Cycling an Aquarium
Mark G N Ferguson breaks down the process every new aquarium depends on — where the ammonia comes from, where the bacteria come from, and how to get them established.
Results for “aquarium”
The article archive, searched in full.
The mystery of the aquarium tiger barb...
Matt Ford on a fish everybody knows and nobody can name: the aquarium tiger barb turns out to be of decidedly questionable identity.
Heating the Aquarium
Why tropical fish need heating at all, and the basic ways of providing it — starting from the temperatures the tropics actually hold.
All the leaves are brown...
Colin Dunlop on dried leaf litter in the aquarium, a practice he took up after asking a dealer about a single brown leaf lying in one of their tanks.
Stunted growth means stunted lives
The first of a series supporting BIAZA's Big Fish Campaign, on why aquarium fishes are treated as disposable and why, in some cases, size really does matter.
South Asian barbs - a guide to nomenclature
An extensive review has broken up the genus Puntius and moved a great many aquarium favourites into new genera. A guide to which name is now which.
Whaddaya mean, too hot?
Many aquarium fishes are held at temperatures they would never meet in nature. Rüdiger Rautenberg on how following the rules on heating may be costing you money.
Major Changes in New World Cichlid Taxonomy
A review of the herichthyin cichlids of Middle America has named eight new genera and moved a number of aquarium favourites between them. What changed, and why.
Botiid fishes of the 'Modesta complex' – an analysis of natural history and behaviorisms
Mike Ophir on the loaches of the 'Modesta complex' — long treated as the community tank's cleaning crew, and still poorly served by what is known of their care.
A Passion for Cichlids
The first of an interview series. Ichthyologist and aquarist Michael K. Oliver on the systematics of Malawi's cichlids, and on diving the lake to collect them.
How to take care of a Siamese Fighting fish - Betta splendens
What a Betta splendens actually needs — tank size, heating, lighting and the rest of the equipment, with the reasoning behind each.
In Memoriam: U Tin Win (1944 - 2014)
An appreciation of U Tin Win, who died in August 2014, and whose work shaped both the scientific exploration of Myanmar's freshwater fishes and its ornamental export trade.
New shrimp from Hong Kong and southern China
The 'tiger' and 'bee' shrimps have long been treated as variants of a single species. New descriptions from Hong Kong and southern China settle what they actually are.
Three new loaches of the genus Cobitis Linnaeus, 1758
Thomas Frank on three Cobitis loaches that reached the hobby under the wrong name, and the work of establishing what they actually were.
For Peat’s Sake...
Matt Ford argues the hobby should stop using peat — a valuable, non-renewable resource whose extraction is visible from orbit.
FFSG has global mission
Freshwater habitats hold 0.3% of the world's water and almost half of its known fish species. The Freshwater Fish Specialist Group on what it intends to do about that.
The Desert Fish Habitat Partnership
Freshwater conservation is set to become one of the most pressing environmental problems of the coming decades. A look at one partnership working on it in the American desert.
Breeding Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki - the dwarf chain loach
Mark Duffill, a self-confessed loachaholic of thirty years, on keeping and finally breeding the dwarf chain loach.
Channa orientalis Bloch & Schneider 1801
Colin Dunlop on the dwarf among snakeheads. At around 10 cm, Channa orientalis asks far less of a tank than the metre-long relatives that give the genus its reputation.
European killifishes part 1: the genus Aphanius in Spain
Matt Ford introduces the Aphanius killifishes of Spain: Eurasian, attractive, seldom discussed, and a long way from the African and American species that define the group.