Wrasse Hog Fish

The wrasse family is far more difficult to encompass than other families. Some of the wrasses grow to only 5-7.5 cm (2-3in), some grow to 60cm (24in); some are ideal in an invertebrate system, others would destroy the same set-up; some need to bury at nights, some need a cave, others require neither. So really the only way to examine the wrasses in a balanced way is to describe examples of each of the most popular groups.

Another marine is the birdbath (Orpheus). While the female is a brown, drab 10cm (4in) fish with a small snout, the male is a 15-18cm (6-7in) bottle green, dolphin-shaped beauty - the star character in any large tank. But the truly amazing feature of these fish is that they are hermaphrodite, bandit is quite possible to observe the drab, uninteresting females transform themselves in a feud, days.

Hogfish are closely related to the wrasses. There are half a dozen torso of this subspecies, and two or three of them are quite commonly seen. The Cuban hogfish (Bodkins) is imported either at about 5cm (2in) in its juvenile markings or, more often, asa I 5 cm (6in) adult. It is usually quite inexpensive. Although hogfish are suitable companions for virtually any other fish, they will soon mess up an invertebrate system.

Trigger Fish

Trigger fish is very famous aquarium fish. The trigger fish family is fairly small but quite widespread, one specie seven finding its way as far north as the English Channel. They are so-called on account of a locking spine at the front of the dorsal fin, which the fish uses to wedge itself into caves and openings. Triggers can be bought at any size from 2.5 to 23cm (1-9in) and their hardiness and nitrite tolerance make them suitable fish for beginners, but choose their companions with care. All the triggers grow to a large size and the family has a reputation for aggressive behavior, which is not altogether unfounded. In the wild, triggers eat crustaceans, sea urchins, etc., so never put them in an invertebrate tank. Feeding them in captivity presents no problem, as they will eat anything with their strong, sharp teeth - including your fingers if you are not careful!

Tetra Fish

Tetras are some of the smallest and most beautiful aquarium fishes; in fact, they include some of the smallest fishes in the world. Nearly all tetras are shoaling fish in nature and will shoal in the aquarium too, if given the chance. Shoaling is their form of protection. Should predator attack the shoal then the sudden movement of one fish triggers panic reaction throughout the shoal. With all the fish moving indifferent directions at the same time, the hope is that the predator will miss its prey and the tetras will escape. That is the theory, but it doe snot always work in practice. Many tetras are naturally insectivorous and appreciate being offered small live foods in the aquarium. They make ideal community fish and will live peacefully with all other fishes.They are mid water swimmers and feeders and very active - in fact, the yare continuously on the go. In a gentle mixed community, Cardiograms, live bearers and other small, non-aggressive fish make Goodman for tetras.

A typical tetra tank should contain plenty of plants, thickly packed around the back and sides of the tank, with a large clearing in the middle. Tetras do not seem to mind whether the tank lighting is bright or subdued. They are not timid, provided they are kept in small shoals of five or more. Ideally, the water in their tank should be soft and acidic, which you can achieve by filtering the water through peat and using plenty of bog wood for decor. However, tetras will do very well in all water compositions, as long as the water is kept clean by making regular partial water changes of about 15 percent of the aquarium capacity. When carrying out water changes, make sure that the temperature does not drop very much, as tetras are less hardy than some other aquarium fishes.

Synodontis Cat Fish

Synodontis are a group of catfishes from Africa. Many are natives of the great African lakes, Lake Tanganyika and Lake Malawi. They are very active fishes, but most are nocturnal. Many Synodontis are insectivorous but usually accept flake foods, very small pieces of meat and, naturally, aquatic invertebrates. Synodontis are also partial to garden peas and will often race out of their cave to feed on them. Of the many Synodontis species, about five spend more than SO percent of their time swimming upside-down. Synodontis catfishes usually do welling the average aquarium and species from the Rift Lakes make good companions for the African Rift Lake cichlids.

Synodontis factionists from the Zaire River and pool sin Central Africa. It is one of the smaller Synodontis species, with exceptional specimens growing to maximum of 2Ocm(8in). The golden-yellow bars seen in healthy young specimens make it a popular choice .Feeding this long-lived species is simple, as the fish avidly consumes most small frozen and dried foods, as well as flakes and pellets. It benefits from the addition of small live foods.such as Daphnia and My sis shrimp.

The stunning angel catfish(Synodontis angelic us) has a blackbody completely overlaid with white dots. The striped fins are transparent in places. Co lour varies between fishes; some have many spots, other shave thistle bars and spots. The angel catfish thrives in most types of water at about 2.5.°C(77°F). In a good-sized tank, it grows to about 20cm(8in).

Siamese Fighting Fish

The infamous Siamese fighting fish (Beta slenderness) is only aggressive towards its own kind. It conies from Thailand (formerly Siam), 1,here it lives in small pools and ditches. Each male Beta has its own small territory, where it builds and repairs its bubble nest, defending it avidly from any other male Beta. If two males come together, they fight so viciously that if neither retreats then at least one will die. Male fighters are easy to keep in a tank, but never keep two males together. It is also unwise to keep females with males unless the intention is to breed them. Males are often overly aggressive to females that do not wish to spawn.

To breed Siamese fighting fish, set up a tank with a low water level -about I5cm(6in) - and no filtration to cause movement at the water surface. Add some hiding places for the female and a tightly fitting lid to trap a layer of warm air. Place the male and female in the tank with divider between them and feed them heavily with live food. Raise the temperature to 28°C(83°F). The male will build a nest of bubbles in one of the top corners and then go in search of the female. At this point,carefully lift the divider and, if all goes well, the female will be enticed under the nest, where the fish embrace, with the male wrapped around the female. She then expels her eggs and the male fertilizes them. As they fall to the bottom, the male catches them in his mouth and places them within the bubble nest. The female lies motionlessly on her side under the nest, and the sequence is repeated until all the eggs are laid .Remove the female at this stage. The male tends the nest, and the fry hatch out after about two days. Remove the male three days later. The free-swimming fry need microscopic live food, such as infuser, to begin with, graduating to newly hatched brine shrimp. After another week, the labyrinth gland starts to develop and there may be many losses at this point. After a further two weeks, the males start bickering,and you can safely separate them into their own little jars.

Neotropical Cichlid

Neotropical Cichlid are fish that range in behavior from pacifist to antagonistic; in fact, the names angels and devils are particularly appropriate. These cichlids require Allaire aquarium and plenty of food. They make a lot of mess and need large, regular water changes. Their real attraction is that many of them have an intelligence lacking in nearly all other fish - and most theatricals for that matter. These fish will move gravel and rocks with purpose - usually to stake out a territory and entice a mate. They recognize their owner, rushing to the tank glass for food when ever hoer she approaches, and often shun strangers. Some can be taught to perform simple tricks with the inducement of an extra meal, something these greedy beasts always appreciate. When these cichlids breed, they care for the free-swimming young for quite some time, defending the minute babies from all potential predators, often regardless of the predator's size. Unfortunately, most of the larger neotropical cichlids are much bigger and more aggressive than, say, the gentle angelfish. These brutes can fight and remove scales from each other with ease, and yet they are very popular in the home aquarium and, indeed, very easy to keep, provided their requirements are met. Firstly, they need an appropriately large tank, at least 90cm(36in) long, and even a tank this size will not house many specimens. Within this space they can exercise their normal territorial behavior; these fish become very possessive particular patch and will guard it fiercely from all rivals. Large cichlids eat a great deal of food and often make quite a mess wit hit. Large, regular water changes are therefore essential and a good mechanical filter to assist the biological filter is a help. Lastly, it is ago od idea to stock fish of varying sizes and co lour patterns if you want them to live together in relative peace, as these fish tend to be most aggressive towards loyalties.

Loach Fish

Loaches are a small group of scavengers that make up the Coincide family of fishes. They are very active, nocturnal bottom-dwellers. The booties and some colitis possess a spine in front of the eye that they can raise to inflict considerable damage on other fishes or on the unwary Aquarius. Most of aches seen in aquariums are from Southeast Asia, where they live in muddy, oxygen-depleted waters. They gulp air at the surface and absorb oxygen in the gut lining to compensate.

The weather loath (Misogynous) comes from Asia -from Siberia, China, Korea through to Japan. Although the gold form has the normal coloration Lisa light brown background with dark brown blotches, giving the fish mottled appearance. The common name derives from the fish's alleged sensitivity to changes in air pressure.

The rangefinder (Bootie modest) is identical in care and feeding requirements to the clown load,. It does not grow qui teas large, 13cm (Sin) being an excellent size. This peaceful little bottom-dweller is an undemanding tank occupant and an ideal scavenger. It chases greedily after all foods and becomes charged with life at meal times!

Malawi Cichlid

The cichlids from Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika in Africa are overcool, highly aggressive, hardy, easy to breed and make a superb display. They require a good under gravel filtration system, as they ar every intolerant of nitrite and soon react adversely if any waste matter disallowed to build up in the tank. These fish tend to dig into the grave land excavate down to the under gravel filter plate, unless there is gravel tidy to prevent this. Rift Lake cichlids need plenty of rocks among which to establish territories. Unfortunately, many Rift Lake cichlids are fond of nibbling vegetation and this, coupled with their digging habits, does not encourage healthy plant growth. Plastic plants are an alternative, but anchor them into the gravel with rocks to prevent them being uprooted. Keep the water in a Rift Lake cichlid tank at about 25.5°C(78°F) and make sure it is well aerated, hard and alkaline. Carry out regular water changes of 25 percent to keep the water free of any waste build-up. Most of these fish like to graze on algae on the rocks in the tank; good lighting encourages algal growth.

Lion Fish

Lion fishes, turkey fishes, scorpion fishes, call them what you will, these fish are both dangerous and very poisonous to human sand must be handled with care or, more accurately, not handled at all. The first seven spines of the dorsal fin carry an extremely toxic poison - verging on lethal - and only a foolhardy Aquarius would try to touch the eighth spine. However, lion fishes are hardy and nitrite-tolerant, long-lived, slow-moving and quite good aquarium fish. The lionfish rarely attacks other aquarium fish, as long as these will not fit readily into its open mouth, and only uses its spines in de fence, whether against human or fishy predators. Do not put lion fishes with mobile invertebrates, which form their staple diet in the wild. Sometimes they are difficult to feed in captivity. In the wild, they gorge themselves periodically, so once imported they must be weaned off live food and onto frozen lance fish and similar foods. In the wild they 'hang' under ledges, and are happier if given similar protection in an aquarium.

The best-known lionfish is Terrorism volitions, usually seen at 10-15cm (4-6in). Its finn age is longer than that of other lionfish antenatal and P, sp hex, are often referred Taos the spot fin lionfish. The regal lionfish, P. radiate, is also popular. There are two types of dwarf clingfishes rarely grow to more than 7.5-10cm (3-4in) in captivity, Encroachers and D. brachyurous.

Killi Fish

Killifish, or egg laying tooth carps as they are sometimes described, are a very colorful group of usually small, fishes. Most come from Africa, but some are found in the Americas, Asia and Europe. Unfortunately, they do not make very good community fish and are certainly not the best choice for beginners. Killifish usually come from very soft-water regions,which also tend to be acidic in composition, although a few are founding more alkaline and harder water areas. The fish often live in shaded areas of rainforest, trapped in small pools, where water temperatures may fall as low as 2.19C(70°F) or lower. If you wish to keep Killifish inane aquarium, you must provide the appropriate water conditions,otherwise they are unlikely to survive for very long. This being so and because most other species (apart from some tetras and a few others) do not really thrive in such conditions, it is easy to see why Killifish are usually kept only with their own kind.

Another problem is that they are naturally short lived. In fact, some species may live for less than a year in the wild, so if these fish are kept in poor conditions, their life span can be shortened dramatically, all of which could be disheartening for someone who is keeping aquarium fishes for the first time.

File Fish

The file fishes are closely related to triggers and often included in the same family but, superficially at least, they are quite different. Filefish not particularly hardy, they are not nitrite tolerant, they do not have hard trigger, their scales are quite different, they grow very slowly in captivity, they are shy and retiring and not very easy to feed. In that they are peaceful, they make good aquarium fish, but they have small mouths and do not eat vegetable matter, so feed them little and often.

There are a number of comparatively peaceful species that, although not suitable for an invertebrate aquarium, would normally fit in with smaller fish. The best-known is the blue trigger (Odon us Niger), a fish with a lovely swimming action; the pink-tailed trigger (Melichthys vidua) and the white-tailed trigger (Suamen chrysoptera). Mostly file fishes grow up to 6 inches.

Colored Filefish

The head of the Colored File fish is black in color therefore the file fish is also known as Blackheaded file fish. File fish’s body color can be red or orange therefore it can have a red tail or orange tail depending on the body color of the file fish and the head can be gray to black in color. This fish is very quiet in nature and she doesn’t show any aggression towards other fishes. It requires 30 gallon tank or even more than that and the aquarium should not contain invertebrates. Initially it is difficult to feed the colored file fish. In the diet of the file fish the aquarium owner should include squid, scallop, mysis shrimp, freeze-dried krill soaked in a vitamin supplement, frozen marine algae etc. Colored file fish should be fed three times a day.

Gobby Fish

The typical gobby is a small, tube-shaped fish, perhaps about 5-10cm (2-4in) long and often drably colored. It spends most of its life scurrying along the sand. Many gobbies live in small caves or among coral branches and many enjoy a symbiotic relationship with other animals, most notably with certain species of shrimps. Since most gobbies are very hardy and disease-resistant and never cause compatibility problems, the small percentage of brightly species make excellent aquarium inhabitants. They are generally easy to feed on a wide range of readily available foods, including meat foods, dried foods and brine shrimps. These fascinating little fishes are widely available at dealers and not expensive.

The very popular white fire fish is a burrowing fish imported in large numbers. The equally popular golden-headed sleepier (Helotries striates) is a gorgeously marked fish, with more subtle coloration than most marine fishes. It lives in a self-made tunnel it’s the sand, maintaining an early vertical position, with just its head poking out. These fishes have typically large eyes set high up on their blunt snouts.

Danios

Danios and razors are some of the most popular of the small, gentle community fishes and perhaps the least aggressive of all aquarium fishes. They are easy to maintain, although not very robust. Most remain towards the upper layer of the water and so complement fishes that frequent the lower waters, such as catfishes and loathes. Providing they are fed small, frequent meals and are not housed with larger aggressive fish, they remain trouble-free and are excellent for beginners.

The harlequin fish, or harlequin Astoria, (Ashore) is a small, peaceful fish, often seen in tropical aquariums.It is quite deep towards the front of the body around the belly, but tapers to a very narrow tail. All the fins are clear and the body has a lovely pinkish-blue hue. The rear half of the body is distinguished by a black marking that follows the body shape.hese beautiful little community fish only grow to about 4cm(1.6in) and do best when kept in a shoal. They make good tank mates for Danios anniversaries and thrive in the same conditions. Harlequins eat flake, live or freeze-dried foods, such as Daphnia or brine shrimp. They do not spawn as readily as Danios and will need soft acidic water in the aquarium for breeding to be successful.

Cat Fish

Many of the popular tropical aquarium cat fishes originate from South and Central America, Africa and Asia. Most are rather drably colored, mainly because they need good camouflage to avoid predation. As they usually frequent the bottom, the ideal colors are brown and black. Many have poor sight, as they are often nocturnal or live in silt-laden waters. To compensate for this, catfishes have developed barbells, which recovered in taste receptors. Barbells may be long and used for hunting, basin the pummeled or, as in the Cordovans catfishes, short and used to burrow and tease their way into the gravel to detect food or insects. Some catfishes scavenge at the bottom for tasty morsels, others amendatory swimmers that feed mainly on insect larvae. Large predatory species hunt for small live fish, a few feed on fruit and seeds and some of the most bizarre species are parasitic - even to the extent of feeding on other catfishes.

Butterfly Fish

Marine butterfly fish are closely related to marine angels, but are quite different in both appearance and in habits .Butterflies are very widespread throughout the world's tropical seas wherever there are coral reefs. They rely heavily on the reefs for food, as well as for protection, and would not normally stray even a few metes away from their natural home. Butterflies have a small mouth and need to peck at food constantly; consequently they are slow growers, rarely exceeding 15crn(6in) langouste are not fast swimmers and have no natural protection against predators other than camouflage. Therefore, not surprisingly, they are shy and rather sensitive fish. Never put butterflies with boisterous fish, such as damsels and triggers, as they cannot compete either for territory or for food.

Translating butterflies' natural lifestyle into a captive environment requires careful consideration. Firstly, with only two exceptions, butterflies are unsuitable for invertebrate systems, since they readily attack and eat coral heads, anemones, tubeworm's, cucumbers, etc. Since keeping them in a home aquarium denies these fish their natural foodstuffs, it is vital to take note of their dietary requirements and to provide them with frequent small meals. Since they cannot consume much food at one meal, the only chance of keeping them alive for reasonable time is to provide frequent 'snacks'.

Pet Fish Varieties

Some of the most interesting fish varieties are cardinal fish, the red spotted cardinality only grows to Scam(2in) long, it is a (Sharma nematode, formerly slow, peaceful swimmer, exceedingly Pogo orbicular is), could easily be hardy and ideal for a beginner, except mistaken for a freshwater variety - its that it will not eat flake foods.

The rabbit fish (Lo vulpine) Lisa nicely marked, rather innocuous fish, not very common, but ideal inane invertebrate community system. Supposedly also related to tangs, the Moorish idol (Sanctus cornets) is one of the most spectacular of all marine fish. It is common in the wild, but never really settles into captivity and even apparently healthy and settled species have the habit of rolling over and dying without notice.

The freshwater will be familiar with quite a few so-called brackish fish, i.e. fish that normally inhabit river estuaries and can adapt to both fresh water and saltwater, but are probably happiest in conditions that lie somewhere in between. The Malayan angel (Mendacity argentous), for example, is an incredibly hardy species, often used as a starter fish. It is usually bought at about 2.5-Scm (1-tin) long and slowly grows to I3-15cm (5-6in). Its brilliant silver markings make a fine display as an adult in salt water, although pale against the brighter of true marine fish ther brackish water fish include the rare, more difficult Mendacity, which will not tolerate completely freshwater, the scat (Sarcophagus) and the target fish (Thereupon Aruba).