Mike Ophir Long ignored as the maintenance crew of the community freshwater aquarium, the group of fishes commonly referred to as “Loaches” have clearly enjoyed increased popularity in the aquarium trade in recent decades. An increase in demand has resulted in an appreciation of the diversity of this loosely group assembly of species and yet, it […]

Stefan van der Voort reports on some new discoveries… Two studies published recently in the journal Zootaxa have revealed five new species of Badis. These works significantly increased the species richness of the genus in West Bengal, India, and hopefully pave the way for further exploration of that and surrounding areas.

The freshwater atyid genus Caridina contains a number of species which have become popular ornamental pets on a global scale over the last couple of decades, but the identities of two of the most familiar are only now being resolved…

Considering that freshwater habitats contain just 0.3 % of global water resources they are home to a surprising diversity of species with around 15,000 described to date, a figure which represents almost half of all known fish taxa and approximately 25 % of all vertebrates.

The Aquarium of Brussels is a hidden gem in the Belgian capital… In contrast to our usual waffle this experiment blog post is going to be heavy on photos and low on word count, so let’s see how it goes. While visiting Belgium a couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to spend an enjoyable […]

Thomas Frank introduces three recent additions to the aquarium hobby… For loach-lovers 2008 was certainly not the worst year. It started in the middle of the year, when small loaches arrived in Aachen under the name Misgurnus anguillicaudatus but which could easily be identified as members of the genus Cobitis. They came from the Dutch ornamental fish wholesaler […]

FishNet2 is the latest incarnation of a collaborative project initiated by the University of Kansas, United States in the late 1990s and currently administrated by Tulane University.

Surely it’s time we stopped using this valuable, non-renewable natural resource in our tanks, says Matt Ford Among the multitude of freshwater fish species available in the aquarium hobby a great number of them hail from tropical forests in South America, Africa and Southeast Asia, and one prevailing image of how their habitats might look […]

The conservation of freshwater fishes and their habitats is set to establish itself among the most pressing environmental issues worldwide over the next few decades as freshwater resources become ever-more exploited. Continued deforestation, the construction of dams for hydroelectric projects or drinking water and extraction of groundwater are just three of the conspicuous, often irreversible, […]

Rüdiger Rautenberg with an alternative look at aquarium heating and how following the ‘rules’ may be costing you money…