Tropical Fish Information You Really Need To Know
In this article on tropical fish information you will learn about why tropical fish keeping is popular and the scientific naming convention that classifies the fish.
Why keep tropical fish?
People who keep tropical fish in an aquarium (aquarists) are a growing number as its popularity soars and those involved range from school children through to old age pensioners.
Tropical fish need more looking after than cold water fish such as the goldfish and it is this additional caring factor that I believe attracts folk to tropical fish.
Plus the fact that generally speaking tropical fish tend to be more colorful, there is more choice for the aquarist and they are smaller so you can have more of them in your aquarium. And in most cases you don’t have to import the fish from its original habitat as they are bred in captivity especially for you.
Because of the particular breeding that has been carried out over the years it is unlikely that the fish you have in your tank will be the same coloration, size and shape of the original fish from, for example, Venezuela, where the checkered dwarf cichlid originated.
But where breeding in captivity has been unsuccessful then you will have the real wild stock imported.
Naming System
All aquarium species are known by a common name and some may have several names, all of which may be used by aquarists and pet shops on a day to day basis, which may be useful. But if you want a precise identification of the fish then these names are of no use.
Carl Linnaeus Wikipedia
Carl Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist (known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology) who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature which is the formal system of naming species.
This system has been used since 1758 and separates plants and animals into groups in a way that their relationship to each other is easily established. Taxonomy is the science of finding, describing and categorizing organisms and it has seven major groupings; Kingdom-Phylum-Division-Class-Order-Family-Genus-Species.
But in this binomial nomenclature system a ’scientific name’ is produced and consists only of the genus name and the species name. Although each identification is stated in Latin it could be described as the ‘Latin name’ of the species but biologists like to call it the ’scientific name’.
The branch of zoology assigned to the study of fish is Ichthyology (from Greek: ikhthus meaning fish and logos meaning study). As Ichthyology progresses it has meant that sometimes fish have had to be re-classified. But because not everyone starts to use the new identification name or ever will do, you end up with two names for the same fish.
For example the Chanda lala and the Ambassis lala might be assumed to be different species, but they are not. And you may have more than one genus with several species. For example there is the Colisa labiosa and the Colisa fasciata. If a genus for a fish is known but it can not be properly identified then you would describe the fish with its generic name and the word species tagged on to it.
Speaking of species, it appears that about two hundred and fifty new species are given scientific names every year. According to a comprehensive database of fish information by the beginning of January 2010 there were over thirty-one thousand species.
And if you add up all other vertebrates: amphibians, mammals, birds and reptiles, the total is less than the number of fish species around.
3 Top Fish For Your Fresh Water Aquarium – From S To T
Three fish for your fresh water aquarium are described here; Scientific names, preferred conditions, colors description, sex differences and breeding advice are given for the Sucking catfish, the Scissortail and the Three-striped glass catfish.
Pterygoplichthys multiradiatus (Syn. Liposarcu...- Image via Wikipedia
Sucking Catfish – Pterygoplichthys multiradiatus
(Family: Loricariidae)
Not the most beautiful fish in the world the sucking cat fish is peaceful enough for the community aquarium and it is a great scavenger as it mops up large amounts of vegetable matter and algae. But it might cause you a few problems by uprooting plants.
The fish is named such because, not surprisingly, its has a big sucker as a mouth giving it the ability to attach itself to most surfaces with great vigour. A water temperature of 22 to 25 degrees centigrade is best and its is important that the water quality is good and not polluted as the fish is prone to illness.
The sucking catfish can grow to 10 to 15 cms in captivity but will be much bigger in the wild. The tank must have hiding places for the catfish in the day time. It will be more active at dusk and dawn as it feeds. Its main color is a gray brown mixture with horizontal rows of dark spots.
It has a round snout, a large crest shaped dorsal fin and an arched back. For this size of fish the eye seems comparatively small in size. Unusually the fish is wider at the front end than it is high.
This genus is a member of the family usually known as the armoured cats. Apart from the underneath the body is covered with bony plates that have fine spines on them. There is no substantial evidence of them being bred in captivity.
Scissortail – Rasbora trilineata (Family: Cyprinidae)
This fish gets its common name from the way its tail fin, that is split into two parts, acts like scissors by way of opening and closing as it swims along. Its other names are three-line rasbora and spot-tail rasbora.
Rasbora trilineata Wikipedia
As peaceful, sturdy, long lived, growing to about 7-8 cms, content with others and not fussy about their food, they are ideal fish for a fresh water aquarium but would prefer to be in a small shoal of their own.
Water should be between 18 and 24 degrees centigrade, slightly acidic and soft; the tank planted but lots of open swimming areas and lighting at the front to show them at their best.
The scissor tail may be orange with both parts tipped with black and white bars. The flanks are silver, the top olive yellow or green and the belly whiteish. It has one dark brown strip on top and another from the tail fin’s lower lobe to just ahead of the anal fin.
The male is less thicker in the belly than the female. The water in the breeding tank should not be deep, fine leaved plants should be put in gravel on the tank bottom and several males will be needed for the female.
As these fish are cannibalistic it makes sense to use nylon breeding mops for retrieving the eggs. Hatching takes place after about seven days.
It is not easy to rear the fry but they should be fed on infusoria and after a couple of weeks can be fed filtered daphnia and will grow quickly.
Three striped glass catfish – Pareutropius Buffei
(Family: Schilbeidae)
Grows to about 7-8 cms in length and is a very active community tank occupant that likes to be in a shoal of at least six members. The water temperature should be between 23 and 26 degrees centigrade.
Glass Catfish dave.scriven via Flickr
Its body color is silver gray and it has three dark longitudinal bands running along the body.
The middle line runs through the caudal fin and the top and lower lines continue on into the upper and lower parts of the fin. It has quite a long anal fin but the dorsal fin is short. It has an adipose fin. It swims at an angle with its head upwards. It prefers live food in its diet.
The female is thicker bodied than the male. Breeding in captivity is very rare. If a pair do breed then you may well get over one hundred eggs that can take several days to hatch and then they may well be eaten by the parents! So get ready to remove them from the tank or use a breeding trap.
3 Top Tropical Fish For Tanks – From P To R
3 tropical tank fish; Scientific names, best conditions, colors description, sex differences and breeding advice for the Pencil Fish, Red-tailed Black Shark and Red-tailed Rainbow are given.
Nannostomus
Pencil Fish – Nannostomus eques (Lebiasinidae)
The pencil fish have long thin bodies are a bit timid but will be fine and act well as a tropical fish in your community tank. It is also called a brown tailed pencil fish, a knightly pencil fish or the barred pencil fish. They are capable of swimming quite fast when they want to but generally are not that active.
Ideally the water should be soft, at the usual temperature range for tropical fish and the tank well planted. A varied diet is advised for pencil fish though they do particularly like small live food and they also like to feed near the top of the aquarium.
The Nannostomus eques has a wide maroon band along the whole body with a gold stripe on top of it. The maroon band moves on to the bottom part of the caudal fin where the color alters to a reddish shade.
The main body color is golden brown and thin stripes on the back. The anal fin has a red spot next to the body and is brownish. The lower part of the body has a row of dark spots.
There is a Nannostomus auratus which has a black band instead of a maroon one and the color goes into the caudal fin. Adults can reach a size of 5 cms. Telling the difference between the sexes is not easy. Getting breeding to take place in the aquarium is not very successful.
You could try a tank at two degrees higher than the main aquarium, plant it well and use old water. Eggs will be deposited underneath the leaves and can be up to 40 in number. Remove the parents after spawning.
Hatching should take place after about two days. Fry must be fed on infusoria for quite a while before more adult type food is provided. Note that the fry are very delicate initially.
Red-tailed Black Shark – Labeo bicolor (Family: Cyprinidae)
There are other Labeo species but they could be too large for the amateur aquarist to deal with. The red-tailed shark is the most popular. It is not related to true sharks. You can keep this species in a tropical fish community tank but it is wise not to have a single fish as it will probably become aggressive.
And with two males together, one will become territorial and battle to maintain it, although the confrontations are more showy than dangerous. Calm will return after the conflict.
Conversely there are suggestions that in an aquarium the fish will become shy and use plants for cover. It is best to assume the former quality is the dominant behavior.
Your aquarium must have thickly planted areas, soft water with a temperature range of 23 to 27 degrees centigrade and lighting that is not too bright. Food wise it is not a fussy eater, will graze on algae and likes vegetable matter.
The length of the fish for an adult will be about 5 cms and its has two pairs of barbels. Its caudal fin is a vivid red color, the main body color is black and it has the recognizable long shark shape. The other fins are also black. Algae can be removed from an aquarium by the use of well developed lips that make up a suction disc.
The fish is egg-laying and apparently breeding has been successful now and again in captivity but there is no detailed information for the aquarist.
Red-tailed Rainbow – Melanotaenia nigrans (Family: Melanotaeniidae)
This playful fish swims under and under other aquarium occupants and is a brilliant colored fish to have in your community tank. It will grow up to 11 cms. A water temperature of 24 degrees centigrade is adequate and has no particular dietary requirements.
The female is larger than the male, not as brightly colored and thicker in the body. The overall body color is green and the scales reflect violet, green and blue tints. The scales have a dark brown edging. Its eyes are comparatively large and the body has yellow and red bands along it. It has pretty dorsal fins.
Breeding wise, the fish do not be taken out of the tank after spawning as they are good parents. A well planted breeding tank is needed for the eggs to latch on to, either in groups or individually.
Spawning lasts for quite a while as eggs are only laid now and again. Then fry will appear after about seven days and rearing them is quite easy. Give them a live diet as soon as you can.
2 Top Tropical Tank Fish From M To O
Two top tropical tank fish are described here; Scientific names, preferred conditions, colors description, sex differences and breeding advice are given for the Marbled Headstander and the Neon Tetra.
Abramites hypselonotus Wikipedia
Marbled headstander – Abramites hypselonotus (Family: Anostomidae)
An unusual feature of this fish that becomes obvious immediately is its position in the water. It swims with its head downwards. It is not a common tropical tank fish but is alright in a community tank as long you assess the sizes of all the fish you propose to have. This is because the headstanders can grow up to 12 cms and as they become bigger they become more confrontational with smaller fish.
The water temperature should be at least 24 degrees centigrade because cold water will adversely affect their health but they are pretty resilient to poorer water quality. A thickly planted aquarium with hiding places is also required.
Food wise they are not fussy but will need a fair percentage of vegetable matter. Despite its head position it does not get food from the bottom of the tank.
Compared to its body the marbled headstander has a small head which is somewhat pointed. The main body color ranges from a reddish brown to yellow. It has several vertical irregular shaped gray to brown stripes on its sides. The tail fin is noticeable due to a white crescent and its back is arched.
There appears to be no authenticated information on how to breed this fish although there are claims that it has, in rare instances, been bred in an aquarium. Without any specific information you would have to assume that they should be treated as any egg-laying (oviparous) species should be.
Other names for this fish are the ‘Striped headstander’, the ‘High-backed headstander’ and ‘Norman’s headstander’. It has previously been classified as Abramites microcephalus.
Paracheirodon innesi
Neon Tetra – Paracheirodon innesi (Family: Characidae)
There are other tetras but their coloring is not as vivid as the neon. Other well-liked species are the dwarf tetra (Hyphessobrycon minimus), the dawn tetra (Hyphessobrycon eos) and the flame tetra (Hyphessobrycon flammeus).
I give the scientific names here because the neon tetra is also known as the Cheirodon or Hyphessobrycon innesi and shows that the popular name of tetra is not restricted to the Hyphessobrycon species.
It only grows to about 3 cms so be careful about the size of the other community occupants you have and if possible have them in a shoal of at least half a dozen. It is a sturdy and peaceful fish and is probably only second in popularity to the cardinal tetra.
The neon tetra will like a water temperature between 20 and 25 degrees centigrade. A variety of food is suitable; fine dry food, smallish live food and freeze dried will give you this range. Telling the differences between the sexes is difficult. The female is a little bit bigger than the male – not easy.
The neon tetra is a slender fish and has a smal mouth.There are several aspects of the neon that make it stand out from the crowd; a bright red patch of red covering the area from the caudal peduncle to the bottom of the pelvic fin and a green and blue stripe that goes from the snout via the eye to the adipose fin.
Breeding the neon tetra will not be easy for the beginner. But you could try the following which has proved to work in the past;
* set up a breeding tank with no gravel and clear water (slightly hard)
* use a young compatible pair for breeding
* up to 200 eggs will be laid after morning spawning takes place
* take both fish out of the tank straight after the egg laying
* darken the tank after the fish are removed
* about 5 days later let some light into the tank and you will see some fry
* let additional light into the tank on a gradual basis
* several times a day feed the fry with very small live food
* vigourously keep the tank free of uneaten food and debris
The first few days are really important and the good news is that if the fry get through this period then they will start to grow quickly and will soon become tropical tank fish.
3 Top Fish For Your Tropical Aquarium – From H To K
Three top fish for your tropical aquarium are described here; Scientific names, preferred conditions, colors description, sex differences and breeding advice are given for the Headstander, Indian Algae-eater and the Kuhlii Loach.
Headstander – Chilodus punctatus (Family: Curimatidae)
A tropical aquarium with a temperature of 25 to 28 degrees centigrade, some hiding places and with soft slightly acidic water is a good home for this fish. The headstander, most of the time, swims with its head down and is a peaceful and slow moving fish.
This is a hungry fish and will always want food but stick to your feeding pattern with mainly live food and suitable vegetables forming the diet. Remember that this fish has a small mouth so the food has to be sorted accordingly so it can eat comfortably.
An adult headstander will grow to about 10 cms. It has no bright coloration but the variety of brown, gray and black scales arranged in a visually appealing pattern show the fish in a good light under certain light conditions (no pun intended!). This is evidenced by a sparkle now and again.
It is not possible to give you specific breeding conditions and techniques for this fish because it appears that the conditions have to be so perfect for it to happen in an aquarium, that information is sparse. It is suggested that floating plants in a large tank with a few plants and a dark bottom is required?
Gyrinocheilus aymonieri
Indian Algae-eater – Gyrinocheilus aymonieri (Family: Gyrinocheilidae)
Otherwise known as the Chinese sucking loach this fish is given the name ‘Indian Algae-eater’ because as its name suggests it will clean your tank of algae via its sucking disc, which all loaches have. The majority of its diet is in fact algae, plus some vegetable matter, although a small amount of food that is not vegetable may be included.
You may not wish to add this fish to your tropical aquarium as there have been reports of it using its sucker mechanism on other fish, killing them. These anecdotal stories arise with the older fish (that can grow to 17 cms), as the young fish appear to be peaceful.
Water wise, a temperature of 26 degrees is fine, and it should be a well planted large tank with algae present and well oxygenated.
The fish has a long body with an arch shape on the back. It is a rather dull colored fish as it has a browny-gray body with lighter shades underneath. The flanks have a type of band, that is really a continuation of irregular dark shaped spots and bars.
The back of the fish has dark patches. These colors apply to the young as they are different with older fish. This genus is egg laying but I could not find any breeding information on it.
Kuhlii Loach – Acanthophthalmus kuhlii (family: Cobitidae)
Acanthophthalmus Kuhlii atropo8 via Flickr
This fish has a snake like body and swims like an eel, hence its other names of Snake fish and Kuhlii eel. There are other species in this genus and they are often sold under the name ‘Coolie loaches’. Among the scavengers this is a popular one as it can access areas other fish can not get to due to its shape.
Feel free to add this to your community tank as it is a peaceful creature and its maximum size is normally about 10 cms. By nature it comes alive at night time but in an aquarium it will become active in the day time once used to its environment.
But if kept on their own, the species tank should be shallow, well oxygenated, pretty dark and with a thin scattering of plants.
If this fish is in a community tank then you must have a good layer of sand for them to burrow into, and it must be soft sand. Temperature wise, a range of 24 to 28 degrees centigrade will be alright.
The fish are bottom feeders and will eat food left or missed by others but a meal of live food for them would be a nice thought now and again.
The body is cylindrical in shape and has up to twenty dark bands across the back which appear to be split up under the fish. The scales are extremely small, the mouth has barbels, it has tiny eyes with a raiseable prong in front of each one and the fins are also very small.
It appears that this fish has not yet been bred in captivity (there’s a challenge!) and perhaps in nature, it breeds using a bubble-nest system.
3 Top Fish For Your Freshwater Tank – From C To E
Three top fish for your freshwater tank are described here; Scientific names, preferred conditions, colors description, sex differences and breeding advice are given for the Clown Loach , Discus and Egyptian Mouthbrooder.
Clown Loach – Botia macracantha (Family: Cobitidae)
An aquarium temperature of 25 degrees centigrade is ideal for this fish along with planted areas where it can hide. It is more active at night than most other fish so is a useful scavanger. There are a variety of Botia species and they do not like to be on their own.
Clown Loach Wikipedia
You must pair them off otherwise they will sulk and become very aggressive towards other fish in your aquarium. Other Biota species are the blue loach (Botia modesta) and tiger loach ( Botia hymenophysa).
The clown loach likes live food and is actually a bit greedy. The clown loach has red fins and three vertical dark bands on its body with one running through the eye. It has a few pairs of barbels, eyes located higher than usual, a sharp and long head and its body color ranges from a reddish yellow to a light orange.
There does not appear to be much information around regarding breeding this fish in a captive environment. Some sources even say that it never has been because it does not grow to full size in an aquarium.
Discus – Symphysodon discus (Family: Cichlidae)
If you have a good deep sized well planted tank then this fish, although timid, should be in a shoal for a community aquarium. It is a very popular aquarium fish and prefers live food to other feed.
Discus - Symphysodon Wikipedia
Often called the red discus ,there are other Symphysodon species availble and sold as the discus but called the blue, brown, green etc discus. As its name implies the discus fish is almost circular in its thin shape.
The red discus may change in color depending on the aquarum conditions. Its pelvic fins curve down and backwards in a lovely arc. It has several vertical dark stripes which again can change with conditions.
It may grow up to 15 cms and is known to become ‘panicky’ under certain conditions and not eat very well but generally is viewed as rather greedy with live food.
It is hard to see the difference between sexes. For breeding, find a pair that get on together and put them in a shallow well planted breeding tank with a piece of slate for the eggs to adhere to.
It is probably wise to remove the couple after the eggs are deposited; they could eat them. Fry shoud develop after about three days.
Egyptian Mouthbrooder – Hemihaplochromis (Family: Cichlidae)
A thickly planted large tank at 20 to 24 degrees centigrade, with hiding places set up is the best environment for this fish which, at a maximum length of 7.5 cms one would deem suitable for a community tank, but one aquarist I know does not recommend it. A variable diet is required with live food included.
Egyptian Mouthbrooder Wikipedia
The fish has long anal and dorsal fins and the body varies in color from metallic green with blue to orange on the sides.The fins have dots arranged in rows, often yellow and black. The male has a smaller head than the female and has a red top to its anal fin.
A breeding tank will have sand on the bottom for the eggs to be laid in (the male makes a depression for them), plants and water at about 24 degrees centigrade.
Once the eggs are fertilized remove the male. The female mouthbrooder picks up the eggs and they will hatch there. Even after hatching the fish will keep the fry in her mouth if she senses danger.
The female will probably be removed about four weeks after hatching occurs and she may not eat for a while in the early stages and will need to be looked after following removal.
