Fish Health
Fish and Floods – How Raging Waters can Benefit Fish
Sep 15th
Anyone who has ever experienced a flood first hand will have very few (if any) positive things to say about the disaster after the water recedes. Recent flooding in the northeast left thousands to bucket mud and sediment from their homes and some lost their homes entirely. Floods for us are rarely a benefit, but for fish and waterways, flooding performs vital work. Despite the unfortunate individuals that find themselves stranded in backwater pools and puddles (most of which are picked off by advantageous predators), the fish that remain or find their way nack to an adequate stream or river can thrive after these events. Lets explore how wild fish respond to flooding and how these events can relate to some species we keep in aquariums.
We see destruction when we see floods occur, but for fish in natural waterways floods provide rather regenerative qualities to the native habitat. The swift water flushes sediment and debris out of pools and runs allowing fish to hide and move about more freely. Depending on severity and degree of the flooding, the layout of streams and rivers can go through dramatic changes. Rushing water can carve new and deeper pools in creek beds. Rotting wood and roots may be washed downstream, but they may be replaced with newly fallen trees and branches which create new places to hide. Sediments may fill in some shallow pools and create new gravel beds and sand bars where fish can feed and reproduce. New sediment beds are also prime real estate for scuds and other macroorganisms to colonize, creating a rich food source for other species. While the fish find refuge in underwater nooks and recesses their community gets a makeover! Trash and pollutants can also be swept away, leaving a cleaner environment once the water clears. More >
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...Keeping Tropical Fish in Outside Ponds for the Summer
Aug 2nd
Hey there! This week I wanted to talk about something a little different than my usual cichlid blog. I wanted to share some tips on how you can develop spectacular color on tropical fish in a way you may have never considered.
A few years ago, we moved into a house that had a small pond in the front yard. It was one of those rigid, preformed round ponds about 15 inches deep with a 50 to 80 gallon capacity. We kept a few goldfish in there the first year. They grew and made it through the winter just fine as we expected. More >
(+3 rating, 3 votes) Loading ...Hiding Spots for Aquarium Fish – A Word of Caution
Jul 12th
The other day I was doing one of my daily walk-throughs and looking for a particular fish, but simply couldn’t find it. Mind you, this was not some tiny little goby or tetra that could almost literally disappear, this was a rather large, Spotted Royal Pleco, Panaque cf. nigrolineatus (L330). This particular Royal Pleco is something around 8 inches long. How in the world do you lose an 8 inch pleco? Check out the pic to the right and you’ll see. More >
(0 rating, 6 votes) Loading ...Spawning Fish and Fish Eggs in the Aquarium – A Guide for Beginners
Jul 8th
What could be more exciting for an aquarist than seeing a pair of fish spawn or finding a mass of eggs in the tank? Many beginner aquarists may not realize that their fish have formed a pair, what the fish are doing if they show a courtship ritual or that they are preparing an area to lay thier eggs. When eggs or babies appear, someone new the game may have lots of questions and concerns about what (if anything) they need to do for a successful hatch or to raise the fry.
Chances are you’re doing something right if you have a pair of fish that are prepared to spawn in the tank. Typically conditions must be favorable (clean water, ideal spawning chemistry, ect.) for the fish to be interested in breeding to begin with. If you’ve reached this point you’ll want to know what happens next. More >
(+1 rating, 1 votes) Loading ...Cichlid Territories and Aggression
Jun 29th
This time around I want to talk about something I hold dear to my heart…aggressive cichlids. Most cichlids have a mean streak towards other fish in the tank, but its a whole different story when that aggression is turned on an unsuspecting aquarist.
Most of the species that exhibit this type of behavior tend to be in the South and Central American cichlid group. The African Rift Lake cichlids normally keep the aggression focused on other fish in the tank, though I’ve had some shell-dwellers who would attack my arms and on occasion rip out some arm hair…truly they can be like feisty little bulldogs. Some larger West Africans and cichlids from Madagascar have also shown brazen territoriality towards me in my many years of keeping them. More >
(+2 rating, 2 votes) Loading ...
