits 6.5-7.8 and in a wide variety
these fish well too. of hardness.
D. margaritatus won’t Accounts of
just slot into any breeding have noted
tank; it needs this If you fancy setting up a a KH (carbonate
biotope, you’ll need to use

SHUTTERSTOCK
particular style hardness) as
of set-up to be Elodea for planting. It high as 12° on
kept well. the German scale,
proliferates in the
When it comes to and GH (general
water parameters,
CPD’s habitat. hardness) can be 6 Microdevario kubotai, Green neon rasbora are
though, the CPD is not as anywhere between 5° and another favourite for nano tanks.
fussy. The pH value in the 16°, so there’s a fair amount 6 Cherry shrimp (pictured above) make great
type locality (that is, the first of flexibility in water parameters. scavengers and are suited to smaller tanks. You
place the fish was found) was not far As ever, though, the stability of can buy them in many different colours.
from neutral (7.3 to be precise), and these conditions is important. 6 Nerite snails (pictured below) also make
good scavengers for small tanks and won’t breed
in freshwater.
All this detail in
a 2cm fish!
ALAMY

WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 47
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THE EXPERTS
BOB TROPICAL
MEHEN
Is answering all your
community aquarium
Why is my catfish acting so strangely?
questions and looks at a catfish’s I recently added a Pimelodus pictus catfish to nocturnal and can bother larger, slow-moving
bizarre behaviour on page 49, and the my 200 l/44 gal tropical tank. It seems to have fish with their constant night-time activity.
problems posed by a mis-sold loach settled in OK, it’s eating well, isn’t aggressive While single specimens will often survive,
species on page 53. towards the other fish and isn’t being bullied. they really are a social, shoaling species and
But it spends a lot of time in one corner of the ideally should be kept in groups of six or more.
tank just swimming up and down against the I suspect that this is partly to blame for your
GEORGE glass. I’ve kept these catfish before and fish’s strange, restless patrolling of the tank
FARMER have never had one behave like this. corner. However, to keep a good-sized
Is answering all your Any idea why it’s acting this way? group like this you need a large tank
planting questions My tank is well planted and is – something with a floor plan of
and discusses how to begin to combat filtered by a Fluval 4 and a around 120x30cm minimum,
a long-standing algae problem in a Fluval 3 internal canister but ideally bigger due to
reader’s planted community set-up filter. Temperature is Pimelodid catfish are their active, fast-moving
on page 56. 26-27°C. I carry out a nature and adult size of
susceptible to whitespot. Carefully
48 l/11 gal water change 12-15cm, depending on
check prospective purchases
STEVE every week, adding the type of Pimelodus
BAKER tapwater conditioner to the and keep water pictus you have. The bigger
Is answering all your
new water. I clean the filters quality top spotted Peruvian fish is probably
alternately when the flow slows the more sought after, while the
tank maintenance notch.
down, washing the media in the water smaller spotted Colombian one
questions and talks about the ins
I siphon from the tank. typically grows a little larger.
and outs of cleaning algae from your
aquarium glass and which tools to use I’d be grateful for any advice you can give. You don’t mention exactly how long your
on page 53. CHAS WALKER, EMAIL new catfish has been resident in your tank, but
personally I have noticed many catfish species
BOB MEHEN SAYS: Pimelodus pictus are (Corydoras in particular) spend the first few
NEALE lovely fish to keep and do well in community days or weeks restlessly patrolling the tank
MONKS tanks as long as there are no fish small enough before eventually settling – almost as if they’re
Is answering all your to fit into their surprisingly capacious mouths. testing the limits of their new home.
freshwater questions It’s worth remembering that they are largely If your new catfish continues to eat and
and discusses keeping guppies in an otherwise appears healthy, then I wouldn’t
unheated aquarium on page 50, and the worry unduly, but do keep a close eye on things
possible reasons behind a worrying drop to make sure it isn’t being harassed by any of
in a tank’s pH on page 54. its tankmates, as the catfish’s flowing
whiskers can attract unwanted
attention from ‘nippy’ species.
DAVID
WOLFENDEN
Is answering all your
marine fish questions,
NEIL HEPWORTH

and looks at keeping Tomato clownfish

on page 52, and the suitability of Pictus cats are
adding a Marine betta to a reader’s
very active,
existing reef tank on page 55.
nocturnal fish.
❯
EXPERT AQUARIUM CARE WITH OUR DIGITAL Every question we receive gets a reply from our
experts. Include as much information as you
WATER TEST APP, DOWNLOAD HERE: can about your set-up. Photos are useful, too. 49
ADVICE Answers

TROPICAL

Can I keep guppies in

a temperate tank?

Question of Please could you tell me whether it is important as the temperature of the recognise here is that

the Month OK to keep guppies in an unheated

aquarium? The tank I have holds
about 60 l/13 gal before substrate,
decoration etc. I live in a centrally
heated apartment and it’s always
ABOVE: pretty warm in here! I don’t intend
Intensively to keep any other fish in the tank.
farmed ‘fancy’ Also, is it OK to keep only males?
guppies are not DILLON NORRIS, COVENTRY
very hardy and
demand warm NEALE SAYS: Whether or not you
water. install an aquarium heater is not as
TETRA PRIZE
Dillon wins a box of Tetra goodies:
100ml TetraMin and TetraPro Colour foods,
Holiday Food, Pleco Algae Wafers,
FunTips Tablets, 100ml SafeStart,
EasyBalance and AquaSafe water treatments
and Tetra Test 6 in 1.
ALAMY
water. It’s often the case that in a
centrally heated home, the ambient
room temperature never drops below
18°C, and only gets a few degrees
warmer than that during the summer,
in which case subtropical fish species
can be kept perfectly well in a tank
without a heater. Indeed, it’s good
practice to keep subtropical species
this way because cooler winters and
warmer summers substantially
lengthen their lifespans.
You’d be surprised just how many
commonly sold ‘tropical’ fish are
actually subtropicals, including such
widely sold favourites as Variatus
platies, White Cloud Mountain
minnows, Rosy barbs, and the Golden
barb, Barbodes semifasciolatus.
Now, you might be thinking this is
all very well, but what about the
guppies? The important thing to
guppies aren’t subtropical
fish, unlike the Variatus platies
just mentioned. Wild guppies
are very adaptable of course, and
likely do experience short, cool spells
in some of the places where they live.
But the sort of guppy you’ll see in
aquarium shops is usually a highly
selected, often very inbred, fancy form
produced for its bright colours, rather
than overall hardiness. Such guppies
will not handle chilling well, and
shouldn’t be kept below 22-24°C.
Indeed, if you struggle to keep your
specimens healthy – and many
aquarists do – then warmer water,
alongside increasing the mineral
content of the water, will help to tip
the odds in your favour.
Bottom line, if your room isn’t at
least, say, 22°C all year round, then
you’re unlikely to be successful
Australian desert
gobies are
temperate fish.
HRISTO HRISTOV

EVERYTHING YOU NEED Send your questions to: Fishkeeping Answers,

Practical Fishkeeping Magazine, Media House, Lynchwood, Peterborough,
50 FOR HEALTHY FISH PE2 6EA. Email us at questions@practicalfishkeeping.co.uk
 Some Corydoras are arguably
better kept as subtropicals. The
Bearded cory, Scleromystax
Make sure
barbatus, will do a lot better in scavenged wood
an unheated, room is thoroughly
temperature tank. dried before use,

keeping any
truly tropical
fish in your
aquarium if it
doesn’t have a
heater installed.
It’s also important
to recognise that 60 l/
13 gal isn’t a huge
volume of water. I’d honestly
recommend at least 75 l/17 gal for
fancy guppies, simply because
they’re a lot less hardy than their
reputation might suggest.
If you’re dead-set on an unheated
tank, something along the lines of
Japanese ricefish or White Cloud
Mountain minnows would be a better
bet, or even Australian desert gobies
if you can find them – these colourful
and hardy gobies must be viewed as
a (quite easy) breeding project, given
the short lifespans of these fish, even
under optimal conditions.
Finally, yes, male guppies can work
fine, but try to keep a fair number,
maybe eight or more. In twos or
threes, the dominant male often
becomes a bully. In fact, unless
females outnumber males by two to
one, I’m not convinced mixed sex
guppy groups are particularly nice
places to be for the females, unless
the tank is exceptionally large and
well planted. The males are real
TROPICAL
Is this wood safe to use?
I’m planning a large-ish Discus community
tank of around 900 l. I’m planning to
house 10 Discus, a shoal of Rummynose
tetras, a herd of Sterbai corys and a few
Starlight plecos (L183).
A former neighbour has three hectares of
chestnut trees and has to do some regular
trimming, so I have access to as much
sweet chestnut wood as I want, including
some fairly large branches. Is it safe to use?
ANDREA PASSANTE, EMAIL
NEALE SAYS: Sweet chestnut should be
safe, assuming it hasn’t been sprayed with
pesticides or herbicides of any sort. Also,
wood should be aged before use, otherwise
the fresh material in newly chopped wood
will decay, promoting the growth of fungi
and bacteria in the aquarium. While not
ALAMY
necessarily toxic, these microbes can be
unsightly at best and, at worst, use up
oxygen so quickly your fish become
stressed. Biological decay will inevitably
produce organic acids that will pull the pH
down. In a softwater aquarium, this extra
acidification can cause problems as well.
Note that horse chestnut, as opposed to
sweet chestnut, is not considered safe to
be used in the
aquarium.
Oak, beech, birch, sycamore,
hazel and sweet chestnut are
safe to use in aquaria.
All evergreens and
conifers are
toxic.
Discus are
naturally affiliated
with root wood
GEORGE FARMER

pests, chasing the females about,

and generally making it difficult for
them to have much fun!
❯

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51
PINTEREST: TETRA UK
ADVICE Answers

MARINE
TROPICAL
Will Tomato clowns suit this aquarium?
Please could you tell me if I can keep a pair of
Tomato clownfish in a 450 l/100 gal reef
aquarium? I know these fish can be a bit territorial
based medications is a good idea during quarantine
to help with any potential parasitic infections.
You can either acquire an established pair, or buy
Are they at
so I don’t intend to have any other fish, but I will
want to keep hermits and clean-up crew if
two juveniles and allow one to become the
dominant female. Once settled in, feed regularly
risk in this
possible. Will my tank be big enough? I don’t want
to keep difficult corals, so will they accept a soft
with a varied diet, and supplement the food
frequently to keep the fish in tip-top condition.
set-up?
coral of some kind to live in, rather than an Tomato clowns (like many other clownfish
anenome? Any other advice and any possible species) will often host in soft or stony corals I have a 125 l/27 gal
pitfalls I need to be aware of would be welcome. instead of an anemone – and they don’t even need planted community tank,
G E KELBY, TAMWORTH a host to thrive, in fact. However, there’s something which I’ve upgraded to use
special about seeing clownfish living in a host. a Fluval 306 external filter.
DAVE SAYS: Yes, this is absolutely possible. Almost all host anemones are very demanding, It houses a Betta, Galaxy
Tomato clowns, Amphiprion frenatus, are incredibly requiring specialised systems, but there’s one rasboras, platies, Otos,
hardy fish and a great choice. As you’ve noted, species that is worth trying. The Bubble-tip shrimp and Assassin snails.
they can be territorial, but if you’re only looking to anemone, Entacmaea quadricolor, is relatively I’ve decided to upgrade to
keep a pair with no fish tankmates then you can’t hardy, and would be a natural pairing for Tomato a Fluval Roma 240, which
really go wrong. They won’t bother typical clean-up clowns; they are found in this species on the reef. also uses a Fluval 306
crew/janitorial invertebrates, and 450 l/100 gal is Bubble-tips require moderate to bright lighting and filter. So, can I set up the
plenty of room for a pair (females of this species moderate flow, and are best placed in a rocky new tank with new plants
reach up to 14cm in length). crevice. They don’t fare well in new systems, so and substrate, as well as
Quarantine the fish when you get them, as you’ll need to make sure the system is reasonably the existing plants, decor,
parasites such as Brooklynella can be an issue mature, with stable water quality. Aquacultured filter and Fluval E200W
with clownfish – the use of prophylactic copper- specimens are the best option. heater from my current
tank, and bypass the need
for a fishless cycle? Will the
Clownfish will often new tank undergo a mini
host in a soft or stony cycle? If it does, other than
coral instead of an water changes, what can I
anemone. do to lower the ammonia?
CASS, EMAIL

BOB SAYS: Adding your

existing, mature filter to the
new tank is an excellent
idea and will remove the
need to undertake a full
fishless cycle to ready the
new tank for fish. However,
as you mention, it’s worth
keeping a close eye on the
water chemistry for a
couple of weeks to make
sure it’s coping. It’s also
worth reducing the feeding
levels to let the whole new
set-up balance itself out.
While most of the
beneficial bacteria that
help keep our tank water
safe live in the filter, some
live in the substrate and on
tank surfaces and these will
be lost when you upgrade.
A dechlorinator such as
Seachem Prime, which
makes ammonia safe for
fish but leaves it available
for bacteria to feed on, is a
good extra level of security,
alongside water changes.
ALAMY

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52 FOR HEALTHY FISH PE2 6EA. Email us at questions@practicalfishkeeping.co.uk
 TROPICAL

Please could you identify this loach?

I bought a loach recently. It was quite
small and it was cheap, but now I’m
worried as I’ve been told it might grow
to 20cm (it’s currently about 8cm).
It’s in my temperate tank with a
mixture of tank buddies, including
Glowlight tetras, Peppered corys, Rosy
barbs and so on. Please can you tell
BELOW: me whether it’s a Siamese algae eater
Chinese and if it will be all right with my other
algae eaters fish? There have been no issues as yet.
grow large V AINSWORTH, EMAIL
and become
increasingly BOB SAYS: I’m sorry to tell you that
territorial. your photo shows a Sucking loach.
Siamese algae eaters (Crossocheilus
sp.) are generally relatively peaceful
fish that do best in groups of six or
more and can be effective algae
eaters. Several species are imported
under the common name with most
growing to around 15cm maximum.
Sucking loaches, Gyrinocheilus
aymonieri, confusingly sometimes sold
under the name ‘Chinese algae eater’,
are a different proposition altogether.
Growing to a potential size of over
25cm, these are big, grumpy, territorial
fish that will attempt to dominate most
tanks and soon lose interest in eating
algae once they grow. I’d be concerned
that your Corydoras, being the easiest
targets, will bear the brunt of its
displeasure at having to share its tank,
but the other fish may feel its wrath too.
You don’t mention what temperature
you keep your temperate tank at and,
while they are hardy and adaptable,
these loaches are not really suited to
temperatures below 22°C for anything
but short periods. If at all possible, it’s
probably best to try to rehome the
loach as soon as you can, before it
grows and becomes more aggressive
and harder to move on.

ALAMY
MAINTENANCE

What’s the best way to clean algae off glass?

It seems everybody I ask uses a different method of cleaning algae
off the glass of their tank – some people swear by magnets while
others won’t ever use them. Also, the cleaning sponges sold in fish
shops are very expensive. Can I just use a cheap sponge from a
supermarket as some people have suggested I do?
JODIE SUGDEN, LEICESTER
STEVE SAYS: I guess there are upsides and downsides with every tool
used for algae cleaning, so people do tend to stick with what they
prefer and what suits their tank. Rounded corners won’t suit blades,
for example. Anything on a stick helps keep hands/contaminants out
of the water, and acrylic or plastic tanks need dedicated tools. If they
don’t contain cleaning agents, then go ahead with the cheap sponges.

1 2 3
STEVE BAKER

Magnets are very useful, with the bonus of Sponges are universal – they work on flat, Blades are very good for flat glass and
keeping your hands out of the tank, but if they bowed or rounded glass and are available in stubborn algae, but go careful near the silicone.
pick up gravel or sand they can scratch glass. differing levels of abrasiveness. A cheap alternative is an old credit card.
❯

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ADVICE Answers
TROPICAL
Why has my pH crashed?
I have a 130 l tropical aquarium that at
present is very lightly stocked with just a few
Congo tetras and some Tiger and Golden
barbs. I've recently tried to add new stock,
but whatever I've added has quickly died.
Having tested the water, I found the pH had
crashed to about 5.0-5.5 and even after a
series of water changes (some up to 60%)
I can't recover it. I've tested the water going
into the tank and it's pH 7.0. I used to use
RO water but switched back to tapwater a
couple of years ago after a house move.
The tank is decorated with bogwood and
rocks that I've had for years and there are no
live plants. I use an ageing Eheim external
filter. Any thoughts, please?
NEIL WILLIAMS, WEST MIDLANDS
NEALE MONKS SAYS: While pH is an
important factor, it isn’t the only one that
matters when it comes to water chemistry.
Indeed, general hardness and carbonate
hardness are arguably more important, since
they affect the fish in more direct ways. If the
general hardness is too high or low, the fish
NEIL HEPWORTH
can have problems with osmoregulation, and
getting the carbonate hardness right can be
EVERYTHING YOU NEED
54 FOR HEALTHY FISH
crucial to maintaining a steady pH, at least in
tanks with medium to high hardness levels.
The fact pH drops suggests a lack of
buffering capacity. Buffering is the chemical
process whereby pH changes are inhibited,
and in fish tanks, the usual pH change is
downwards. In other words, left alone, most
aquaria become more acidic because of the
accumulation of decaying wastes and
decomposing plant material. If you’re
‘blessed’ with the liquid rock of aquarists in
southern England, this acidification is
inhibited by the dissolved calcium carbonate
and other alkaline minerals in the water. All
else being equal, your periodic water changes
will take place long before these naturally
occurring buffers are used up, resulting in a
steady pH level from week to week. It’s not all
rosy of course; the high carbonate hardness
and consequent high pH level are not ideal
for many types of tropical fish, but if you’re
keeping, say, livebearers, you’re spared
worrying about water chemistry.
Things are more complicated for aquarists
supplied with water that has a low carbonate
hardness. Note that it’s possible to have water
you’d consider hard, but which is actually low
Send your questions to: Fishkeeping Answers,
Practical Fishkeeping Magazine, Media House, Lynchwood, Peterborough,
PE2 6EA. Email us at questions@practicalfishkeeping.co.uk
in carbonate hardness, because carbonate
hardness and general hardness aren’t the
same thing. This is why you really need to
know your general hardness as well as your
carbonate hardness. If your general hardness
is high, but your carbonate hardness low, then
adding 0.5-1 teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate
to each 20 l of water will raise the carbonate
hardness substantially, resulting in hard water
that can buffer against pH changes more
effectively. Such water would be ideal for
livebearers, Rift Valley and Central American
cichlids, goldfish, and other species that
appreciate stable, alkaline water conditions.
Turning now to what we’d call soft water,
that’s water with low general hardness and
low carbonate hardness. The lack of
carbonate hardness means it doesn't buffer
against the pH drops caused by normal
background acidification. So aquarists who
want to keep softwater fish have two choices.
The first approach is to understock their tanks
so the background rate of the acidification is
slow enough to be offset through frequent
water changes. The second approach is to use
a commercial pH buffer that fixes the pH at
6.5 or whatever through the use of a weak
 There’s a lot more to
water stability than
just pH values.
acid. Used as instructed, these buffers
are very effective, but they should be
used alongside regular pH tests and
regular water changes. I’d also
recommend keeping the tank as clean
as possible so that there isn’t too much
decaying organic material in the
aquarium or filter, even to the extent of
replacing acidic decorative materials
(such as bogwood or peat fibre) with
chemically inert equivalents (like
ceramic roots and smooth silica sand).
One last thing to check is that you
don’t expose new fish to sudden pH
changes. If your retailer maintains fish
in medium hard, neutral to slightly
alkaline conditions, then you need to
very gently acclimate new livestock
once you get them home. The old ‘drip
method’ works well. I use a 5-gallon
bucket into which new fish (and their
water) are deposited. I can then add
aquarium water, equivalent to 5-10% of
what was in the fish bag, in batches
every 10 minutes or so. As the bucket
fills, the fish are slowly exposed to their
new living conditions.
TROPICAL
Are Marine betta reef-friendly?
SHUTTERSTOCK
Please could you tell me whether a
Marine betta would be compatible in my
reef tank? The tank is 120x60x60cm
and has two Clownfish, a Pyjama wrasse,
a Peppermint shrimp, hermits, and LPS
corals and a few polyps. The tank has
been set up for four months. I plan to get
a tang at a later date and possibly also a
Royal gramma. Will all the stock
be compatible?
LOUIS BRADLEY, EMAIL
DAVE SAYS: The
Marine betta or
Comet, Calloplesiops
altivelis, is an If threatened, the Comet mimics the but they are predators
amazing fish. This White-mouthed moray eel, hiding and small shrimp and
extremely hardy in a crevice with just its rear end fish can be vulnerable
Indo-Pacific species sticking out. The eye spot and – so your cleaner
reaches some 20cm shrimp and perhaps
in length, and so needs colouration resemble the even the Clownfish may
a fair amount of room. moray’s head. be at risk. This isn’t
Your tank has a nominal guaranteed, but it’s certainly
volume of around 430 l/95 gal, a possibility.
which is ample for a single specimen. It’s also worth noting that very active,
Comets are very attractive, distinctive boisterous fish can cause the Comet to go
fish but they tend to be quite shy. They into hiding, so housing them with certain
need plenty of rocky crevices in which tangs, for example, can sometimes create
they can lurk, and be aware that they are issues. On balance, adding a Comet to
more active at night – especially once your tank is a risky proposition based on
first introduced – so they may not make your current and future stocking.
much of an appearance during the day. Comets are much better off kept in a
As far as compatibility is concerned, dedicated system (whether fish-only or
Comets have been successfully kept in reef) that is tailored around their needs,
reef systems, but they can be hit-or-miss. and houses larger, peaceful or semi-
They won’t bother corals in the slightest, aggressive tankmates.
The Comet is a
stunning fish, but
best kept in a
dedicated set-up.
ALAMY
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ADVICE Answers
PLANTS
How do I beat this algae problem?
I have been battling an algae issue in
my 120 l/27 gal tank for some time.
It’s currently stocked with a breeding
trio of Apistogramma cacatuoides (one
male and two females), 12 Golden
pencilfish and eight Bronze corys.
Parameters for the tank are 5ppm
nitrates, 0ppm ammonia and nitrite,
pH 6.4, temperature 25°C, GH7 and
KH6. The lighting is on for six hours
a day and is around 0.6W/l. Filtration
is a Fluval U3 internal with an
airpump running. I’m using Tropica
Complete Substrate, with some Indian
Catappa leaves for the Apistos.
The tank is planted with Vallisneria
tortifolia and V. spiralis, Cryptocoryne
wendtii and C. becketti. There’s also
some floating Dwarf lettuce for the
benefit of the pencilfish, as the plan
was to have the Vallis grow to the
surface, but that’s not happened yet...
I am currently doing two 20% water
changes a week to make sure that
phosphates are down and I dose liquid
carbon (1.5ml) and liquid fertiliser
(2ml) a day. This has been altered
several times over the last few months
to see if it made a difference to the
problem, but it didn’t. Neither did
changing the substrate a few months
ago, or ripping all the existing plants out
and replanting them with the new
substrate – the algae returns every time.
I’m convinced that the problem is
actually brown diatoms, as it is covering
the plants but can be easily rubbed off.
There was BBA on the wood, but I
followed a hint from a George Farmer
EVERYTHING YOU NEED
56 FOR HEALTHY FISH
YouTube video to soak it in bleach for a
couple of hours and it hasn’t returned.
The other issue is the fact that the
plants continuously melt when they
have grown to a certain size, and the
Vallis is no longer growing at all.
The fish are in perfect health and
are showing breeding behaviour in
the aquarium.
I also have a nano shrimp tank that
uses the same water, yet no fertilisers
and much weaker light, and the plants
are growing fantastically. Please could
someone offer some advice?
RICKY COLES, EMAIL
GEORGE SAYS: Sorry to hear about
your algae problems. First, you may
wish to change the Vallis if you’re using
a liquid carbon product – liquid carbon
is known to cause issues with Vallis and
explains why it’s not growing so well.
The lack of growth here may also be
Send your questions to: Fishkeeping Answers,
Practical Fishkeeping Magazine, Media House, Lynchwood, Peterborough,
PE2 6EA. Email us at questions@practicalfishkeeping.co.uk
Plant growth will
compete against
algae. Fish like
Otocinclus can
help too.
MP&C PIEDNOIR AQUAPRESS
contributing to your algae issues, as
suffering plants leach chemicals that
can attract algae.
Brown diatoms are usually caused by
a bacterial imbalance in more mature
set-ups. You could try Otocinclus catfish
to help clear it up, and add a good
quality bacterial product such as Pure
from Evolution Aqua or the new
Prodibio products.
Consider adding more liquid fertilisers
every day but changing more water –
50% once a week is a good idea and
adding 5ml of a complete liquid
ALAMY
fertiliser will help ensure the plants
are well fed.
Above: Fundamentally, the best way to
Vallisneria prevent algae is to promote the
spp. don’t like healthiest plant growth possible. You
liquid carbon also need a large plant density in order
additives. to defeat algae. Think about algae and
plants being always at battle with one
another. The better the plant growth,
Below: Bacterial the less the algae growth.
additives can
help to combat
algae issues.
 Miracle Mud
would suit the
mudskippers
but it’s quite
expensive.
TROPICAL

What substrate is best for mudskippers?

I have been keeping dwarf Periophthalmus
mudskippers for a couple of years and
have just managed to make their tank
tidal. However, I want to make their
environment more natural by changing the
rocks and bogwood for some mud that
they can burrow into. Please can you offer
any suggestions about what I can use?
DERRICK BAKER, EMAIL
NEALE SAYS: There are indeed some
mud-based products in the trade that you
could think about.
Miracle Mud is the most obvious and
is quite highly regarded in marine
aquarium circles. Although it’s designed
for use in marine tanks, the hard, alkaline
water conditions it helps to create aren’t
a problem for brackish water fishkeepers
(although it would be a poor choice for
a freshwater system). While it helps to
optimise water chemistry, Miracle Mud
also creates the right environment for
the denitrifying bacteria that turn
dissolved nitrate ions into nitrogen gas.
This helps to improve water quality in
marine systems, where high nitrate levels
are especially undesirable.
The only real downside to Miracle Mud is
that it must be installed in a very
particular way. There needs to be a deep
layer of the mud (around 3-4cm) for the
denitrifying bacteria to become properly
established, and the mud can really only
be added to an empty aquarium, otherwise
it simply creates a cloudy mess!
Once put across the bottom of the tank,
a large glass, perspex or hardboard panel
needs to be put on top of the mud, so
that when the water is added it doesn’t
disturb the mud. Only when the tank is at
least half-filled can this panel be removed,
then the rest of the water can be carefully
put into the tank, along with any
ornaments or rockwork.
Once packed down, Miracle Mud tends
to stay in place unless deliberately stirred,
but do bear in mind that mudskippers are
inveterate burrowers, so this might be a
problem. Your small mudskippers probably
won’t do too much damage, but it would
be a good idea to make sure the filter inlet
was a reasonable distance above the mud
so that it didn’t ‘suck in’ any particles
lifted into the water column.
While mud products like Miracle Mud
are worth experimenting with, they are
expensive, and your mudskippers won’t be
unhappy if you choose not to use them.
A fine coral sand will do for general
digging and foraging, and since
mudskippers spend more time on land
than in the water, it’s really the three-
dimensional world you create with rocky
reefs, sandbanks, bogwood roots and
empty shells that will most interest them.
Their muddy burrows in the wild serve
a purpose, and if you can provide
suitable alternatives, such as UPVC tubes,
there’s no reason they won’t enjoy using
those instead.
If I were you, I would try a small area of
Miracle Mud placed into a dish or food
container placed in one part of the
aquarium and then suitable camouflaged
with gravel, sand or rocks. See how they
react with this, and how it affects your
filtration system, before spending too
much money.

LEFT:
Mudskippers
are habitual
burrowers.
ALAMY

Mudskippers spend
more time out of water
than in it, so try to
make their habitat
interesting for them.

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57
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 Know-how
Freshwater
ADVICE
glossary
Fishkeeping is a vast subject, and packed full of jargon. Here we try to
demystify it by explaining some of the often seen but lesser-known terms.
Acclimation/Acclimatisation:
Allowing livestock to adjust to new
conditions, typically when
introducing or moving them.
Acute: Something that happens
suddenly (as in disease or poisoning).
Adsorb: The process of collecting
pollutants on the surface of a
filter medium.
Adipose fin: The fleshy fin without
rays or spines behind the dorsal fin
in tetras and catfish. (1)
Aerobic: In the presence of oxygen
(as in filter bacteria).
Allopatric: Species not found in
58 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
The little
WORDS: NATHAN HILL
the same areas together in the wild.
2
Ammonia: Highly toxic substance
excreted by fish and created by
decomposition of organic matter.
Anaerobic: In absence of oxygen
SHUTTERSTOCK
(as in filter bacteria).
Anadromous: Reproduces in
freshwater but the young grow Aufwuchs: German term for algae
in saltwater. (2) and the organisms that grow on it,
subsequently used as a food source
Aquascape: An aquarium by some fish.
designed for aesthetic
appeal, usually based on Barbel: Sensory whisker around a
decorative planting. (3) fish’s mouth. (4)
Atrophy: To shrink down, 4 BBS: Baby brineshrimps – a good
usually associated with disease. food for fry.
1 3
NEIL HEPWORTH
SHUTTERSTOCK
NEIL HEPWORTH
Bioload: The amount of
waste-producing life in your
aquarium – the combined fish,
plants and invertebrates.
Biotope: A specific habitat and the
life it contains. (5)
Blackwater: Water with a
concentration of humic and tannic
acid that stains it brown or red. (6)
Brackish: A mixture of salt and
freshwater, such as in an estuary. (7)
Buffer: A chemical added to the
tank to raise the hardness, increase
pH, or both.
Catadromous: Reproduces in
saltwater but the young grow
in freshwater.
11
Chelated: Where metal ions
have been locked up,
chemically.
Often
associated with
plant foods.
SHUTTERSTOCK
5 9
SHUTTERSTOCK
SHUTTERSTOCK
7 8
Chloramine: A disinfectant used 10
in water supplies to stop bacteria.
Dangerous to fish and filters.
6
Chronic: Something that happens
gradually (as in disease or poisoning).
Circadian: The 24-hour daily cycle.
Commensalism: The act of two
SHUTTERSTOCK
unrelated creatures living mutually
to the benefit of one and the
JACQUES PORTAL
detriment of neither. (8)
as colours or size between male
Community fish: A species that and female.
will live harmoniously with other
community fish. (9) Diurnal: Active in the daytime.
Conspecific: Fish that are all of Dyed fish: Fish that have been
the same species. injected with or dipped in dyes to
produce artificial colours. (11)
SHUTTERSTOCK
Crepuscular: Fish that swim and
feed at dawn and/or dusk. (10) Elasmobranch: A fish with a
cartilage skeleton, such as sharks
Culling: Deliberate destruction and rays.
of substandard fish.
Emerse (of plants): Not in water,
Dimorphism (sexual): usually for a seasonal plant that
Differences based on sex, such would otherwise be submerged.
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 59
ADVICE
ALL: SHUTTERSTOCK
Know-how

14 16

Epilithic (of plants): Herbivore: Plant eating. (15) LPH: Litres per hour, in reference
Growing on a rock. (12) to flow rates.
Heterospecific: Fish that are
Epiphytic (of plants) of different species. Milt: Fish sperm.
Growing on another plant.
Hybrid: A fish that is a cross Moribund: In the state of dying.
Epithelial: Pertaining to of two (or more) different
the skin. species, such as Parrot Morph: Form or type, such as a
12 cichlids and Flowerhorns. long fin morph of a normal fish.
Euthanasia: The humane
destruction of a fish. Hypogean: A fish that lives Mouthbrooder: A fish (often a
Putting to sleep. underground, such as Blind cave fish. cichlid) that carries eggs and young
13 in its mouth after laying them, to
Facultative (often of Inbreeding: Sexual reproduction give protection. (18)
bacteria): Able to feed between two closely related fish.
on something when Mulm: The organic waste and
abundant, but not Ion: An atom (or a collection of sludge that accrues in aquaria.
restricted to it. atoms) with an electrical charge.
Naked: A fish that has no scales
Flash: When a fish KH/Carbonate hardness: or armour.
scratches or rubs against The measure of carbonate and
an object. bicarbonate anions in water. Nauplii: newly hatched crustacea,
Expressed as °KH or dKH. usually used to describe baby
Fluviatile: Pertaining to rivers. Artemia.
Labyrinth: Accessory 17
Fry: A baby fish. (13) breathing organ in Necrotic: Dead tissue,
certain fish (mainly sometimes rotting.
Genus: A taxonomic rank that gourami) that
covers a group of closely related allows them to New tank
species with a common ancestor. breathe syndrome:
atmospheric A tank housing
GH/General hardness: The air. (16) fish but unable to
measure of certain divalent metal deal biologically with
ions in water, chiefly magnesium Lacustrine: Pertaining the waste they produce,
and calcium. Usually expressed as to lakes. leading to a build-up of
°H, dGH or °GH. ammonia and nitrite.
Lateral line: A visible line of
Gibbosity: The hump on the heads sensory pores running up the flank Nocturnal: Active through the
of some fish. (14) of a fish, which they use to ‘feel’ night time.
15 their way about, using changes in
Hardness: The measure water pressure. (17) Nomenclature: The scientific
of dissolved minerals in naming of organisms. It usually
water. See GH and KH. Ledipophage: A fish that takes the form of a genus and then
eats scales. a species name – for example,
ALL: SHUTTERSTOCK

Hardy (in fish): A Poecilia reticulata.

species of fish that can Livebearer: A fish that
tolerate a wide range produces live offspring, as Nuchal: The top of the head,
of water parameters. opposed to laying eggs. usually in reference to a hump.

60 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING

Omnivore: Eats both plant and
animal matter.
Operculum: Gill cover.
Osmoregulation: The control of
mineral concentration in a fish’s
body in relation to the concentration
in the water around it.
Pancaking: A rare term
used when a panicking,
flat-sided fish skims
along the water’s surface.
Pathogen: Any organism
(bacteria, parasite, fungus or
virus) that causes a disease.
pH: The measure of acidity or
alkalinity, on a scale of 0 to 14, with
0 being purely acid, 14 being purely
base, and 7.0 being neutral. Most
aquarium fish live within the 6.0 to
8.4 pH range.
Pharyngeal: In the throat, usually
referring to pharyngeal teeth.
Photoperiod: The daily duration
of light within an aquarium.
Piscivore: A fish that eats other fish.
Poikilothermic: Cold-blooded,
unable to generate bodily heat.
PPM: Parts per million. 1ppm is the
same as 1mg per litre.
Prophylactic: Something that
prevents occurrence of a disease.
Reagent (of water testing):
Chemical used to elicit a reaction
18 21
(usually a colour change) in a
water sample.
Reverse osmosis/RO: A method
of purifying water by passing it
through a semi-permeable
membrane. RO is a preferred water
JACQUES PORTAL
20 source for sensitive fish.
Rheophile: A fish that lives in
fast-flowing water.
Runt: A fish with a
stunted size.
Scutes: An armoured
alternative to scales, found
on some catfish such as
Hypostomus. (19)
Shimmying: A swaying from
side-to-side while staying in one
place, often displayed by sick fish.
sp.: Abbreviation for a single species.
spp.: Abbreviation for multiple
species.
SL/Standard length: The length
of a fish, measured from the snout
to the base of the tail.
Substrate: The layer of sand,
gravel or other substance used on
the base of the aquarium. (20)
Symbiotic: The act of two
unrelated creatures living mutually
to the benefit of each other.
19 Sympatric: Species found together
in the same areas in the wild.
Syntopic: Fish and other animals
living together in the same natural
biotope.
Systemic (as of disease):
Affecting the entire body.
Teleost: A fish with a bony
skeleton (not a shark or ray). Almost
all aquarium fish are teleosts.
Topical: A treatment applied only
to one specific area of the fish, such
as with an ulcer.
TL/Total length: The length of a
fish measured from the snout to the
tip of the tail.
Tropical: Referring to a region
between the Tropic of Capricorn and
Tropic of Cancer. Typically (but not
necessarily) characterised by a high
temperature and long daylight cycle.
Vector (of disease): a carrier,
typically a sick fish, but may also be
such as live food.
Venturi: A valve that produces a
stream of bubbles the emit on a
flow outlet, such as on a powerhead.
Water chemistry: Descriptive of
chemicals in water that alter its
fundamental properties, for
example, pH and hardness.
Water quality: Level of pollutants
(ammonia and nitrite, for example)
found in water.
White water: Misleading term that
just means water laden with
particulate silt. (21)
Zoonotic: A disease that can spread
from fish to human (or vice versa).
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 61
ADVICE Know-how

Keep aquarium plants happy and healthy by

62 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
understanding their complex nutritional needs.

JAMES STARR
-MARSHALL
Co-founder of
NEIL HEPWORTH

Plants add so the Aqueous Art

much to a tank, Movement, James
so let’s keep is an author,
aquascaper and
them healthy.
public speaker.
ADVICE Know-how
A
QUARIUM PLANTS
(submerged
macrophytes) need
food, whether that’s
provided at the roots,
at the leaves or both.
But when it comes to
their exact nutritional
requirements. little has been carried
out in the way of specific research.
This is mainly because it’s of no
financial reward to do so; they are
not considered to be a viable food
source, and are not as efficient as
bog plants (emergent macrophytes)
at processing waste water.
However, there should be enough
crossover data and anecdotal
evidence to build up a picture of
what the plants in your tank like to
eat and why.
Aquarium plant nutrients can be
divided into macronutrients –
elements that are required in large
quantities – and micronutrients and
trace elements – elements and
minerals that are required in small
quantities. In order for a plant to
thrive, it must be provided with
enough of each essential
macronutrient and micronutrient to
cater for the amount of light energy
it is receiving. A lack of any of
these can result in a number of
problems that will eventually lead
to the death of the plant.
So let’s take a look and see what
each nutrient does, and what
happens if it’s not provided.
Research
shows that, unlike
animals, plants
do not develop
deficiencies by
overdosing, so it is
probably worth
providing nutrition
in abundance
64 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
PERIODIC TABLE OF
1
5
H
Hydrogen
B
Hydrogen is found in many organic
Boron
compounds and is obviously present Boron aids the structural
in water itself (H2O). As plants integrity of cell walls.
can utilise the hydrogen in water Symptoms of deficiency are
this will never be deficient in an impaired reproduction.
aquarium plant.
15
12
Mg P
Phosphorus
Magnesium
Phosphorus is used to turn light
Magnesium helps maintain a plant’s energy into chemical energy as part of
ionic balance and is often supplied as photosynthesis. It’s present in tapwater
Magnesium sulphate (MgSO4) in aquarium as Phosphate (PO4) and often supplied
plant fertilisers. It is believed that the ratio as Potassium phosphate (KH2PO4) in
of 3:1 Ca:Mg is an important one. Signs fertilisers. Signs of deficiency are poor
of deficiency are yellowing of older leaves root development and discoloured leaves.
between the veins, giving the leaf a marbled
appearance (interveinal chlorosis).
19
K
Macronutrients
The full gamut of essential Potassium
macros can be found here.
Further subdivision can be Potassium regulates gas exchange and
plants can show an increase in pearling
made in that Carbon, Oxygen
(production of visible oxygen bubbles on the
and Hydrogen are considered
non-mineral nutrients.
leaves) with its addition. It can be supplied
as Potassium sulphate (K2SO4) or as part of
(KNO3) or (KH2PO4) in fertilisers. Symptoms
of deficiency are impaired reproduction and
discoloured leaves.
29 30
Cu Copper
Zn Zinc
Copper supports enzymatic
processes. Deficiency signs
Zinc helps to form chlorophyll.
Symptoms of deficiency
include brown leaf tips. include stunted growth.
MACRONUTRIENTS & MICRONUTRIENTS
6 7
C
Carbon
Carbon is the most abundant element in all
living things. It accounts for about 50% of
the dry weight of a plant cell and is needed
to form carbohydrates and proteins. It is
primarily delivered to plants as carbon
dioxide (CO2) during the photoperiod.
Symptoms of deficiency are arrested growth
and cell death/holes in leaves.
16
S
Sulphur
Sulphur is a part of amino acids,
and aids hydrogen in converting
light energy. Again, tapwater usually
contains plenty but it also gets supplied
by aquarium plant fertilisers as K2SO4,
CaSO4 and MgSO4. Symptoms of
deficiency include stunted growth.
20
Ca
Calcium
Calcium aids the delivery of other nutrients
within the plant. Tapwater usually contains
enough calcium to keep a plant supplied
but it can be added in the form of
Calcium sulphate (CaSO4) if you are
using very soft water. Symptoms of
deficiency include stunted growth and
deformed leaves.
N
Nitrogen
Nitrogen (N) is the next most abundant
element to carbon and is a large
constituent of protein. It is present in
tapwater as Nitrate (NO3) and is often
supplied as Potassium nitrate (KNO3) in
aquarium plant fertilisers. Symptoms of
deficiency are slow/poor growth.
Micronutrients
Depending on the source there
are said to be between seven
and 15 essential micronutrients.
Here are the seven that seem to
be found in all lists. Tapwater
will contain all of these, but it’s
worth replenishing them
on a regular basis.
25
Mn
Manganese
Manganese helps in the
formation of chloroplast.
Symptoms of deficiency are
interveinal chlorosis.
42
Mo
Molybdenum
Molybdenum aids conversion
of Nitrate (NO3) into more
accessible forms.
8
O
Oxygen
Oxygen is used in the absence of
light for respiration and mostly finds
its way into the aquarium water
via surface agitation. Symptoms of
deficiency are arrested growth and
cell death/holes in leaves.
17
Cl
Chlorine
Chlorine helps stabilise the internal
pH balance of a plant cell. Note that it
is not the Chloric acid that we remove
from tapwater for the benefit of our fish.
Instead it is a chloride ion that usually
exists as a salt of something else, such
as Potassium chloride.
26
Fe Iron
Iron is the most essential trace
element for chlorophyll synthesis.
Symptoms of deficiency
are yellowing of the leaves
(chlorosis).
Key
Macronutrients
Micronutrients
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 65
ADVICE Know-how

Micronutrients deficiency stages Providing nutrition

Research shows that, unlike
animals, plants do not develop
BORON deficiencies by overdosing, so it is
New leaf buds go CALCIUM
probably worth providing nutrition
brown, die and fall. Browning starts as
localised spots on the in abundance, particularly in the
Growth is stunted.
edge of new growth case of micronutrients that only
eventually turning the exist in tiny quantities and quickly
PHOSPHORUS leaf brown and dying. reach total depletion. That’s as long
Growth is stunted, as it doesn’t adversely affect other
leaves turn dark systems – adding too much CO2,
blueish-green ZINC for instance, will kill your fish.
initialy. Turns a Leaves grow pale, Adding micronutrients in macro-
purple to black in thin and short. sized doses will be toxic in some
extreme cases. Brown spots can
form around edges. cases and even too high a nitrate
level will have an impact on the
health of sensitive fish species.
SULPHUR There are a number of established
All growth methods of supplying these
becomes pale, POTASSIUM
Browning and nutrients, such as the Estimative
including
curling starts Index or the ADA system. There are
veins. Leaf tips
become brown. from the edge also a number of soils, substrates and
of the leaf, then additives to provide root nutrition.
yellowing occurs. However, for the purposes of this
article we’ll concentrate on the liquid
fertilisers that can be found at your
MOLYBDENUM local aquatics store.
Leaves and veins
become pale. MAGNESIUM Evolution Aqua ‘The
Brown spots Older leaves
lose colour
Aquascaper’ complete liquid
appear between plant food
veins. Tissue from the
outside in, This is a one-stop
browns and dies
from the edge of turning yellow shop for liquid
the leaf. or white. No plant food. It
spots. Extreme contains all
cases will see
essential macro
leaves die and
fall off. and micronutrients
and includes
NITROGEN
Older growth turns instructions for
pale green to yellow dosing high,
from the tip as medium and low
nitrogen is removed energy systems. If convenience is
for new growth. MANGANESE your thing, this one is for you.
New growth is Yellowing
stunted and weak. of the leaf, JBL Pro Scape range
sometimes This range is comprised of six
tan-coloured
bottles: ‘Fe+microelements’, which
spots form
between contains all essential micronutrients,
green veins. and then separate bottles of N, P, K
and Mg. There’s
also a bottle of
combined N, P and
K available if you
COPPER want to simplify
New growth IRON things a little. This
wilts. Stem Veins may
option is excellent if
tip is weak. stay greenish,
but leaves you’re a technical
Flesh turns
type and like to
KATIE WILKINSON

slightly pink can become

but not pale. experiment to find
yellow. the ideal balance for
your system.
JBL Ferropol
This option contains
a full range of
How photosynthesis works
micronutrients but
without any N and P. LIGHT ENERGY
Its intended use is in
systems with high
fish stocks and/or
low plant mass.
There’s also an
environmentally
friendly refill pack available for
this product. WATER OXYGEN O2

Tropica Premium Fertiliser

This product contains all essential
micronutrients, but not N and P.
And again, it’s aimed at
aquariums with high
fish stocks and/or low
plant mass. I’ve had a
lot of success with
this plant food in my
low-energy set-ups.
Tropica Specialised
Fertiliser
This one has the same
range of micronutrients
as the premium nutrition
as well as all essential
macronutrients. Tropica
recommends dosing is
set in accordance with
plant mass and growth
rates. If you have a
high-energy tank and
convenience is important
this is a great product.
CARBON DIOXIDE CO2 SUGARS
Light energy
6CO2 + 6H2O C6H12O6 + 6O2
Chlorophill
Seachem Flourish series growth. Again this is a range for
Like the JBL Pro Scape range, this those who like to experiment.
product line consists of separate
bottles, though the arrangement Tetra PlantaMin and
is slightly different. Flourish API Leaf Zone
contains all essential micronutrients These products
and macros (though N and P are contain a good range
in tiny quantities), and Trace of micro and
contains those micronutrients that macronutrients
need frequent replenishment. without any N or P.
Then there are separate bottles If you’re looking for
of N, P, K and Fe. There’s also a a budget option for
phytohormone supplement called your well-stocked
Advance, which is similar to ADA’s aquarium with only a
Green Gain. Advance is said to act few plants, either of
as a booster for healthy plant these will work well.

High fish stock or

low fish stock? It
makes a difference
when choosing
fertilisers.

WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 67
 Know-how

BREED YOUR OWN

LIVE
FOOD It’s cheap, it’s easy and it’s a
brilliant way to feed your fish!

GABOR
HOVARTH
A Hungarian
aquarist now living
in the UK, Gabor is a
prolific fish breeder,
project undertaker
and writer.

68 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
 IVE FOOD has an Feeding a variety of live fare can

L
important role in the
life of every fish. It’s
usually their first food
as a fry, and even adult
fish love to have small
worms or crustaceans
as healthy snacks.
Although there are frozen foods
available in the shops, sometimes
you really need the movement
produced by live creatures to wake
up the feeding instinct in your fish.
Newly hatched babies of several
small-sized species, including
danios, tetras and killifish, need
the tiniest of live starter food to
survive their first days, and even
larger fry will benefit from regular,
nutritious live meals.
It’s not just juveniles you can serve
live dinners to. Wild-caught fish are
often fussy eaters, refusing even the
best-quality frozen diet. Often the
also significantly improve the
colours and longevity of fish, as
well as serve as the perfect
conditioner for breeding stock.
They have other advantages too.
For a cost-conscious aquarist,
collecting or culturing their own fish
food could mean a cheap alternative
to buying commercial products.
Collecting plankton and other
creatures from natural waters
carries dangers, however, and can
introduce parasites, predators or
infections into your tank.
So, the safest way to produce the
required amount of live food you
need is to breed it yourself.
Culturing live food creatures doesn’t
require a big investment or lots of
space. You can use all sorts of
plastic containers, empty fish tanks,
water butts or inflatable pools –
basically anything that can hold the

SHUTTERSTOCK
first food they’ll accept from you in worms and the water safely. One of
captivity will be some wriggling my first Daphnia breeding projects
bloodworm or zig-zagging Daphnia. was set up in a baby’s bath tub!

Green water
Green water is basically a mass of algae and Euglena cells
suspended in water. It’s often used as one of the first foods
of species with the tiniest of fry. If you’ve ever had an algae
bloom in your fish tank, you know what to do to produce it.
You need water, nutrients and plenty of light. Just find a
suitable container (a small plastic tank or a glass jar will do),
fill it with old aquarium water, add some liquid fertiliser, and
place the whole lot on the window sill. Within a couple of
days you should have the perfect ‘green stuff’ to feed to
those tiny new-born vegetarians in your fish tank.
To maintain the production you can add further doses of

Containers like water butts and

GABOR HOVARTH

old tanks can be hazardous to

children, pets and wildlife, so There are all
cover them safely or build sorts of reasons
an escape ramp. to feed live foods
like Daphnia.

WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 69
ADVICE Know-how

Infusoria turn cloudy as a result of the

In the aquarium world, the term bacteria bloom. The infusoria will
‘infusoria’ is the collective name for a eat them and soon begin multiplying.
range of micro-organisms that live in When the water starts to clear it’s a
water, including rotifers, Paramecium, sure sign they’re present, but with a
Vorticella and many others. You’ll microscope you can check your
find them virtually everywhere, from actual stock levels. If you see plenty
roadside puddles to your tapwater. of movement in a drop of water, it’s
These single cell organisms are time to start feeding them to your
essential for kick-starting the growth fish, using an eye dropper.
of newborns of many species, such as Once the water is clear add a few
rainbows, Betta or killifish. Fortunately drops of milk or yeast to maintain
they’re very easy to culture, so no the culture. Just make sure you don’t
aquarist can have an excuse for overfeed, as too much can lead to
not having some ready when an unwanted bacteria bloom
their fish need them. and the low oxygen level
My favourite method can suffocate your
is simple. All you infusoria. Warning:
need is a 2-litre the resulting smell
The lifespan of an insuforia
PET bottle, can be awful!
some lettuce,
culture is around three months, This method
water, and a bit so start a new culture every will result in a
of debris from a month to ensure a mixed colony of
planted tank. Instead continuous microorganisms, but if
of lettuce you can use supply. you’re a purist, you can
dried banana peel, straw, use boiled water instead of
hay, Liquifry, even dog biscuits. tank water, and buy some pure
To prepare the culture, place a Paramecium culture instead of the
lettuce leaf in a small bowl and pour debris to seed your culture.
over some hot water. This softens up
the plant tissue, making it more Microworms the smallest microworms can be ABOVE:
accessible for the various bacteria Microworms are often overshadowed eaten by fry too tiny to consume Microworms
that will feed our infusoria. While the by Artemia nauplii as a first fry food, even a freshly hatched Brineshrimp. make a great,
lettuce soup is cooling, cut off the but I believe every serious fish Microworms are not real worms, reliable first food
for tiny fry.
top of the plastic bottle and pour in breeder should have a bowl or two but nematodes. They come in
some aquarium water and debris of this versatile and easy to culture different sizes and under many
rich in decaying plant matter. Add live food. First, it’s reliable: you’ll names. In general, microworm refers
the cooled lettuce juice (including always have some to feed, even to Panagrellus redivivus, which is the
the leaf) and place the culture in a when the Artemia hatchery fails for largest growing of them all, reaching
bright, warm place (about 22-24°C). some reason (which happens more a whopping 1.5mm in length. The
Within a day or two the water should often than you might think). Second, Walter worm (P. silusioides) is a bit
smaller, topping at 1.2mm. The
smallest of the bunch is the Banana

1 2 worm (P. nepenthicola), staying below

1mm. What is common to all three
Panagrellus worms is that they feed
on yeast and bacteria.
You’ll need a tight-fitting container
(ice cream tubs are perfect), some
porridge oats, a bit of yeast and a
starter culture. Wash the container
well and punch a couple of tiny
holes into the lid. Tell your partner
not to worry, the worms can’t escape
GABOR HOVARTH

through the holes, as they would dry

Soften a lettuce leaf by blanching it
– place it in hot water until the leaf
loses its shape and becomes limp.
Once it’s cooled, place the water and
lettuce leaf into a small container and
introduce some tank water and waste.
out and die quickly in the open air.
Without aeration, however, they will
die in the tub as well!
Next, put some oatmeal in the
bottom of the container, making a
layer about 1.5-2cm thick. Pour

70 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING

BELOW: boiling water over the oatmeal and
Here’s what a mix well. Some aquarists go for an
healthy culture almost liquid consistency, but I prefer
of microworms it a little thicker. Let the mixture cool,
looks like.
as the heat will kill your worms if
you add them immediately. If this is
your first microworm breeding set-up,
sprinkle some baking yeast over the
porridge before adding your bought
microworm starter culture. As I use
a few spoonfuls of my old culture as
seed, this contains enough yeast to
kick start the new tub.
Mix in the starter culture well, then
How to make
microworm food
1
In a container, cover 1.5-2cm depth of
porridge oats with boiling water.
Let the oats cool, then add a sprinkle
of yeast and the microworm culture.
GABOR HOVARTH 3
place the container somewhere
out of direct sunlight. Keep it at
room temperature.
Within a week you should be able
to see thousands of tiny worms
crawling up the sides of the tub. Cut small holes for ventilation,
Swipe some off with your finger – otherwise the worms will suffocate.
or, if you’re squeamish, a small brush
– and wash it off in your fry tank.
After a few weeks you’ll notice that
4
the yield drops. That’s the time to
start a new culture and discard the
old one before it gets too smelly.
Plankton
The most frequently used and easiest
plankton to cultivate is Daphnia, also
known as the water flea. There are Put the lid on securely and place out of
several species of Daphnia, but the direct sunlight, at room temperature.
most frequently sold are Daphnia
magna and Daphnia pulex. The latter
is slightly smaller, so more suitable 5
for average-sized fish. Regardless of
the size, all of the Daphnia species
have similar breeding requirements.
To set up a culture, fill any suitably
sized container with nutrient-rich,
preferably alkaline water that
promotes the growth of the Daphnia’s
favourite foods – algae and bacteria. It’s a good idea to label and date your
You can even use some of the waste home-made microworm cultures.
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 71
ADVICE Know-how
If you accidentally feed too many Blackworm it may even
colonise your fish tank, providing frequent snacks for your fish
water from your aquariums. For
indoor cultures, add a gently bubbling
airstone to provide some water
movement and you’re set to go.
Place your container in a bright
place, preferably on a window sill
with some direct sunshine. When
the water in the vessel turns green,
it’s time to add the starter water flea
culture you bought from the aquatics
store. Outdoor cultures can be
self-feeding due to the fast-growing
algae, but Daphnia kept indoors will
need extra food and will happily
accept green water, spirulina
powder, liquid fry food, or a mixture
of dry yeast and soy flour. Don’t
Daphnia – excellent
fish food and so
easy to grow.
72 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
GABOR HOVARTH
overfeed them, so wait till the water Blackworm TOP LEFT: Black
becomes clear again before adding Every aquarist will have heard of mosquito larvae
the next small dose of food. In ideal the Tubifex worm (Tubifex tubifex). will frequent
conditions they will multiply quickly It’s praised by many, but also outdoor Daphnia
and within a couple of weeks you despised by quite a few. Even the cultures.
can begin to use your home-grown haters must acknowledge its
Daphnia in your tanks. All you need excellent nutritional value, but BELOW: A
to do is to keep their water clean many are too scared of the potential simple water
with frequent water changes. dangers it can carry and deterred butt and an
Having a Daphnia culture in an by the smell of a spoiled Tubifex air pump is all
outdoor container or water butt culture. If only there was a worm Daphnia require.
needs less care, and can also give with all the positive features of the
you access to a good amount of Tubifex, but without the drawbacks.
black mosquito larvae, which is Well, there is! The Blackworm
keenly taken by almost any fish. (Lumbriculus variegatus) grows larger
Just make sure you harvest the than the Tubifex worm – my longest
larvae before they hatch… worm was over 5cm – and has
darker, blackish-red colouring. It
also lives on a much healthier diet,
eating a range of organic debris,
instead of ‘sewage sludge’ like
Tubifex. Plus Blackworm can be
cultured, even indoors above room
temperature, without fear of the
dreaded rotten smell
If you accidentally
many Blackworm it m
even colonise your fi
tank, providing
frequent snacks for
your fish. This
happened in my
Betta macrostoma
tank, where
every substrate
vacuuming resulted
a nice clump of
Blackworm, proving
there was a thriving
population under the
 LEFT: First, just eat another tub of ice Place the starter culture on top and
Blackworm is a cream and wash out the tub. (You give them some food. Grindal worms

ALAMY
clean alternative could also use any old plastic aren’t picky, so you can use a range
to Tubifex worm. container with a tight-fitting lid, of food like oatmeal, bread, fish
but what’s the fun in that?) food or even dog biscuits. The
RIGHT:
Grindal worms prefer key, again, is not to overfeed
Newly hatched
Artemia are easy darkness, so next cover them, as the leftover food
to culture. the sides with gaffer may become mouldy
tape or similar. and ruin your
Punch some culture, so only
holes in the lid, feed the amount
just as you did they can eat in a
before for the day. Regularly
GABOR HOVARTH

microworms, but check the substrate is

don’t make the holes too damp enough and spray
big, as you want to avoid with water when necessary.
fruit-flies and mites After a few weeks your
soil. And they did it without fouling contaminating your worm culture. culture should be ready to harvest.
the water, as their oxygen Fill the container half-way with a To do this, place a piece of plastic
requirements are much, much lower wetted substrate of your choice. My mesh on the surface and place the
than the Tubifex’s. favourite is coconut fibre, but some worms’ food on top of it. As they
You might wonder why it’s not of my friends use Sphagnum moss or gather around the food, just lift the
more widespread then. The answer peat with success. Make sure the mesh out and wash the worms into a
is that Blackworm don’t breed with substrate is moist, but not saturated glass of water. From there, you can
the speed of microworms. A culture with water – you only want to keep feed them to your fish using a turkey
I set up in a 16-litre tank provided the worms hydrated, not drown them. baster or tweezers.
just enough Blackworm to condition
three or four breeding pairs of fish at
a time. It was a very simple affair,
using decaying brown cardboard How to make an Artemia nauplii culture
pieces and fish flakes as food, and an
aeration stone to provide currents
and oxygen. 1 2 3
It took a few weeks before I found
some baby worms among the adults,
but afterwards I had a steady, if low,
supply. You can achieve slightly
higher yield if you use fragmentation,
which means cutting up the longer
worms and growing up the resulting
worm pieces.

Grindal worm
No live food article is complete Set up your hatcher somewhere Fill with salty water at a level of Add Artemia revolution (eggs
without mentioning one of the best
bright and warm – inside a 25ppt (25g marine salt per litre) without shells) and maintain
running tank is ideal. and aerate heavily. aeration for 24 hours.
conditioning foods there is. The
Grindal worm (Enchytraeus buchholzi)
lives in the soil, feeding on
decomposing organic materials. It
4 5 6
can reach 2cm in length, a perfect
food size for many community
fish. Its high energy content makes
it an ideal food for breeding stock or
newly imported fish in poor
condition, but using it as a staple food
can lead to obesity, which in turn
may cause reduced fertility.
As an occasional treat, however, it
GABOR HOVARTH

contributes greatly to the balanced Turn off aeration and place a Remove the hatcher from the You now have a harvest of live,
diet of every fish and setting up and piece of muslin or fine mesh on tank and pour the contents hatched Artemia for your fry.
maintaining a culture is very easy. top of the hatcher. through the mesh. Feed them immediately!

WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 73
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TROP CAL
Oddballs

THE LURE OF THE

ODDBALL If you’ve always drawn the line at weird, wonderful, but

frustratingly difficult-to-keep fish, think again. Some of their
close cousins could be the fish you never realised you needed.
 HERE’S NO surer

T
conversation starter
for aquarists and
non-aquarists alike
than a really weird fish.
Many of us remember
our feeling of surprise
and delight on seeing
some rippling Mormyrid species in
the flesh for the first time, or
happening upon a enigmatic
freshwater stingray half-buried in
the sand in what we thought was
just another pet shop.
Oddballs make the hobby (and
the wider world of ichthyological
study in general) a more interesting
place, but keeping them can be
fraught with risks. Because just as
we remember the excitement of
that tantalising first encounter, we
probably have our fair share of
horror stories, too – the Fire eel
whose shrivelled remains were
found behind a seemingly secure
hood; the cute little Mbu puffer that
grew to the size of a Yorkshire
Terrier; and the Silver arowana/
Panchax/Climbing perch that one
night decided to unhinge its jaw like
a monstrous serpent and swallow all
our other fish whole…

Strange fish
Somewhere along the way, we
began to accept this as a hazard of
the business. After all, if strange fish
were easy to keep, they’d be as
popular as guppies. As a result,
many of us gave up on oddballs
after a few failed attempts and
resolved to leave them to the experts.
The three main pitfalls with these
lovably weird species seem to be
their size (many grow to be
enormous, even by monster fish
standards), their sensitivity and, in
many cases, the predatory nature
that often accompanies having a
large mouth and a specially adapted
hunting mechanism.
But if I could combine my
background in the trade with a few
INGRID hours of research, and come up with
ALLAN a selection of oddball species that
didn’t tick any of the above boxes,
A freelance writer
surely I’d be onto a winner? The
with a day job in
aquatics retail, general consensus among my
SHUTTERSTOCK

Small pufferfish
Ingrid is a huge fan colleagues was that any list would
can be a winner
for the ‘peaceful’ of anabantoids and be a pretty short list, but I’ve never
biotopes. been one to duck a challenge.
oddball hunter.

WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 77
TROPICAL
Oddballs
Pick and mix
I’d be the first to admit that the lure
of the weird and wonderful can
prove too much for normally
rational fishkeepers. My first
large-scale tropical tank contained
not only an enormous Polypterus
ornatipinnis – who is still with me
today – but also two spiny eels and a
Black ghost knifefish, Apteronotus
albifrons. My hapless community
tropicals had no idea what to make
of this latter mesmerising newcomer
– half the time they probably
thought it was a ‘flag with a mouth’,
as one friend suggested.
A Picasso triggerfish, a foot-long
flagtail, a Fahaka pufferfish and
Xander, my beloved Axolotl, have
all gone some way to teaching me
the importance of recognising the
specialist needs of oddballs over
the years, but I’ve also had the
pleasure of keeping a few species
compatible with most bread-and-
butter community favourites.
Many fishkeepers who’ve gazed
longingly at a tank of foraging
Fire eels, wishing they had the space
to keep one, might not realise there
Instead, adventurous fishkeepers
are beginning to opt for large
shoals of Hatchetfish
78 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
are smaller, more manageable
members of Mastacembelus, the
spiny eel family. The Yellow tail
spiny eel, Mastacembelus aculeatus,
is possibly the smallest – it grows
to around 10in in the wild, but
averages 6-8in in the home
aquarium. This is a shy, peaceful
and quite colourful fish that’s
unlikely to predate anything larger
than an Ember tetra.
Combined with a few larger
tankmates, such as barbs or small
cichlids, its cousin, the equally
peaceful Peacock eel, Macrognathus
siamensis, should also be considered.
With an adult length of just under
30cm and a friendly disposition that
can see it readily hand-feeding once
settled, it’s a real character and can
be comfortably housed in any
community tank upwards of 200 l.
And spiny eels aren’t the only fish
we thought were best left to the
experts. Ever tried keeping a
puffer in your community?
The very thought might once
have made me shudder,
with nipped fins and tails
the best-case outcome,
NE
Dragon gobies – looks
can be deceiving.
NEIL HEPWORTH
Fire eels can
grow into quite
a handful.
Caption,
caprion, caption and total carnage the worst.
We know the score, don’t we?
Green spots and Figure of eights are
brackish; mbus and Fahakas get
enormous. As for hairy puffers,
let’s not even go there. But there are
peaceful, well-behaved puffers
that buck the trend.
The Amazon puffer,
Colomesus asellus, is a
relatively small fish that’s
unlikely to exceed 10cm,
and although I wouldn’t keep
one with long-finned species, for
the most part they leave tankmates
IL
HE
PW
alone. You might need to feed a
OR
TH
varied diet, including occasional
shellfish to keep their teeth filed
down, but these fish can add a
real wow factor to a planted
community tank with very little
extra effort on your part.
Upper waters
Surface-dwelling oddballs can be a
tricky balancing act. While African
butterfly fish, Pantodon buchholzi,
Celebes halfbeak, Nomorhamphus
liemi liemi, and any of the cryptic but
FACTFILE
DRAGON GOBY
6Scientific name: Gobioides
broussonnetii
6Size: Usually 30cm, potentially over
60cm
6Water requirements: Brackish
(partially seawater). Also hard and
alkaline, 7.5-9.0 pH
NEIL HEPWORTH
6Availability and price: Uncommon;
from about £20
 MP&C PIEDNOIR AQUAPRESS
Peacock eels
bring the same joy
as larger eels.

colourful Panchax species can be OPPOSITE is a lesser-known relative that looks powerheads is spoiled for choice.
fascinating and fun to keep PAGE INSET: a lot more like a paradise fish than Some of us might only have
(provided you have a tight-fitting Knight gobies its large, predatory African cousin. come across behemoths like the
lid), their large mouths make them are an Rarely seen in shops, as it doesn’t 60cm Jade sleeper goby, but these
interesting fish
unsuitable tankmates for many for a brackish always travel well, it will nevertheless living boulders are far from the
small community species. tank. adapt once settled and hover only option. If you’re looking to
Instead, adventurous fishkeepers cryptically around a planted set-up spice up a temperate community,
are beginning to opt for large shoals in search of tasty morsels. you can’t do much better than a
of Hatchetfish. These range from few White-cheeked gobies,
the dainty but beautifully patterned Freshwater gobies Rhinogobius duospilus, flaring their
Marbled hatchet, Carnegiella strigata, And if you thought gobies were just gills among shoals of minnows and
to the ‘Giant’ silver hatchetfish, for the reef keepers, think again. danio. Though this species has a
Gasteropelecus pectorosus, which With a cornucopia of charming wide temperature tolerance, it
barely reaches 9cm but will look freshwater species to choose from, prefers a cooler tank, but apart
phenomenal leaping for wingless any aquarist with a decent set of from a bit of healthy competition
fruit flies and freeze-dried shrimp.
There’s also a decent variety of
more unusual anabantoid species
to adorn the upper reaches of the
tank. Sparkling and croaking
gouramis, while not an oddball
per se, can make a nice change
from their more omnipresent
cousins, as can the rarely seen but
unobtrusively lovely Noble gourami,
Ctenops nobilis. However, this is a
delicate individual that needs a
lower pH than most of the other fish
mentioned here.
Anabantoids aren’t just limited to
gourami species though. The Ornate
climbing perch, Ctenopoma ansorgii,

FACTFILE
MARBLE HATCHET
6Scientific name: Carnegiella strigata
6Size: 3.5cm
6Water requirements: Soft, acidic,
below 7.0 pH.
Hatchet fish are
6Availability and price: Quite common;
great surface
from about £4
fillers.
ALAMY

WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 79
TROPICAL
Oddballs

among rival males, it will get on A place to hide

pretty well with most tankmates.
Brackish community tanks (sadly
all too rare these days) can be
massively enhanced by the presence
of a Knight goby, Stigmatogobius
sadanunidio – an attractive little
black and white fish that reaches
9cm as an adult, but because of its
large head, chunky body and funny
little eyes, somehow manages to
seem much bigger.
Many oddball fish may initially seem
shy, so while a large range of
tankmates can be considered, take
care to incorporate ample hiding
places. If your tank is a little on the
small side (40-80 l) but thick with
greenery, why not give a retro
favourite like the Chameleon fish,
Badis badis, a go? Cichlid-like in
shape, but not in behaviour, this tiny
gem, along with the Scarlet badis,

Though it may look like a toothy
beast and the last thing you should
consider mixing with small fish, the
Dragon goby, Gobioides broussonnetii,
is actually a peaceful, misunderstood
filter-feeder that often uses its
pointed teeth to scrape algae off
rocks. It grows to a fair size,
sometimes reaching over 30cm in
the home aquarium, but it’s highly
adaptable, taking brackish,
freshwater and even true marine
environments in its stride.
NEIL HEPWORTH
Dario dario, may seem shy and sulky
at first, but having kept them with
a wide range of tetra, pencilfish,
livebearer and gourami species,
I can confirm they’re easy-going
once they settle.
And Badis aren’t the only oddballs
that love a densely planted
community. The Asian Glass catfish,
Kryptopterus vitreolus, can do well
even with larger tankmates. Shoals
of these translucent beauties have
long fascinated beginners and
experts alike. They’re a sociable fish, ABOVE: Black
sensitive to most medications and ghost knifefish
requiring meatier foods than the grow to half a
average tub of tropical flake, but metre and need
specific care.
with a little extra research, they can
thrive among all sorts of species.
Deeper-bodied tetra, like Black
phantoms and Bleeding hearts,
make good tankmates, but so do

The ultimate in
cryptic catfish.

FACTFILE
BANJO CATFISH
6Scientific name: Bunocephalus coracoideus
6Size: 15cm
6Water requirements: From soft and acidic
to slightly hard and alkaline, 6.0-7.8 pH
SHUTTERSTOCK

6Availability and price: Quite common;

from about £5

80 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING

FACTFILE
NOBLE GOURAMI
6Scientific name: Ctenops nobilis
6Size: 10cm
6Water requirements: Soft, acidic,
below 7.5 pH
6Availability and price: Quite rare; from
about £5
peaceful barbs, smaller cichlids and
many other catfish species.
If you like your catfish even more
cryptic than that, the extended family
boasts some pretty bizarre finds
from the moustached Chameleon
whiptail, Pseudohemiodon apithanos,
to the equally placid Banjo catfish,
Bunocephalus coracoideus, which,
despite often being mistaken for a
dead leaf, can suddenly spring to life
and bury itself deep in the substrate
in a matter of seconds.
No discourse on oddballs is
complete without a shout-out to
the fantastically strange Reedfish,
Erpetoichthys calabaricus – often
mistaken for an eel, thanks to its
serpentine body. Although these
incredible living fossils have
large-enough mouths when fully
grown to swallow most small
shoaling species, they are actually
Gobies are full of
character and have
the looks, too.
NEIL HEPWORTH
NEIL HEPWORTH
extremely peaceful and should be
considered for communities
consisting of larger rainbows, barbs,
cichlids and gourami.
Think outside the box
There can be a tendency among
those weary of the carnage and
turmoil of mixing species that
SHUTTERSTOCK
simply shouldn’t be mixed to ‘stick
to what you know’ and play it safe.
But if the community staples they’ve
kept for years no longer delight
them, such fishkeepers may be ABOVE: Fahaka FACTFILE
tempted to pack in the hobby pufferfish are
outright
WHITE-CHEEKED GOBY
altogether. That would be a shame. 6Scientific name: Rhinogobius
So if you’ve yet to experience the aggressive,
duospilus
but Amazon
joy of a flaring White cheek goby or 6Size: 4.5cm
puffers are more
a group of foraging Horseface 6Water requirements: Hard and
agreeable.
loaches, I urge you to give oddballs alkaline, 7.0-8.0 pH
6Availability and price: Quite common;
another try. A little research can
from about £3.50
yield species that may prove much
more adaptable than you think.
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 81
CONSERVATION
Marines

82 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
 Saving the
REEF
Wild-caught or tank-bred – which should you buy? It’s the
eternal marine fish debate, but in the International Year of
the Reef, LINI, an NGO in Bali, says you can buy both…

JONNY
ARCHER
Jonny has 21 years
of fish experience,
including retail and
an aquaculture
NPL

Sustaining the oceans will degree.

need multiple approaches.

WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 83
CONSERVATION
Marines
W
E KNOW coral
reefs are delicate
ecosystems
under threat
from climate
change, plastics,
overfishing and
now suncream.
As an environmentally concerned
hobbyist, you may be asking which
is more environmentally sustainable
– wild-caught fish or tank-bred?
There are many issues with buying
wild-caught marine fish. Overfishing
reduces the stability of the reefs as
each species has its own role to play in
the ecosystem. Fish like the Banggai
cardinalfish, Pterapogon kauderni, for
example, are endemic to central
Sulawesi, Indonesia, and if overfished
are likely to become extinct. And
increased water temperatures are
causing corals to bleach faster than
ever before; if bleaching continues
there may be no habitat for fish left.
Plastics are an enormous problem
because creatures become entangled
or misidentify the plastic as food. And
until the early-2000s, local fishermen
used cyanide to catch their fish.
Although cyanide made catching the
fish easier, mortality rates were high.
Reefs were severely damaged in the
84 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
process too, and are still recovering.
Each of these problems is further
damaging the health of the reefs and
by now you may be thinking, ‘Well,
I’ll just buy tank-bred fish’.
Tank-bred marine fish are few in
number. Currently only 6% of species
have been bred in captivity and fewer
still are commercially available.
Unlike the freshwater industry, where
the vast majority of popular species
are tank-bred, more marine species
need to be commercially bred to
make an interesting marine
aquarium. Hypothetically speaking, if
fishkeepers are willing to keep just
these 6% of species, what are the
fishermen supposed to do? They
have families to feed and will be
forced to get another job – if other
jobs are there to be had. Most
fishermen and their families are
poorly educated, and are likely to be
forced into other labour-intensive
Education is the key factor
in conservation. Without it we
would carry on destroying
the reefs without thinking of
the consequences
BELOW LEFT: industries involving
Banggai deforestation, palm
cardinalfish plantations or
live in a very food fishing, each
restricted area.
of which have
BELOW RIGHT: their own
The Cardinals’ environmental
breeding project issues.
in action. So, what’s the
answer? Retrain
the fishermen to
become fish
farmers perhaps?
Well, they tried that
in Southern Bali 30
years ago, teaching the
fishermen to grow shrimps
for the food sector. But to do
this, they cut the mangroves down
to build the shrimp ponds. It was
such good money that shrimp were
intensively farmed to the point where
the ground was poisoned and no
longer any use for production. Worse,
without the mangroves, the land
became desolate and left the island
exposed to the full brunt of natural
disasters like floods and tsunamis.
This particular part of aquaculture
history has taught us that some
fishermen don’t make good fish
farmers as they view their resources
from a different perspective. Now, 30
years on, the mangroves are growing
back and the shrimp farming
industry is smaller and sustainable.
LINI knows that reef conservation
requires multiple solutions in order to
succeed. Not just science, but political,
sociological, economic and cultural
issues must be brought into play too.
SHUTTERSTOCK
BOTH: JONNY ARCHER
Essential education
LINI is finding its way through the
minefield by education and training.
It is teaching anyone willing to learn,
from fishermen and their families to
local communities, companies and
tourists from around the world. The
education programme takes place in
LINI’s aquaculture training centre
(LATC) in Northern Bali, and aims to
tackle the problems of both wild-
caught and tank-bred marine fish. At
LATC they breed Banggai cardinalfish
and some species of Clownfish. After
JONNY ARCHER
LATC’s workers have learned more ABOVE: Farmed
about reef conservation and fragged corals
aquaculture, they can then take that are placed onto
artificial reefs.
knowledge and pass it on to others.
Education is the key factor in ABOVE LEFT:
conservation. Without it we would Fragged corals
carry on destroying the reefs without grow out in
thinking of the consequences. For facilities.
LINI, education starts with its
visitors, who are given a presentation
by a staff member before being
shown around the facility and
learning about LINI’s objectives.
Visitors then help build their own
What is LINI?
LINI is the Indonesian term for a line or
connection. LINI the organisation seeks
to establish firm and lasting connections
between all stakeholders involved in
coastal resource management.
LINI was established in 2008 by a
small group of dedicated professionals.
It’s one of the few non-profit organisa-
tions in Indonesia currently working
towards the development of community-
based marine conservation areas to
promote sustainable fisheries.
6 For more information about LINI and its
work, visit lini.or.id
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 85
section of artificial reef and are
taught how to frag corals for seeding
the artificial structures. Once people
have been informed of an issue and
how to tackle it, they generally want
to take action. No matter how small
these actions are, in the end it all
adds up to a positive change.
During the week, LINI allows any
local child who’s willing to learn
English to participate in lessons.
English is a language that can open
the world beyond Indonesia to them.
In time, they will hopefully have a
firm-enough grasp that they can read
publications written in English (like
Practical Fishkeeping!), and be able
to discuss reef conservation with
English-speaking visitors.
At weekends LINI sends staff out to
local schools to teach about the
importance of the reefs. In the past,
local people viewed the reef as an
inexhaustible resource, where it didn’t
matter how much they took. Now
they understand about the delicate
ecosystem and the life it supports.
Reducing pressure
Until 2001, cyanide was used to
catch fish on the reefs in the Les area
of Northern Bali. Since then, Made
Partiana, a local fisherman and
member of LINI, has helped train
CONSERVATION
Marines
200 fellow fishermen in the use of
non-destructive barrier net fishing,
without the use of cyanide. The reefs
now have the chance to recover.
To reduce the pressures of
overfishing on the natural reef, LINI’s
staff, visitors, and local fishermen,
have built over 2,000 artificial reef
structures, seeded with propagated
corals. Other fishing communities
have seen the artificial reefs’ success,
and are building their own structures.
The artificial reef is now fished by
local fishermen, relieving pressure on
Bali’s natural reefs.
The island also has a major problem
with plastic. Bali doesn’t have the
infrastructure to deal with all of its
waste, so when the tropical rains hit,
the plastic lying around inland is
washed into the sea, then washed
back ashore with the incoming tides.
Every Sunday, the people of Les
village now do a beach clean-up and
dispose of the region’s litter in a
sustainable manner. They now
understand the negative impact of
plastics and waste on both the
environment and on tourism.
Breeding Banggai
LATC is helping to relieve the
pressure on wild-caught Banggai
cardinalfish, a popular fish in the
aquarium trade because of its pretty
patterns and body shape. Cardinals
can be easily overfished, but luckily,
being mouth-brooders, they can be
86 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
JONNY ARCHER
easily bred in LATC’s aquarium. on finely chopped abalone, enriched ABOVE: Artificial
The day at LATC starts at 7am live rotifers and small mosquito reefs are the
when the local fishermen’s wives larvae. This range of foods gives a modern way
of farming the
come in to prepare chopped abalone good variety of nutrition so the fish
seas.
in different sizes for the Banggai don’t suffer from sudden shock
cardinals. Water quality tests are syndrome, where the incorrect fatty
carried out twice a week, and every acid content can easily cause death. BELOW:
morning the filter floss is removed After six months, the young farmed Mangroves
from each system, cleaned and hung fish are transported to the exporter protect the
out to dry, then replaced with the Bali CC and then shipped to the UK. shoreline reefs.
filter floss from the previous day. Since June 2015, LINI has exported
INSET RIGHT:
The brood stock fish are fed three roughly 1,470 Banggai cardinalfish. Palm plantation.
times a day. Ten minutes after they’re
fed, the bare bottom tanks are
siphoned and the sides wiped down.
The sumps are drained and refilled
with sea water that has been allowed
to settle for 24 hours beforehand.
Baby Banggai cardinals are not
removed from the father until their
larval stage is complete. They become
juveniles at day 30 and are then fed
Tank-bred Banggai
cardinals can be found
in aquatics shops now.
JONNY ARCHER
This has left an estimated 735
breeding pairs in the wild, and
SHUTTERSTOCK
therefore a potential re-population
after one spawning of 29,400 baby
Banggai (one pair has on average
40 eggs per spawn, 735 pairs x
40 eggs = 29,400 fry). Over
time, these numbers will
continue to grow and
the wild
population
should
hopefully
bounce back.
Challenges
By setting up the LATC, LINI
has not only helped reduce the
fishing pressure on wild Banggai
cardinalfish in central Sulawesi, but
has also generated a new source of
income and training for people in
northern Bali – not just the
aquaculture workers, but cooks,
cleaners and gardeners too.
The three greatest challenges LINI
faces are funds, culture and
knowledge. The profits from its
Banggai breeding programme are
relatively small and so it relies heavily
on grants and donations.
This limitation can be clearly seen
at LATC, where staff would love
to test the water more
frequently. However, a
simple API saltwater
master test kit can
cost three quarters
of a month’s
wages, so they
currently rely on
NPL
donations from
companies like
Maidenhead Aquatics and
Fishkeeper Scotland to send
test kits. They also want to
increase the artificial reef further,
but this requires funds for the raw
materials and wages for the local
fishermen to build the structures.
Culture doesn’t change overnight,
no matter how much money you
throw at it. Instead, it needs to evolve
slowly over time so the Balinese
people can keep their own cultural
identity while participating in reef
LINI has built over 2,000
artificial reef structures
ABOVE: conservation and sustainable
Artificial reef aquaculture techniques. However, it
in Permuteran is likely to take generations, not years,
Bay, Bali. for change to occur.
The attached
pieces of coral
quickly become Helping hands
cemented into In the end, it doesn’t really matter
place by the whether you buy wild-caught or
accumulating tank-bred marine fish. It’s a matter
limestone. of buying from a sustainable source
– one that promotes the protection
of the environment and the people
who rely on it.
As a hobbyist, you can help to save
the reefs by only buying fish from
sustainable suppliers like Bali CC,
and the tank-bred Cardinals from
LINI. By putting your hard-earned
cash into fish that are sustainable, it
will send a strong message down the
supply chain. The message will be
heard and action will be taken to
improve the sustainability of the reef
and the supply chain that supports
our love of marine aquaria. The more
we buy, the stronger the message,
and the quicker the change will be.
For those of you in the market for
buying a Banggai cardinalfish I do
recommend LINI’s tank-bred
Banggai, which are available in the
UK from Maidenhead Aquatics and
Fishkeeper Scotland stores.
If you’re not looking for tank-bred
Cardinals but would still like to help,
you can find out more and donate to
LINI via its website, lini.or.id.
And if you’re lucky enough to be
holidaying in Bali this year, you can
even book an airbnb at LATC!
If nothing else, please spread the
word to fellow hobbyists to buy fish
NPL
from sustainable sources only.
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 87
MARINES
Stony corals

King om
of a s Little ca and s uty
of a coral reef, but these animals are tricky to keep.
Here’s our beginner’s guide to coral success.

DAVE
WOLFENDEN
Dave is a former
aquatics lecturer
NEIL HEPWORTH

and is curator of
the Blue Planet
aquarium in Chester

88 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
 Know your corals
for a dazzling
display.

WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 89
MARINES
Stony corals
T
HANKS TO advances in
technology, high-quality
salt mixes and a better
all-round knowledge of
coral husbandry, these
intriguing invertebrates
are more accessible
than ever. Many stony
corals are still challenging to keep,
but there are some species that can
be a good choice for beginners.
You’ll often hear the terms LPS
and SPS used in relation to stony
corals. Although taxonomically
meaningless, these universally-used
terms are helpful in describing the
requirements of different corals.
LPS corals
As the name suggests, LPS (or large
polyp stony) corals tend to have large
and often very fleshy polyps. LPS
corals often inhabit deeper areas of
the reef, lagoons, seagrass beds and
areas with turbid water. They’re not
usually reef-building corals, but can
assume a massive growth habit. Many
are solitary and some, like Fungia spp.,
can actively move by inflating their
polyps and catching the current.
LPS species are generally less
demanding – large polyps make for
easy feeding, and their tolerance to
lower lighting and flow, plus a less
finicky approach to water quality,
make them ideal corals for beginners.
They also grow slowly, so may not
need additional supplementation;
water changes alone are often
enough to maintain parameters.
On the downside, they can be very
aggressive, but many coral-keepers
favour LPS because of their diverse
morphologies, bright colours and
generally undemanding nature.
SPS corals
SPS (or small polyp stony) corals are
the true reef builders. These rapidly
growing corals are often found in the
high-energy reef crest where they’re
battered by the surf – here, they can
assume branching (dendritic)
morphologies to absorb and dissipate
wave energy. Some, such as those
found in calmer waters, may assume
a plating (laminar) morphology.
SPS are more demanding than LPS,
requiring pristine water, high flow
and intense lighting, but in optimal
NATHAN HILL
conditions they will grow quickly.
In fact, they can grow so rapidly that
SPS tend to be less aggressive and, to a certain
extent, can be packed in more tightly. However,
they may still employ tactics like ejecting fine,
SHUTTERSTOCK
thread-like acontia filaments onto neighbours
 Five of the best LPS corals
LPS are the best choice for coral-keeping beginners. They’re more forgiving than SPS, and with a wide variety of morphologies
and colours available, there’s something for everyone.

Bubble coral, Plerogyra sinuosa

This is among the easiest of hard corals, and it’s the distinctive, bubble-
shaped vesicles covering the skeleton that give it its common name. By day,
the vesicles inflate to allow more surface area for the zooxanthellae to do
their thing. At night, they deflate, and the coral sends out feeder tentacles.
The polyps are typically white, though pink, blue or green-tinged specimens
are sometimes seen. Place P. sinuosa in areas of low flow and moderate
lighting and give it plenty of room (10cm or so) from neighbouring corals.

Lobed brain coral,

Lobophyllia hemprichii
This is a very fleshy coral (also
known as the meat coral) that
comes in a range of colour
morphs – red, blue, multi-
coloured… some are simply
stunning. It can be slightly
aggressive, so leave at least
5cm between this coral and
its neighbours in moderately
lit areas of the aquarium with
slack water movement. Feed
frequently with finely chopped
meaty foods.

Candy cane coral,

Caulastrea furcata
Candy canes are very attractive,
with distinctive trumpet-shaped
corallites topped with brightly-
coloured polyps. The polyps
inflate during the day,
and relatively short
sweeper tentacles
emerge at night.
On balance, they’re
Plate coral, Fungia repanda
pretty peaceful.
These distinctive corals occur as lone, disc-shaped specimens
Place them in
up to 30cm across. They’re quite hardy, and found on areas
moderate flow and
of sand or rubble in areas of low to moderate light and flow.
medium-intensity
In the aquarium, they do best in a sand zone with moderate
light, feed them
lighting. Periodically they inflate to rid themselves of sand, and
finely chopped
also to ride the current if they’re not happy in their location.
meaty foods, and
Numerous colour forms are available, with purple and green
they’ll grow like crazy.
being particularly attractive. Feeding Fungia is fun – offer a meaty
morsel when its feeding tentacles are extended, and watch it
transport the food to its centrally located mouth.
Hammer coral, Euphyllia ancora
ALL PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK

The Hammer coral can form an impressive showpiece in a

larger LPS system – colonies can reach nearly 1m in diameter.
The branching, trumpet-shaped corallites are tipped with a
jelly-like mass of anchor-shaped polyps. It doesn’t fare well
in strong water movement, as excessive flow can damage the
living tissue. Moderately intense lighting will suffice, but add
some actinic to the mix and the coral will really pop.
Euphyllia needs space as it can send out potent sweepers to
30cm distance, so create a decent ‘no man’s land’ around it.

WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 91
MARINES
Stony corals
Some species straddle the boundary
between LPS and SPS. Horn coral,
Hydnophora rigida, is often considered an
SPS as it has a branching habit and
needs high flow and intense lighting.
But it also has distinctive polyps and
is very aggressive – traits more
typical of LPS corals.
they deplete calcium, magnesium,
alkalinity and other parameters, so
may need supplementation.
Acclimation
Corals aren’t finicky when it comes
to acclimation to temperature and
salinity – in fact, many reefkeepers
don’t bother acclimating corals at all.
However, photosynthetic corals can
suffer from a phenomenon known as
light shock when first introduced to
the aquarium – excessive oxygen
produced by zooxanthellae appears
to be the cause. It’s always advisable
to shade corals when introducing
them to the tank and allow them to
adapt to the intended light intensity
over a couple of weeks or so.
Quarantining corals
It’s well worth investing in a basic
quarantine tank. Quarantining corals
is good practice as you can screen
for disease and, if necessary, treat
the corals before they’re introduced
to the main aquarium. It’s also useful
in screening for pests that can cause
havoc, like flatworms.
Feeding
Although photosynthetic stony
corals derive energy from their algal
symbionts (zooxanthellae), they still
require feeding to provide nitrogen.
Of crucial importance is the size of
92 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
feed, and this is related to the size of
the polyps able to capture it.
LPS are the easiest corals to feed,
and will accept minced or chopped
meaty foods and even pellets.
However, frequent feedings can
impact on water quality, which is
one reason why mixed LPS/SPS
tanks are a challenge to maintain.
SPS require smaller feed items,
including zooplankton like copepods
as well as bacterial flocs (if carbon
dosing is being used). Micronised
powder feeds and liquid foods are
also available, but don’t overdo them
as they can affect water quality.
Coral placement
Correct placement of corals is vital
to ensure they receive the right flow
and lighting for their needs. Lagoonal
LPS species, for example, generally
need positioning in slack water with
moderate lighting, while branching
SPS fare better under intense
lighting and strong, chaotic flow.
Aggression is another factor to
consider, especially with LPS as they
often pack heat in the form of
sweeper tentacles, which can be
very potent. These are specifically
targeted at neighbours perceived as
competition for space on the reef.
Another strategy involves the use of
mesenterial filaments (nematocyst-
laden structures derived from the
SHUTTERSTOCK
coral’s gut), which are ejected onto
neighbours – literally digesting them
alive. So spacing LPS colonies is
vital, and exactly how much room
each needs depends on the species.
SPS tend to be less aggressive and,
to a certain extent, can be packed in
more tightly. However, they may still
employ tactics like ejecting fine,
thread-like acontia filaments
(analogous to mesenterial filaments)
onto neighbours. While an SPS
system can be densely stocked,
watch out for colonies in very close
proximity, and avoid having colonies
touching each other.
Can I mix LPS and SPS?
While it’s possible to mix LPS and SPS in
the same system, it presents challenges due
to their differing needs for flow, lighting
and water quality, so it’s best to focus on
one or the other, at least in the beginning.
In larger systems, flow and lighting can be
tailored to the needs of individual corals,
but it’s more of a challenge to achieve
water parameters that suit both types. I’m
not saying LPS can live in a muddy puddle,
but they generally need higher phosphates
and nitrates than SPS. Conversely, the
pristine water favoured by SPS corals might
not suit LPS, and it’s difficult to find a
‘sweet spot’ that keeps both types happy.
Five of the best SPS corals
With SPS you need to maintain optimal water quality (with low levels of nitrate and phosphate), provide high-quality lighting
and ensure adequate flow. Offer particulate feeds on a regular basis, and/or provide copepods or rotifers.
No SPS could ever be considered ‘easy’, but the following are good choices for those wanting to take the plunge. SPS corals
are generally better for fragging and propagation, thanks to their morphology and rapid growth.

Birds nest coral, Seriatopora hystrix

This aptly named coral sports intertwined, needle-
sharp branches in various shades, with pink
specimens being popular. They require high flow,
but the colour form may dictate how much light is
needed – pink corals seem to need high-intensity
lighting; yellow or brown individuals may fare
better under moderate lighting, though the species
is adaptable to a certain extent. It’s one of the
least-demanding SPS and an ideal starter species.

SHUTTERSTOCK

SHUTTERSTOCK
Cauliflower coral,
Pocillopora damicornis
It’s easy to see why this species
assumes its common name, thanks to
its cauliflower-like growth habit. Pink,
or pink and green specimens are the
most sought after. Provide intense
lighting and high flow to get the best
out of it.
ALAMY

Cactus coral,
Pavona decussatus
Club finger coral, Stylophora pistillata This branching coral has
This species has distinctive stubby branches, a fuzzy appearance with
and there are numerous colour forms, the polyps extended.
ranging from tan or green to pink, orange It’s an adaptable
and purple. Offer strong water movement species and moderate
and bright lighting and you won’t go far to strong lighting is
wrong. It’s a very adaptable species, and fine, although growth
the morphology of individual colonies tends to be better
may be significantly influenced by lighting in higher-intensity
and flow. lighting once the
coral has acclimated.
Incorporate some
actinic lighting and
Pavona can look
SHUTTERSTOCK

really striking.

Velvet finger coral, Montipora digitata

With polyps extended, this coral has a fluffy
appearance. A huge range of colours are available,
and it’s justifiably popular thanks to its attractive
appearance and adaptability. Although one of the
least-challenging SPS, Velvet finger corals still need
excellent water quality, but look after them and they
will grow quickly.
ALAMY

WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 93
GEAR & REVIEWS

Mustard gas
male Betta.

Roadtrip
to Devon
Come with us to the West Country where we visit
four all-rounder aquatics shops in Devon.
TOTAL JOURNEY TIME: 12 HRS 15 MINS. MILES: 663

94 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
Visit 1
Emperor Tropicals &
Water Garden Centre
25th June
STEVE SAYS: The colourful, vinyl
wrap finish to the shop front looks
appealing, but gives no clue about
what you can expect from this
well-established family-run business.
The first thing that hits you on
entering is the slight nostalgia of
tanks bubbling away, with air-driven
undergravel filters running in each.
This sets a bit of a precedent – the
shop is kind of old school and happily
described as such by co-owner Dean.
Sarah and Dean have owned the
shop for around 15 years now and
the staffing is very stable. Sarah has
been working here for 20 years, other
staff for up to 23 years, so there’s real
rapport with long-term customers.
The nicest feeling for me was
looking around and noticing things
that tell me they understand both
the industry and the hobby well in
this shop. For example, they have
some non-aquatic plants for sale,
but clearly state the implications of
keeping them underwater. They also
use these plants above the waterline
in their display tanks to great effect.
Every display tank, I should add,
looked great, and had a unique feel.
The focus of the shop is tropical
freshwater, although coldwater,
marines and ponds are catered for
too. The pond section is a reasonably
new venture, mostly supplying for
smaller, courtyard-style ponds, and
has a nice plant selection, including
The Bucktooth
has a good
scientific name.
specialist carnivorous plants. If you’re
a marine hobbyist, you’re not likely
to discover much that will excite,
but you’ll find all your day-to-day
products and everything needed to
build a set-up. The coldwater/
temperate section is large, offering a
good mix of cool water ‘tropicals’
like different danios, barbs, Paradise
fish and Corydoras, as well as a
selection of small fantail and fancy
goldfish and plants.
Dry goods are bursting out in every
room except the tropical fish house,
and there are some high-quality
brands around such as Eheim,
Kessil, Seachem, Evolution Aqua,
Fluval and Red Sea. There’s a large
selection of tanks and stands too.
The focus, though, is on the trops
and that’s where I can get excited.
There’s a nice selection of common
community fish, with a few goodies I
don’t often see, like Bumblebee and
Spadetail platies. There are plenty of
ALL: NATHAN HILL
fish to interest more immersive
AT A hobbyists, including Chocolate and
GLANCE Samurai gourami, Geophagus, Zebra
EMPEROR
and Giant otocinclus and Buck-
TROPICALS toothed tetra. Betta fans will enjoy
Address: the selection of fancy fighters and
St Erth Road, the prices, with Crowntails, Super
Manadon, delta, Plakat and King Betta ranging
Plymouth, Devon from £7.25 to £13.25.
PL2 3SW One thing that’s very important to
Telephone: me (and becoming more of an ‘old
01752 706633
Website: school’ practice) is quarantining
emperortropicals. stock and Emperor can boast 100
co.uk tanks in its quarantine facility.
Number of tanks: The plant selection is strong. If you
120 tropical, want specialist plants there’s an
48 coldwater/ additional system of mini tanks by
temperate,
the counter selling lily bulbs,
9 marine,
100 quarantine Madagascan lace plant and
Parking: Bucephalandra pots. If you want
Roadside, something moss covered, then
residential area you’re in luck there too. There’s
great advice on plant care, and the
display tanks highlight the staff’s
abilities. Staff member Lexi is
FASCINATING FISH
BUCKTOOTH TETRA
6Scientific name: Exodon paradoxus
6Size: 15cm
6Origin: Brazil and Guyana
6Habitat: Flowing, sandy rivers
6Tank size: Minimum 120x45x45cm
6Water requirements: Soft and acidic, 5.5-7.4 pH,
hardness below 16°H
6Temperature: 24-27°C
6Temperament: Aggressive scale eaters, species
tanks only
6Feeding: Loves bloodworm, but will take flakes
and granules
6Availability and cost: Uncommon indeed; these were
on sale for £7.85
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 Roadtrip: Devon
GEAR & REVIEWS

currently the highest-rated female

aquascaper in the UK.
It’s clear this shop belongs to owners
and staff who’ve been hobbyists and
industry employees for quite a while;
they know their stuff and push
things slightly outside the box
compared to conventional practice.
It’s not surprising to see nine PFK
Readers’ poll awards hung up
overhead, including ‘Plant retailer of
the year’ and ‘Retailer of the year’.

NATHAN SAYS: It’s quite dark, the

tanks are bright, and there’s an old
world/new world fusion – aquaria
with modern fish in tanks bubbling
away, with undergravels and
substrates sloped back to front, just
like they used to make ‘em. Look up
and you’ll see a little light relief in
the form of a lifesize model shark,
and quirky signs. You’re not in the
presence of a stuffy shop owner.
The place is packed like the inside
of a beehive. What Emperor lacks in
footprint it makes up for in sheer
weight of stock. Livestock bursts
from the tanks, and dry goods are
wedged into every cranny. There’s a
small and immaculate pond section
to one side, and when you get to the
back of the store you’ll encounter
the respectfully stocked coldwater/
temperate tanks and healthy
marines. But none of that is a touch
on the tropical freshwater medley.
Look hard, as the tanks aren’t
sparsely decorated, and you’ll see all
kinds of L-numbers tucked up under
wood. There are other oddities too,
like the Bucktooth tetra.
From a dry goods point of view,
Emperor is an Aladdin’s cave. Some
space is given over to tanks and
cabinets, but even those have been
utilised to carry even more stock.
Plants deserve a special mention,
because they’re so lovely. A plant vat
is the very first thing you see on ABOVE: Rows of
entry, and everything inside is lush. specialist plants
When you go through to the dry are great to see.
goods/till area, stop and swivel your
head left. You’ll spot what was once
a Betta rack repurposed to hold
specialist plants. It’s the first time
I’ve seen healthy Madagascar
laceleafs in a long while.
But straight up, the main reason to
shop here (if you’re anything like
me) is to go on a browse through
those tropical tanks. It’s the
selection that keeps on giving.

Visit 2
Maidenhead Aquatics @
Endsleigh.
June 25th
STEVE SAYS: This is the first of the
south west Maidenhead stores I’ve
visited and it has more to offer than
many others in the Maidenhead
group I’ve seen. Most obviously the
sump tanks don’t look like they’re
just a part of the filtration, or a
holding tank, like most do. These
sumps look well thought out and
cared for, with displays of fancy
goldfish, rainbowfish, mixed cichlid
tanks and one housing rehomed
Silver sharks and Synodontis catfish.

96 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
 In the sales tanks it wasn’t long
before I spotted something different
and interesting. First, a tank of
Gecko loaches, Homalopteroides
smithi, caught my attention (£8),
then some Burma danio and Danio
tinwini (£5), Thayeri acara, Blue
panchax, Diphyes cory and locally
bred Nannacara taenia.
Small and nano tanks are well
catered for with a number of tiny
species such as Chilli rasbora, Neon
green rasbora (£5), Glowlight danio,
ember tetras and more. The selection
of South American cichlids was also
good including Red tiger (£30) and
Spotted severums (£18), Diadema
acara, Festivums, Salvin’s cichlids,
Uaru and some great angelfish
variants like Red devils (£25) and
Red cap albinos.
The normal suspects are all there
too, with a large selection of common
tetras, barbs, Corydoras, gouramis
and so on. Betta fans have a decent
selection of fancy fighters with Koi
plakat types catching my eye at £30.
The pond area carries a good
selection of plants and 12 vats of
pond fish offering everything from a
small goldfish to handpicked 45cm
Koi at £350, and some alternative
pond fish like Golden rudd (£9) and
Gudgeon (£6).
Marines looked good, with some
interesting oddities dotted around
like Anglerfish (£90), Moustache
jawfish (£30) and Decorated gobies
(£30), along with more normal,
pretty salty livestock such as Neon
pygmy gobies (£18), Striped
The stars of the show here are the
tropical fish. Nicely sized, fairly priced, and
with a selection that breaks away from the
sedentary mainstream
cardinals (£12) and Blue tangs (£40).
Livestock health was good, tanks
were clean, and the only thing
lacking was aquarium plants, but
that was just poor timing on our part.
NATHAN SAYS: An open plan layout
makes this site feel especially
spacious and airy.
The stars of the show here are the
tropical fish. Nicely sized, fairly
priced, and with a selection that
AT A
GLANCE
MAIDENHEAD @
ENDSLEIGH
Address:
Endsleigh Garden
Centre, Ivybridge,
Devon PL21 9JL
Telephone:
01752 698442
Website:
fishkeeper.co.uk/
store/endsleigh
Number of tanks:
172 tropical,
16 coldwater,
78 marine
Parking:
Large garden
centre car park
ABOVE: breaks away from the sedentary
Koi Plakat mainstream. Nice catfish abound
Betta. (I’m looking at you, Corydoras
diphyes), along with a great offering
BELOW: A nice of Siamese fighters. There are even
Homolopter-
locally reared and sourced fish
oides smithi
Gecko loach. (Nannacara, courtesy of long-term
PFK contributor John Rundle).
Add to that the brightly coloured
Asian rummeynose, and you get an
idea of the kind of things on sale.
There’s plenty to keep you occupied,
without being too outlandish.
The marine selection is nice and
broad – smaller fish, bigger fish, reef
friendlies and reef nasties. A few
nano gobies in particular caught my
eye, and there are some bargains to
be found amongst a teeming
selection of inverts.
Get chatting to the staff, as
everyone is friendly here, and they’ll
give you the tour of all the hidden
delights you might otherwise miss. I
only had to ask what their favourite
fish were and they were off, eyes
wide and smiles beaming as they
guided me through the selection.
In a nutshell, you can put together
some nice community tanks based
on the stock here. Really nice ones.
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 Roadtrip: Devon
GEAR & REVIEWS

Visit 3
South Devon Aquatics
June 26th
STEVE SAYS: When you find South
Devon Aquatic Centre in a small,
local shopping area, and see the size
of it, you may feel disappointment.
It instantly feels like a basic shop to
serve the local community with the
essentials. To be fair, that’s quite on
point for the pond section (which is ABOVE: well as freshwater knowledge. the bright marines show off. As I
hidden behind the sales counter), a Golden ram, Though there’s a small number of said, Trevor has good knowledge of
small selection of fish and plants Mikrogeophagus tanks and plenty of basic community marines, in particular fussy feeders
with enough dry goods to get you ramirezi. fish filling them, South Devon like seahorses, Moorish idols and
through, but it’s not fair for either Aquatics seems to be good at Copperband butterflies, and that
BELOW: Glass
the tropical or marine selections. headstander, sneaking a few corkers in here and shows with the stock, which is busy,
The business has been at this site Charax gibbosus. there. Fish of note included heathy and looks well fed. The
for roughly 15 years and was in its Pimelodella gracilis (£10), Myleus mixture of fish are a balance of
previous location for around the schomburgkii (£25), Rainbow non-reef and reef-friendly, including
same duration. Staff member Trevor snakehead (£20), albino Senegal Fire tuskfish (£35), Candy hogfish
has been here for six years and has a bichir (£15) and Mystus vittatus. (£40) and some cracking Anthias
lot of marine experience to share, as On the opposite side of the room, (£21 female/£27 male).

Though there’s a small number of tanks, and plenty of basic

community fish filling them, South Devon Aquatics seems to be
good at sneaking a few corkers in here and there

98 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
NATHAN SAYS: Somewhat off the
beaten track, South Devon Aquatic Some very
Centre is nestled in a quiet healthy Anthias.
residential area with parking just
around the side, as it forms part of a
small promenade of shops.
Inside the store, you’ll find a tidy
and traditional layout. To your left
and right there are banks of
freshwater and marine tanks,
respectively, while in between is
where you’ll find tanks for sale
(including a couple of rather nice
aquascape set-ups) and a selection
of dry goods.
Although you won’t see it from
the shop floor, there’s also a small
pond section here. Ask the staff
and they’ll show you, but it takes a
short trip through the counter area.
It isn’t huge, but for a few pond
fillers South Devon Aquatics will AT A
see you right. GLANCE
In keeping with the rest of this trip, SOUTH DEVON
the strengths are to be found in the AQUATIC
tropical freshwater selection. CENTRE
Marines are nice enough, with some Address:
of the healthiest Anthias I’ve seen in 2 Cherrybrook
a while, and a good scattering of Square, Paignton,
corals in a dedicated table, but the Devon TQ4 7LY
Telephone:
selection of ‘freshies’ contains a fair
01803 844498
few eclectic treats. From toothy Website:
Charax types of tetra, to sleek southdevon
unusual pimelodids, there was aquaticcentre.co.uk
enough to keep me hooting as I Number of tanks:
looked from tank to tank. 52 tropical,
More importantly, the health of 8 coldwater,
19 marine,
all the fish was totally on point. 6 pond vats
Vibrant colours all round, plump Parking: Local
bellies, and a lack of tattered fins shop car park
inspired a lot of confidence in me
as a potential buyer.

Slender pim,
Pimlodella
gracillis.

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 Roadtrip: Devon
GEAR & REVIEWS
Visit 4
Bow Aquatic centre
July 26th
STEVE SAYS: Bow Aquatic Centre is
nestled firmly within Bow Garden
Centre, a large, family-run concern
that grew out of the aquatics side of
the business. You feel a real love of
water as you wander round the
garden plant sales area with small
ponds dotted around and a stream
leading to a Koi pond by a cafe.
The business was bought by its
current owners in mid-2013 and has
recently undergone expansion with
more space given over to marine
livestock and tropical dry goods in
particular.
It’s a large, open plan aquatics
department, with fish one side of a
wall and dry goods the other.
Tropical fish cover many common
community species, with numerous
less-seen specialities popping their
heads up too. There’s a fair number
of plecs around – not rare and
expensive types, but for someone
starting a collection there’s a good
choice of low to mid-priced
suckermouths.
Noble gouramis (£11) stood out for
me, along with Debawi catfish (£8),
Microsynodontis polli (£7.50), Badis
badis (£3), Rope fish (£15.80) and
Golden nugget plecs (£45).
A small selection of temperate
‘trops’ are joined by different true
coldwater species like Albino
weather loach (£9), Electric blue
dace (£9), Rainbow dace (£6) and
A charming Gold
nugget plec.
100 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
You feel a real love of water as you wander
round the garden plant sales area with
small ponds dotted about and a stream
leading to a Koi pond by a cafe
small fancy goldfish (from £6).
AT A Marine livestock is tailored toward
GLANCE fish-only tanks, which fits Bow’s
BOW AQUATIC audience. This paves the way for
CENTRE some interesting fish like Pinktail
Address: trigger (£85), Harlequin tuskfish
Bow, Crediton, (£190) Red-banded hogfish (£110)
Devon EX17 6LA and Clown wrasse (£25). A marine
Telephone: delivery turned up as we arrived,
01363 82438 including some large angels and
Website:
bowaquatics.co.uk some cracking-looking Butterflies.
Number of tanks: Reef-safe fish are also available,
115 Tropical, along with a small selection of soft
12 Coldwater, corals for those going down the reef
48 Marine, route. All marine livestock comes
20 pond vats from Tropical Marine Centre, a
Parking:
decision made for reasons of
Large garden
centre car park responsibility and conservation.
Poke your head outside and you’ll
see a large selection of pond and
water gardening plants – something
that Rachel, head of aquatics,
majors in and you can see the result.
The pond fish offer good variety and
there are some nice-looking Koi.
You’re not likely to come out
complaining about a lack of choice
in dry goods, There are plenty of
tanks on display from the likes of
Fluval, Juwel, TMC, Aqua one and
more. There’s also lots of aquarium
equipment by Oase and Fluval, and
plenty of consumables. Pond
equipment is a little disjointed,
being positioned beyond gardening
products, but it’s another
comprehensive collection of goods
from Oase, Laguna, Pontec and NT
Labs. The large array of pipe fittings
also deserves a special mention.
All in all, this seems like a big,
comprehensive aquatics shop that
probably serves a large local area.
There aren’t many competitors close
by, but unless you want a really
specialist set-up or fish, you’re not
likely to need another shop.
NATHAN SAYS: OK, this one really
is blended in with a garden centre,
so don’t be too surprised to find
yourself looking at outdoor furniture
one moment, and pipefish the next.
Have a good stroll about, as things
are spread over a wide area, with the
dry goods hidden back-to-back
 behind the open plan fish house,
and the pond section partly pushed
into a far corner, while the
remainder of it is outside.
Once you know where everything
is, you’ll find it tidy and well
organised. The pond goods roughly
match the indoor goods for volume,
meaning there’s a fair bit of both –
it was nice to see a good offering of
Oase aquarium gear, including a
selection of their canister filters.
On the fish side, there are lots of
‘safe’ species on both the freshwater
and marine fronts, with a handful of
TOP: Noble oddities tossed in to keep things
gourami, excited. Little pipefish caught my
Ctenops nobilis. eye in the marine section, while
some handsome Noble gourami and
ABOVE: Microsynodontis (I tried getting a
Peacock goby,
Tateurndina photo, but they wouldn’t play) kept
ocellicauda. me lingering by the freshwater
tanks. There are plenty of staples.
LEFT: Blue- Plants (aquarium) were sparse, but
striped pipefish, that fell more to the time of our visit.
Doryrhamphus Outside, the offering of greenery was
excisus.
much more significant, and
well-presented too. This place is a
good bet if you’re after pond foliage.

WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 101
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NEXT On Sale CONTACT US
Practical Fishkeeping,

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WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 103
 GEAR
GEAR & REVIEWS

FIRST LOOK
Steve Baker takes a look at different
lighting options to suit a range of
budgets and tanks.

FLUVAL MARINE 3.0

RRPs: £209.99-£296.99
More info: hagen.com
This is the second generation of Fluval’s sea LED unit and
there are huge improvements. Instead of just three settings
– low blues, full power (25,000K) or off – there’s now an
easy-to-use bluetooth smartphone app. Five spectrums
are independently adjustable for power and you can
customise the sunrise/sunset start and finish times.
There are three models, catering for tank sizes 61-145cm.
The power might struggle to satisfy demanding corals.
Easy to use, fully adjustable, good value.
You need a smartphone so you can download the (free) app.

INTERPET TRI-SPEC2
RRPs: £124.99-£204.99
More info: interpet.co.uk
This is an update to the original Tri-Spec. What you get is a unit
that can neatly replace ‘furniture’ tank lights, tanks with
flap lids (Juwel and Fluval Rio, for example) and many
others. There are three different fittings and a hanging kit
is available. The double switch controls reds/white on
one side, and blues on the other. An app controller is
available separately (£32.99). The unit is waterproof
to 1m and there are four sizes to suit tanks 52-124cm.
Suits furniture tanks, punchy for the wattage.
Not controllable as standard.

FLUVAL AQUASKY 2.0

RRPs: £82.99-£149.99
More info: hagen.com
The main update with the Fluval Aquasky is that it loses the
old remote control in favour of an easy-to-use phone app.
Manual mode on the app gives all the same options the
remote did, while auto mode allows full adjustability of
power for each colour, day length and sunrise/sunset
periods. Seven sizes suit tanks from 38-145cms and
three fitting options allow it to replace T5 and T8 bulbs,
be retro-fitted, or go ‘luminaire’ style.
Adaptable, adjustable and good value.
For strong plant growth you may need two.

104 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING


APPS
They sometimes
scare people but
the apps included
with the Fluvals (and the
optional Interpet app) are
easy to get on with and
add lots of features.
AQUARIUM SYSTEMS PROTEN
RRPs: £74.99-£154.99
More info: aquariumsystems.fr/en
The Proten LED from Aquarium Systems is available in
freshwater and marine models. The freshwater (shown here)
gives a traditional, slightly pink colouration and comes with
a double switch, one for low power (6 diodes), the other for
higher power (15 diodes). It’s also compatible with a
separate bluetooth controller. The range of fittings makes
the Proten very adaptable and it comes in five sizes to suit
tanks of 25-150cm.
Very adaptable for fitting, low power consumption.
Price-wise, it’s up against the programmable Aquasky.
AQUAEL LEDDY SLIM PLANT
RRPs: £29.99-£98.99
More info: aquael.com.pl/en
Here’s Aquael doing what it does so well – producing basic,
low-priced aquarium goods that punch well above their
weight. The Plant version of the Leddy Slim offers 8000k.
Four model sizes suit tanks of 20-120cm, with one style of
bracket suiting 6mm glass in the smaller models, and
16mm in the larger. There’s no adjustability, just an on/off
switch, but it’s not expected at this price range. Other
models include Marine, Actinic and Sunny (bottom of page).
Simple, low cost.
No adjustability.
FLUVAL PLANT 3.0
RRPs: £109.99-£279.99
More info: hagen.com
In use, this is the same as the Fluval Marine LED unit. All
sizes and fitments are the same, covering tank sizes of
61-145cm with three models, but the diode spectrums are
very different with the Plant 3.0 model offering 6500k, and
being cheaper in price because of that. With the bluetooth
phone app, it’s fully adjustable for power, spectrum and
timing. There’s a night-time setting and you can also ramp
it up and down for sunrise/sunset.
Easy to use, fully adjustable, good value.
Again, you need a smartphone, so that you can use the free app.
AQUAEL LEDDY SLIM SUNNY
RRPs: £26.99-£74.99
More info: aquael.com.pl/en
Here’s a different model in the Aquael Leddy Slim range –
the Sunny version, which offers a 6500k light with no frills.
Due to slightly simpler diodes for the different spectrum,
the Sunny comes in slightly cheaper, but still has a good
spectrum for growing plants. This light is the pick of the
JACQUES PORTAL
bunch if you’re on a tight budget. There’s no adjustability
built in, but use a plug timer, then you’re only missing
the sunrise/sunset settings.
Simple, low cost.
No adjustability. ❯
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 105
 GEAR FIRST LOOK
GEAR & REVIEWS

Following on from its successful ‘Aquascaper’ tank range,

Evolution Aqua’s new eaFreshwater range gets it right too.

EA FRESHWATER 900 GREAT FOR:

LIGHTING IS INCLUDED
As standard it comes with 2 x Natural Sun 7000k led tubes,
First look: Steve Baker Fish with deeper with the provision to add two more. By the time you read this,
Price: £679 bodies like Discus, there should be other models available too – Colour Plus
More info: fishkeeper.co.uk angelfish, fancy (RGB), Cool White (12000K) and Sea Blue (all-blue LEDs).
goldfish etc.
Evolution Aqua has already shown that when you get
expert aquarists involved in the design side of aquarium
production, special things can happen.
The Aquascaper range, developed with input from
PFK contributors George Farmer and Jeremy Gay, has
been a huge hit with profesional and budding
aquascapers alike. Likewise, the eaReefPro has been a
great success in the marine world, and now the latest
launch from Evolution Aqua is set to continue the trend.
Former PFK editor Jeremy Gay has again been involved
in the design. The finish is just as ‘high-end’ as the
existing ranges, but this is clearly an aquarium built for
purpose as well as looks. It’s made with the fishkeeper
in mind (obvious, maybe, as it’s a fish tank…), but what
I didn’t like with the Aquascaper, as a fish fan, was the
open top. I don’t like the idea of fish jumping, or of
evaporation altering water chemistry and making the
filter outlet gurgle, but open tops are just what’s needed for
aquascapes, allowing the use of high-powered lighting.
This new tank resolves that issue with style – the
slimline lighting and lid keep bulk out of the design, the
rear glass cut-outs allow a flow-through of air and ease
of use with external filters (they’re even practical enough
to get a plug through), and lights and covers are easy to
remove and clean. Normal float glass keeps the retail
price affordable, while other features include the neatest
silicone work, pre-built silicone-sealed cabinets, and a
fixed foam pad (a godsend!). The cabinet and hood are
available in a choice of 12 finishes.
Black silicone has been used to avoid staining from
the use of medications, the versitile lighting bracket can
be positioned forwards or back or removed altogether,
plus it comes with a tub of Evolution Aqua’s pure
aquarium balls to kickstart your new set-up.
The eaFreshwater range offers tanks of 60cm, 90cm
and 120cm length all with a width of 50cm and a
height of 70cm (60cm of water)
plus there’s a 60cm cube option
with the same 70cm height.
This extra height gives a
modern, premium look and adds
a lot of water capacity for a
modest footprint, so it’s an ideal
choice for locations where floor
space is at a premium. If you don’t
have long arms though, you may
need to get yourself a small stool.
The range is currently exclusive
to Maidenhead Aquatics.

106 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING

FISH FRENZY
SATURDAY 6TH OCTOBER
Come and join us for a FREE IXQÀOOHGGD\

&
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FHOHEUDWLRQV DQG \RX DUH LQYLWHG
DON’T MISS OUT ON THIS EVENT!
Guest
IT WILL BE A GREAT DAY Free
Speakers EXCLU Giveaways
ON THE SIVE
Raffle Trade DA
EVENT Y Food and
Prizes Stands DISCOU Drink
NTS
Barlows Aquatic Trading + Lancashire Discus
Sales, Brisol Works, Mount Street, Accrington,
Lancashire, BB5 0PJ. Tel: 01254 388815
www.barlows-aquarium-supplies.com
www.lancashirediscussales.co.uk

TIME TO
STEP OFF THAT
TRE ADMILL
Press pause once in a while
and curl up with your favourite magazine.

To find out more about Press Pause, visit;

pauseyourday.co.uk
READERS’ POLL

Vote for your

favourite store in
our Readers’ Poll
– and you could
SPONSORED BY
win a great prize
from Fluval!

T
HE LAST chance to vote is
closing in fast! As the
Practical Fishkeeping
Readers’ Poll reaches its final
month, we’re asking for one
last push from you, the
voters, to get your entries in
and help us to crown the
very best aquatics stores in the UK.
Shops are the unsung heroes of the
industry and running one can sometimes be
a thankless task, so the Readers’ Poll is a way
of showing your favourite shop you care.
How do I vote?
Simply go to the PFK website at
pfkmag.com/shops, and you’ll be
asked to vote for the best store in
one region. This should be
the region where your
favourite store is located
if it’s in a different area to
you. From there, you just
need to leave your name and
contact details to be in with a
chance of winning one of the
excellent Fluval prizes.
What’s in it for me?
Just for getting involved, you get entered
into our fantastic Fluval prize draw,
with a chance of winning one of
the fabulous prizes listed below.
Share pics and stories Voting closes on September
of your favourite shops on 26th 2018, and results of
our Facebook page. the prize draw will be
announced later in the year.
#pfkreaderspoll
6 For full terms and conditions
visit bauerlegal.co.uk/competition-
terms.html

RUNNERS-UP

WHAT YOU COULD WIN!

WE ALSO HAVE 10
PRIZES OF FLUVAL
FOOD PRODUCT
PACKAGES!

FLUVAL FLEX 57 L FLUVAL PRISM

AQUARIUM SET FLUVAL U4 UNDERWATER SPOTLIGHT
RRP £149.99 UNDERWATER FILTER RRP £61.99
The Fluval Flex not only offers bold, RRP £76.99 Add excitement to your aquatic habitat with
contemporary styling with its distinctive With outstanding three-stage the Fluval Prism Underwater Spotlight. This
curved front, but is also equipped with filtration, increased water remote-controlled, high-output spotlight LED
powerful multi-stage filtration and brilliant movement and vital aeration, the allows you to create up to 80 multicolour
LED lighting that allows you to customise Fluval U4 lighting options, including special effects
several settings via remote control. stays at the and weather effects.
cutting edge 3RD
of internal PRIZE
1ST
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filter design.

2ND
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VOTE NOW: pfkmag.com/shops

 Cast your vote NOW for your
READERS’ POLL CLASSIFIED

Abacus Aquatics
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UDWKHU WKDQ MXVW D EXVLQHVV WKDW VHOOV ¿VK
If you like what we do,
please vote for us
Doing well in the readers poll helps us to run
WKH VKRS WKH ZD\ ZH GR
www.abacus-aquatics.co.uk
168 Halfway St, Sidcup, Kent DA15 8DJ
Tel: 020 8302 8000
VOTE
FOR US IN
2017
2018
With over 20 years experience in all
types of Aquatic Design and Installation
at Clearly Aquatics we design, construct
and maintain all sizes and styles of
ponds, pools, water features, and
bespoke aquariums.
Wide range of Japanese Koi, tropical,
cold water and marine fish.
Pond & Aquarium Equipment Unit 11
specialists. Carrickmacross Shopping Centre
Main Street
Dicksons Garden Centre, 79 Cootehall Road, Carrickmacross Telephone: 086 189 3088
Bangor, Co.Down BT19 1UP Co. Monaghan e-mail: carrickaquatics@gmail.com
028 9185 2277 www.clearlyaquatics.co.uk Eire www.carrickaquatics.wix.com/carrickaquatics

DISCOVERY AQUATICS
Scotland’s top shop 2017 — Wow!

CROWDERS-AQUATICS@HOTMAIL.COM
We are Kaz and Rocky Crowder and are
an independent aquascaping and tropical
ÀVK VSHFLDOLVW VWRUH EDVHG LQ +DPSVKLUH
:H KDYH D EHDXWLIXO VFDSH URRP ÀOOHG
VOTE
FOR US
26 Chalet Hill, Bordon, ZLWKSOHQW\RIDPD]LQJKDUGVFDSH
GU35 0TQ PDWHULDOVLQFOXGLQJRYHUGLIIHUHQW
W\SHVRIZRRG
01420 478387
2XUVKRSKDVEHHQRSHQVLQFH-DQ
FIND US ON We stock some of the most amazing products
on our shelfs including:
:(/29($//7+(5(,672
•ATM •Fishscience Discovery Aquatics, Unit 18 Manhattan Works, Dundonald Street, Dundee DD3 7PY
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1$785$/$48$5,80 •Dennerle •Oase and many more 01382 452364 www.discoveryaquatics.co.uk

Readers’poll
2017
CICHLID
RETAILER
OF THE YEAR

Readers’poll
www.wharfaquatics.co.uk “Multiple PFK
2017
ODDBALL
RETAILER

s /NE OF THE LARGEST SELECTIONS OF lSH IN THE 5+

OF THE YEAR

pollwinner
Wharf is just like a buffet
s (UGE RANGE OF !QUARIUM  0OND DRY GOODS of fishkeeping. You visit
and want to try everything
s &RIENDLY ADVICE FROM EXPERIENCED lSHKEEPERS because the staff do it all so
very well.” PFK, April 2013
s #USTOM MADE AQUARIUMS AND CABINETS
Voted UK Aquatic Retailer of the Year six times & top aquatic shop in our region 10 times since 2003!
65-67 Wharf Road, Pinxton, Notts NG16 6LH Just 5 minutes from junction 28 on the M1!
Tel: 01773 861255 Marines: 01773 811044 Reptiles: 01773 811499

110 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING

favourite retailer at pfkmag.com/shops

F F F IR ST OR D E R
10% O
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from TMC
Wide range of
OPENIN
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● THUR & FRI 10.30-6
S1
● SAT 1 0.30-2.00
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Coldwater and
olesale
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www.wh ● SUN 10.00-2.00
0
tropicals
pond fish
aquatics.c
o.uk

reen Road,
Website
220 Bethnal G E2
London,
5356
Fish2yourdoor.com
Tel: 020 7739 44
Fax: 020 7729
24
or trimaraquaria.com

Lincolnshire’s and Yorkshire’s Largest PLEASE VOTE FOR US

VOTE
TROP
SHOP

Indoor Aquatic Centre 30,000 sq ft +

+
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as your South East Retailer of the year VOTE

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QUAT QUAT QUAT
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friendly help expert advi ce • open 7 days a week
all your aquatic needs under one roof!
LARGE SELECTION OF HUGE SELECTION OF
• Working Water Features • Koi & Ornamental Pond Fish
Please
• Waterfall Display • Marine Fish & Invertebrates come and
d
• Ro-Water • Tropical & Fancy Cold Water Fish visit our awar re
• Tropical & Marine Mix • Pond & Tropical Plants win n in g st o
• Aquariums for friendly
Come & feed our friendly fish expert
• Discounted Pond Liners advice
• Fibreglass ponds
www.lincsaquatics.co.uk
• Filters • Pumps
• Treatments
• Lighting SPECIALIST IN
• Food MARINE
TROPICAL
COLDWATER
Lincs Aquatics Lincs Aquatics Lincs Aquatics REPTILES
Lincolnshire East Yorkshire South Yorkshire

01507 451000 01482 898 800 01302 711639 15-17 ORSETT ROAD, GRAYS, ESSEX RM17 5DS Tel: 01375 377666
East South
Lincs
A uatics Yorkshire
atics
Yorkshire
Aquatics
thetropshop@aol.com
• Hanger1 • Strubby Airfield
• Woodthorpe • Nr Alford
• LN13 0DD
• Hedon Road
• Burstwick • East Yorks
• HU12 9HA
• Great North Rd
• Doncaster
• DN10 6AB www.thetropshop.co.uk
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 111
 BRISTOL LEICESTERSHIRE MISCELLANOUS

Fluke-Solve
TM

From plants to
Cichlids, Stingrays The simple
14 “UK Top Aquatic Retailer 2001” solution for skin
to Snakeheads flukes, gill flukes
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The Aquatic Store Easy and
Really does have it all! effective
www.theaquaticstore.co.uk 01179 639120 Large selection of Tropicals, Marine, Corals SIMPLY RIP TIP
and other livestock AND STIR
28 North Street Bedminster Bristol BS3 1HW Quality Liverock always in stock
Call us (0116) 274 34 26 Fish Treatment Ltd.
All major brands stocked | Pond equipment available
CAMBRIDGESHIRE www.fish-treatment.co.uk
www.clearwateraquatics.co.uk

LINCOLNSHIRE

QUAT LINCOLNSHIRE

Tropical SA I Hanger1 • Strubby Airfield

CLASSIFIED To advertise here please call the sales team on 01733 366410

01507 451000

LINC
Woodthorpe • Nr Alford • LN13 0DD

CS
Marine EAST YORKSHIRE
Hedon Road • Burstwick
East Yorks • HU12 9HA 01482 898800
Cold Water SOUTH YORKSHIRE
Great North Rd
Open 7 days a week 01954 214530 Doncaster • DN10 6AB 01302 711639
www.nuttyaboutpets.co.uk sales@nuttyaboutpets.co.uk To all our customers – thank you for your support with the PFK Awards
175 St Neots, Hardwick, Cambridge, CB23 7QJ LARGE SELECTION OF HUGE SELECTION OF Come & feed our friendly fish
• Aquariums • Koi & Ornamental • Discounted Pond Liners
• Fibreglass ponds Pond Fish • Lighting
• Working Water • Marine Fish & Invertebrates • Food
COUNTY DURHAM Please mention Features
• Waterfall Display
• Tropical & Fancy Cold
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• Ro-Water
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• Pumps • Pond & Tropical Plants • Treatments All fish are packed to travel anywhere in the UK
Retailer of
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North East
lincsaquatics-lincolnshire lincsaquatics-eastyorkshire lincsaquatics-southyorkshire
The only true aquatic Superstore, with over 250 stock tanks
specializing in community, rare and unusual cold water, tropical www.lincsaquatics.co.uk
and marine fish inverts and corals. Largest range of aquariums,
dry goods, frozen and live foods and Tropical plants.
Opening hours weekdays 10.00 - 18.00, Saturdays 10.00 - 17.00, Sundays 10.00 - 16.00, Closed on Wednesdays
when responding LONDON
Units 10 & 11, Dragonville Retail Park, Durham DH1 2YB
Phone and fax: 0191 3843590 to adverts
KENT
The Fish Bowl Ltd
133 Dawes Road,
London. SW6 7EA
ABACUS AQUATICS Tel: 020 7385 6005
Voted one of the Best shops in www.thefishbowlltd.com
the UK for the last 6 years email: thefishbowlltd@tiscali.co.uk

Now open on Sundays

OFFICIAL JUWEL STOCKISTS PLUS SPARES
For more details about the
shop and our opening hours Aquatic and Pet Shop.
please visit our website Open 5 days a week 10am to 6pm. Closed all day Thursday and Sunday
www.abacus-aquatics.co.uk
168 Halfway Street, Sidcup, Kent, DA15 8DJ
020 8302 8000 / enquiries@abacusaquatics.co.uk

LANCASHIRE ONLY
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RETA IL SHOPPE
EVERYTHING YOU WINNERS! r all your
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NEED UNDER BEST SHOP IN Thank you fo 1967! AY: CLOSED
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al Green Road, Lond ● SUN 10.00-2.00
220 Bet hn 77292444 ww.wholesaletropicalsa
VOTE FOR US IN THE 2018 PFK READERS POLL 0 773953 56 Fax: 020 qu atics.co.uk
Tel: 02

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE

Huge range of Readers’poll

livestock in more 2017
than 600 tanks! ODDBALL
RETAILER
OF THE YEAR

Special Event Weekend 29-30th Sept 2018

Readers’poll
DISCOUNTS ON EVERYTHING!
2017
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@Aquahome_ Tel: 01773 861255 Marine direct: 01773 811044 Reptile direct: 01773 811499
Open 7 Days - 65-67 Wharf Road, Pinxton, Notts. NG16 6LH (near M1 J28)
SCOTLAND NATIONWIDE DISTRIBUTORS

House of Pisces ~ Scotland’s largest aquatic superstore by far

With over 1000 aquariums full of tropical, marine and cold water fish
Huge range of aquariums, aquarium furniture and equipment at discount prices
AQUARIUM SAND
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Unit B/G, 207 Strathmartine Road, Dundee, Scotland, DD3 8PH made for aquariums
01382 832000 www.tropicalfish-scotland.com
DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR
25kg includes
WALES POND DIRECTORY
sack £29.99
Ring 01254 388815
P&P

Fiveacre
Koi Supplies to order
Established 1973
55 John Street, Porthcawl, CF36 3AY Everything you need
www.barlows-aquarium-supplies.com
UK MAINLAND ONLY
Tel: 01656 784646 to build and maintain a koi pond
www.fiveacrekoi.co.uk
WHOLESALERS
Mo ay to Saturday 9am-1pm, 2pm-5pm
Closed Wednesdays, Sunday 9am-1p y
Barlows Aquatic Trading
Tel - 01246 240350 AQUARIUM MANUFACTURERS..supplying direct to the public at trade prices
info@fiveacrekoi.co.uk  HiVcYVgY h^oZh [gdb hidX`
AQUASCAPE FISH IMPORTS Fiveacre Kennels, Chesterfield Road,
Tropical & Coldwater Live Fish Wholesalers Duckmanton,Chesterfield S44 5HT BVYZidbZVhjgZ
Unusuals inc Rays, Turtles, Crabs, Shrimps, Lobsters
DAILY NATIONWIDE DELIVERIES ;^aigVi^dcheZX^Va^hih###hjbeh!l^Zgh!XdbWh! e^eZ! ejbeh ZiX####
CALL NOW FOR FREE monthly TRADE lists
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Tel: 0121 331 1212 Fax: 0121 331 1414 dc
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sales@aquascape.co.uk OK EBO
Ring: 01254 388815
www.barlows-aquarium-supplies.com
INTERNET e mail: barlowsaquatics@aol.com
or call in and see us at:
Brisol Works, Mount St., Accrington, Lancs BB50PJ

To advertise here please call the sales team on 01733 366410

P L A N T E D AQ UA R I U M S P E C I A L I S TS

www.aquariumgardens.co.uk
01480 450572 info@aquariumgardens.co.uk

www. .co.uk
EVERYTHING FOR THE AQUARIUM,
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www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk
OPINION
NATHAN HILL
If this hobby was no fun, we
wouldn’t be doing it. So, where
exactly is the fun? My money is on
the endorphin ‘high’ that comes
from seeing all the fish on sale...
W
HERE DO you get
your fishkeeping buzz?
I’ve been brooding on
this for a while, and I
wonder if it’s the same
for newcomers now as
it was when I first got
into fishkeeping.
My fuzzy tingle
What I recall most from my memories of
the early days was the mystery. When I
started, I didn’t know a danio from a Discus.
Every time I visited a store it was a trip
into an esoteric unknown, especially as my
local shop (a maze of a place that used to
be in Hastings called Marine Aquatics) was
such an archive of unusual species. I’d go
in, and there would be, in a very real
sense, a childish delight in each and every
discovery – a fuzzy tingle that comes with
the moment of epiphany. But on top of
that, came the ability to recognise fish, fish
114 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING
Nathan Hill
is Practical
Fishkeeping
magazine’s
associate editor,
hardcore biotope
fancier, wannabe
aquascape dabbler
and rare tetra lover.
that I’d lusted after, now here in front of me.
I could recognise them courtesy of
aquarium books I owned at that time, in the
pre-internet era. Instead of losing myself
in endless Instragram fish shots, I had an
atlas. Many early aquarists had a dog-
eared, go-to book of reference, mine being
the ‘Axelrod Atlas of Freshwater Fishes’.
Being able to identify fish in a tank that I
knew from my books was an absolute
high. My mind was a constant mental list
of wants. Whenever I found one, the
endorphins were released. Success!
Add to this the ambience of the stores
themselves. They were dark places, even a
little initmidating by today’s standards.
Intimidating like caves. And I loved them.
It’s odd to visit such a shop today. They
feel like something of a dirty secret in the
modern, hi-tech world of centralised
systems and gleaming, bright layouts.
They’re like a trip back to a forgotten past
before aquatic retail had quite found its feet.
And now?
I don’t want to sound weird, but when I’m
in a store now, I watch people. I try to
gauge where the ‘buzz’ is for them.
For a lot of folks, and especially families
with kids, it’s interesting to see that a lot of
buzz comes from recognising ‘Nemo’ and
his ilk. Recognition is still big; we’ve just
swapped atlases for Disney.
I also realise that despite the easy access
of fish at our fingertips – any species is a
web search away, really – for a lot of folks
now, the buzz is about finding things they’ve
never seen before. It dawns on me that
despite fish stores being better stocked
than anything I had as a kid, fishkeepers
are still seeing new species with every visit.
Don’t believe me? Just go to a busy store on
a weekend and stay quiet. Score yourself a
point whenever you hear ‘come look at
this!’ or ‘what’s this crazy thing?’ and when
you hit 5 points, go look at what is exciting
people. It doesn’t take long.
Call me a geek, but when I was young
I read my Axelrod cover to cover, week
after week, memorising each of the 1,800
pictures inside. But I just can’t keep up any
more. Take me out to a modern store and
I’m lost in one genre alone. Stick me in a
room full of L-number catfish and I’m lost
after the first dozen. In my conceit, I used
to think I knew all the species available.
Now I understand I’ve barely scratched
the surface. The hobby has grown so much.
In that way, I think I’m truly envious of
the present day newcomer. The buzz I had
in my day was, I believe, different. It was
the thrill of fumbling through the necessary
clumsiness of an establishing hobby. Now,
at its zenith, it has so much to offer that
every store visit must be the highest high.
Guess the fish answer from page 35: Black ghost knifefish.
 COMMON
SPECIES
SUBJECT TO
INJECTION AND
DIPPING
6 Albino corydoras
6 Glass fish, Parambassis sp.
6 Parrot cichlids

MP&C PIEDNOIR AQUAPRESS

6 Black widow tetra
6 Giant gourami

WHAT’S WRONG WITH INJECTED FISH?

Fish can be artificially coloured in a couple of ways – or

Fish have their mucous layers stripped, before

dunking in concentrated dyes stains them with artificially
bright colours.
6 Fish are dyed all over including the gills, causing
respiration issues.
6 Ink in the body can have serious effects on organ function.
6 Stripping away mucus leaves fish open to bacteria and
parasites.
Are they legal?
It IS illegal to dye a fish through
dipping or injection in the UK, but
NOT illegal to import or sell them.
Almost all dyed fish are commercially
produced in the far east, and
imported directly.

Fish are stabbed with a needle, and dyes injected.

What can you do?
Ask if retailers have joined up
They may have patterns or words tattooed on the body. to the Practical Fishkeeping
6 Against fish body sizes, needles are huge. Imagine your Dyed Fish Campaign. Started
in 1996, the campaign asks
armbeing injected with a pencil for a comparison. retailers to pledge not to sell
6 Injection sites are access points for infections. any dyed fish. If you see some
on sale, raise your concerns
6 Needles are not cleaned or sterilised, risking infection. with store owners. Because
6 Chemical embolisms from injection can cause fatalities. dyed fish aren’t always
advertised as such, staff may
6 Injecting causes granulomas, tumours and cauliflower genuinely not know they are
like growths. stocking them! Your voice can
help make the difference!
6 The dyes cause inflammation of skin and muscle tissues.
6 Injecting requires rough handing which is highly stressful.
Exclusive pond foods and treatments from Maidenhead Aquatics

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