Tropical Aquarium Fish

Lobelia cardinalis, the Cardinal Flower, is a perennial that grows 2-4 feet tall and is found in wet places, streambanks, and swamps. Leaves are lanceolate to oval and toothed. The plant flowers during the summer, with vibrant red blooms cited by Roger Tory Peterson as “America’s favorite”. A white form is also known. Discovered in Canada by explorers, it was sent back to France in the mid 1620s. The name Cardinal flower was in use by 1629, likely due to the similarity of the flower’s colour to the miters of Roman Catholic Cardinals. It can be found in North America from New Brunswick, to Florida to Texas to Minnesota, though it is most concentrated in Southern Ontario, New Brunswick, Michigan, and Minnesota.

North American indigenous peoples used root tea for a number of intestinal ailments and Syphilis. Leaf teas were used by them for bronchial problems and colds, inter alia. The Meskwaki people used it as part of an inhalant against catarrh. Although related to tobacco, it was apparently not smoked, but may have been chewed. The plant contains a number of alkaloids. As a member of the Lobelias, it is considered to be potentially toxic.

Limnophila aromatica (synonym: Limnophila chinensis var. aromatica; also called rice paddy herb) is a tropical flowering plant in the plantain family, Plantaginaceae. It is native to Southeast Asia, where it flourishes in hot temperatures and grows most often in watery environments, particularly in flooded rice fields. It is used in Vietnamese cuisine and also cultivated for use as an aquarium plant. The plant was introduced to North America in the 1970s due to Vietnamese immigration following the Vietnam War.

L. aromatica was formerly classified as a member of the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae. L. aromaticoides is actually not a distinct species, but a variety of L. aromatica.

Isoetes lacustris (Lake Quillwort or Merlin’s grass) is a boreal Quillwort Lycopodiaphyte. It is native on both sides of the northern Atlantic Ocean; in Europe in Poland west to northeastern France, throughout Scandinavia, the west and north of the British Isles, the Faroe Islands and Iceland; in North America in the United States states of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and in Canada in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

The Lake Quillwort has many long, narrow leaves from 8-20 cm long and 0.5-2 mm broad, widening to 5 mm broad at the base. There is a sac that contains the spores at the bottom of each leaf base. It has a very small stem where the leaves attach with the roots. It does not have traditional roots, but instead roots with leaf-like appendages called rhizomorphs. The upper leaves are green and found in sprouting clumps.

It is found on the stony or sandy bottoms of clear, usually slightly acidic ponds, typically in mountain tarns, growing at 5-300 cm depth of water. They are perennial, with typically two flushes of new leaves each year, in spring and autumn.

Reproduction usually takes place during the late summer or early fall. The sacs at the bottom of leaf create two types of spores, female (megaspores, about 0.5 mm diameter) and male (microspores, a few micrometres in diameter). These spores begin the life cycle as a new plant.

The Common Mare’s tail, Hippuris vulgaris, is a common water plant of Eurasia and North America.

It is a creeping, perennial herb, found in shallow waters and mud flats. It roots under water, but most of its leaves are above water. The leaves occur in whorls of 6-12; those above water are 0.5 to 2.5 cm long and up to 3 mm wide, whereas those under water are thinner and limper, and longer than those above water, especially in deeper streams. The stems are solid and unbranched but often curve, and can be up to 60 cm long. In shallow water they project 20-30 cm out of the water. It grows from stout rhizomes. The flowers are inconspicuous, and not all plants produce them.

Its distribution is circumboreal; in the United States it is found mainly in the northeast but extends southwards to New Mexico and Arizona. It prefers non-acidic waters.

In herbal medicine Mare’s tail has a number of uses, chiefly to do with healing wounds, e.g. stopping internal and external bleeding, curing stomach ulcers, and soothing inflammation of the skin. It has been said to absorb methane in large quantities and so to improve the air quality in the marshes where it is often found. It can however be a troublesome weed, obstructing the flow of water in rivers and ditches.

The species is also sometimes called Horsetail, a name which is better reserved to the Horsetails of genus Equisetum. These are unrelated to the water plant, though there is some resemblance in appearance.

Eriocaulon (pipewort) is a genus of about 400 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Eriocaulaceae. The genus is widely distributed, with the centers of diversity for the group occurring in tropical regions, particularly southern Asia and the Americas. A few species extend to temperate regions, with e.g. 10 species in the United States, mostly in the southern states from California to Florida, and only two species in Canada; China has 35 species, also mostly southern. Only one species (E. aquaticum) occurs in Europe, where it is confined to the Atlantic Ocean coasts of Scotland and Ireland; this species also occurs in eastern North America and is thought to be a relatively recent natural colonist in Europe. They tend to be associated with wet soils, many growing in shallow water.

The species are mostly herbaceous perennial plants, though some are annual plants; they resemble plants in the related families Cyperaceae (sedges) and Juncaceae (rushes), and like them, have rather small, wind-pollinated flowers.

Selected species

• Eriocaulon acutibracteatum
• Eriocaulon alpestre
• Eriocaulon angustulum
• Eriocaulon aquaticum
• Eriocaulon atrum
• Eriocaulon australe
• Eriocaulon benthamii
• Eriocaulon brownianum
• Eriocaulon buergerianum
• Eriocaulon chinorossicum
• Eriocaulon cinereum
• Eriocaulon compressum
• Eriocaulon decangulare
• Eriocaulon decemflorum
• Eriocaulon echinulatum
• Eriocaulon ermeiense
• Eriocaulon exsertum
• Eriocaulon faberi
• Eriocaulon glabripetalum
• Eriocaulon henryanum
• Eriocaulon kathmanduense
• Eriocaulon koernickianum
• Eriocaulon kunmingense
• Eriocaulon leianthum
• Eriocaulon lineare
• Eriocaulon longifolium
• Eriocaulon luzulifolium
• Eriocaulon mangshanense
• Eriocaulon microcephalum
• Eriocaulon minusculum
• Eriocaulon miquelianum
• Eriocaulon nantoense
• Eriocaulon nepalense
• Eriocaulon nigrobracteatum
• Eriocaulon obclavatum
• Eriocaulon oryzetorum
• Eriocaulon parkeri
• Eriocaulon parvum
• Eriocaulon quinquangulare
• Eriocaulon ravenelii
• Eriocaulon robustius
• Eriocaulon rockianum
• Eriocaulon schochianum
• Eriocaulon sclerophyllum
• Eriocaulon setaceum
• Eriocaulon sexangulare
• Eriocaulon sollyanum
• Eriocaulon staintonii
• Eriocaulon taishanense
• Eriocaulon texense
• Eriocaulon tonkinense
• Eriocaulon trisectoides
• Eriocaulon truncatum
• Eriocaulon viride
• Eriocaulon xeranthemum
• Eriocaulon zollingerianum

Calamus or Common Sweet Flag (Acorus calamus) is a plant from the Acoraceae family. It is a tall perennial wetland monocot with scented leaves and rhizomes which have been used medicinally, for its odor, and as a psychotropic drug. It is known by a variety of names, including cinnamon sedge, flagroot, gladdon, myrtle flag, myrtle grass, myrtle sedge, sweet cane, sweet myrtle, sweet root, sweet rush, and sweet sedge. Probably indigenous to India, Acorus calamus is now found across Europe, in southern Russia, northern Asia Minor, southern Siberia, China, Japan, Burma, Sri Lanka, and northern USA.

The morphological distinction between the Acorus species is made by the number of prominent leaf veins. Acorus calamus has a single prominent midvein and then on both sides slightly raised secondary veins (with a diameter less than half the midvein) and many, fine tertiary veins. This makes it clearly distinct from Acorus americanus.

The leaves are between 0.7 and 1.7 cm wide, with average of 1 cm. The sympodial leaf of Acorus calamus is somewhat shorter than the vegetative leaves. The margin is curly-edged or undulate. The spadix, at the time of expansion, can reach a length between 4.9 and 8.9 cm (longer than A. americanus). The flowers are longer too, between 3 and 4 mm. Acorus calamus is infertile and shows an abortive ovary with a shriveled appearance.

Both triploid and tetraploid calamus contain asarone, but diploid does not contain any.

Calamus and products derived from calamus (such as its oil) were banned in 1968 as food additives and medicines by the United States Food and Drug Administration.

Calamus has been an item of trade in many cultures for thousands of years. Calamus has been used medicinally for a wide variety of ailments.

In antiquity in the Orient and Egypt, the rhizome was thought to be a powerful aphrodisiac. In Europe Acorus calamus was often added to wine, and the root is also one of the possible ingredients of absinthe. Among the northern Native Americans, it is used both medicinally and as a stimulant; in addition, the root is thought to have been used as an entheogen among the northern Native Americans. In high doses, it is hallucinogenic.

The calamus has long been a symbol of male love. The name is associated with a Greek myth: Kalamos, a son of the river-god Maeander, who loved Karpos, the son of Zephyrus and Chloris. When Karpos drowned, Kalamos was transformed into a reed, whose rustling in the wind was interpreted as a sigh of lamentation.

The plant was a favorite of Henry David Thoreau (who called it sweet flag), and also of Walt Whitman, who added a section called The Calamus Poems, celebrating the love of men, to the third edition of Leaves of Grass (1860). In the poems the calamus is used as a symbol of love, lust, and affection. It has been suggested that the symbology derives from the visual resemblance of the reed to the erect human penis.

The name Sweet Flag refers to its sweet scent (it has been used as a strewing herb) and the wavy edges of the leaves which are supposed to resemble a fluttering flag.

Poecilia wingei is a species of fish in the genus Poecilia, native to the Paria Peninsula, Venezuela. It is a colorful fish, similar to (and closely related to) the guppy. It has been collected by a small handful of people over the years, including John Endler, whose stock was the first to make it to the aquarium trade. Though it is rare in pet shops, it is still seen from time to time today in the aquaria of enthusiasts. They are prolific breeders like their guppy relatives. They can be crossed with guppies, but the hybrid offspring are sterile and considered to dilute the gene pool and so this is avoided by fish breeders. Many fish sold in pet stores as Endler’s livebearers are actually these hybrids.

Endler’s livebearers give birth to live young approximately every 28 days. They are hardy and undemanding in the aquarium though they prefer hard, warm water. The warmer the water, the faster they will grow; however this also seems to wear them out faster and they do not live as long. They can be kept at 18–29 °C (66–82 °F), but their optimum temperature seems to be 24–27 °C. This is slightly higher than their guppy cousins which prefer 23–25 °C. They do best if kept in tanks with plants (preferably live, but fake will do) to give them hiding places and (although unlike guppies they tend not to eat their own young) give the fry a better chance at survival.

Although not on the IUCN Red List of endangered species they are in danger of extinction as humans take over their natural habitat, polluting and destroying it.

Normally betta fish live to be 2-5 years old, but some betta fishes live to be nearly 8 years old. Male bettas living in laboratories with large individual tanks and daily exercise have lived 10 years or longer.

Carnivorous, betta feeds on zooplankton and mosquito and other insect larvae. Domesticated bettas will feed on bloodworms, daphnia, and brine shrimp. Betta pellets are typically a combination of mashed shrimp meal, bloodworms, and various vitamins to enhance color and longevity. For variety and fiber, bettas may also be fed finely chopped vegetables high in protein such as soybeans, green beans, broccoli, corn, or carrots.

Bettas fare better with a large variety of foods and will often show brighter, richer, and deeper colors if they are fed a wide range of foods. They will also heal much more quickly from fin damage if their diets are high in protein and fiber.

Here are some golden rules for feeding your betta:

First, select the proper foods. Bettas are selective eaters. A betta specific pellet is OK, but live or frozen foods are preferable. The recommended diet includes frozen brine shrimp and frozen bloodworms.

The next rule is to not overfeed your bettas. Carefully dose the meals; because even if the fish eats all you give him, he will produce much more waste when overfed, and the pollution level of the jar he is in will go beyond safe range This problem is smaller if you keep your betta in a larger aquarium. Remember not to leave uneaten food in the aquarium! Once your betta and the rest of the fish are finished eating, you must remove all uneaten left over food. If you do not remove it, it will soon rot and cause havoc in the tank.

Bettas prefer to eat from the upper parts of the water column. They don’t really enjoy eating from the bottom of the tank. So before dropping the food in your betta’s tank, make sure you have his attention. Let him see the food, get it close to his face from the outside of the aquarium, let him check out what it is, and then there you go! Drop food in front of his nose. The best way is to drop a tiny bit of food - about 6 frozen brine shrimp, watch the betta eat it all and then look at his belly, if it looks the same as it did before you fed, it’s ok to give him more, but always watch and make sure to make the second portion smaller than the first.

Your betta should go for the food right away, but if not, watch where the food sinks, and what the betta does. If after 15 minutes he has not eaten the food, remove the food. Never let the water go cloudy. If it is already cloudy then change it, as cloudy water will threaten your betta’s health. Normally, small bowls or containers should have water changes at least twice a week. Larger tanks can be changed once a week. And notice if the ammonia and nitrite levels are at high levels, because both are very bad for your betta. Also be wary of harmful bacteria - they can ruin your fish’s life, but don’t kill off all bacteria in the aquarium since bacteria is essential for a well functioning aquarium.

During the pre-spawning period you can feed a wide variety of foods, including blackworms, grindal worms, fruit flies, brine shrimp, mosquito larvae and frozen bloodworms (all are live except the frozen bloodworms). During this period the adult fish may be fed 4 times per day or more depending on how close the fish are to being placed into the spawning tank.

You can start feeding your betta fry 5 days after the hatching. Feed the fry several times per day, using a variety of foods (infusoria, boiled egg yolk, baby brine shrimp) made up of small particles.

Hoplosternum thoracatum was introduced in aquaria commerce in 1911. It`s native from the north of South America, Trinidad and Martinique. The local name is atipa. Even if in Romania it was introduced and reproduced after 1980, it has a good reputation contrary to its size of 15 cm length.

The body plaques join the back plaques. The body is strong; it has 2 mustaches pairs on the superior maxillary. The tail is a little concave and the adipose fin has a support thorn. The maximum length is 20 cm. The background is colored in grey-brown, with a darker back and white abdomen (except the spawning period). On the body it has big brown-black spots which can form a line on the flanks. The fins are grey-yellow and they have black points. On the tail there is a dark colored line.

At the age of 6 months the sexual difference is obvious. The male has longer pectoral fins than the female. The female has a larger body diameter. Usually the abdomen is colored in white, but in the reproduction period the male has a dark spotted abdomen. These fish start their sexual activity after the age of one year.

It doesn`t have special needs for the water chemistry. The spawning can take place at a temperature of 18° C, and they eat almost anything from the bottom of the aquarium. In general, they need large aquariums (about 120 liters), rich planted and with many hiding places.

Hoplosternum thoracatum builds a bubble nest at the surface of the water, under a support which can be a leaf, a plaque of glass or a polystyrene portion. Ruda Zukal mentioned that he obtained the best result with setting a black piece of plastic on the inferior part of the support. From the nest building start point, the male becomes very violent and it attacks even when we feed it. The bubble nest building can last 2 days, even 1-2 weeks. For stimulating the nest construction it`s recommended to put some oak tree leaves on the bottom of the aquarium. Normally, for reproduction they are kept in couples, sometimes 2-3 females for a male. The male will spawn with every female after a short break. The reproduction aquarium can be planted or not and can have ground or not.

drhyperlaur: I have been breeding aquarium fish since i was 10 years old I built this website in order to bring some fresh content and information to all aquarium breeders and give some help for beginners. There is also a romanian language version (just the theme is the same) located at: Pesti de acvariu. If you want to be an author of this blog, just register an user and send me an email to drhyperlaur [at] gmail.com I’ll give you writing rights as soon as I see the email.

Cine este interesat de sfaturi si articole medicale, stiri si inovatii din domeniul medicinei poate gasi portia zilnica de medicina pe blogul Stiri despre boli, scris de un student la medicina.

SarahFish: Hi, my name is Sarah and i have been breeding tropical fish for about 5-6 years (actually I can’t really remember when I’ve started :)). I write on this blog because of my passion for aquariums and also because I want to help dehyperlaur provide good information here… I’m also a member of some aquarium fish forums where I learn new things and take contact to other aquarium fish breeders My favourite fish specie is Betta splendes, I have about 30 mature fish at this moment, but till now i have keept lots of species and maybe some day I’ll drop my bettas and start breeding something else…