'Phallusy' or foe? The myth of the candiru
The candiru has been credited with destroying manhood for over two hundred years. What the fish actually does, and how much of the legend survives the checking.
Results for “pH”
The article archive, searched in full.
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.
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.
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.
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.
For Peat’s Sake...
Matt Ford argues the hobby should stop using peat — a valuable, non-renewable resource whose extraction is visible from orbit.
Africhthy, a new collaborative network for African ichthyology
Ichthyologist John P. Sullivan on Africhthy, the collaborative research portal he has built for the freshwater fishes of Africa.
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.
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.
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.
Pupfish form evolutionary 'mountain ranges'
Barely kept and difficult to maintain, the pupfishes of the genus Cyprinodon are of outsized interest to evolutionary biologists. Their isolated desert waters are the reason.
Badis singenensis, the most unique badid gets a name – or does it?
Stefan van der Voort on a new Indo-Burmese badid and whether its name will stand — printed here in the original text, after a magazine altered it without asking.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
New darter characins from Brazil
Almost every darter characin in hobbyist literature is called Characidium fasciatum. New species from Brazil are a reminder of how little that name settles.
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.