The British Bullhead; a case of mistaken identity?

Josh Pickett Biotopes of Britain, Ichthyology, Uncategorised Leave a Comment

For many years, the classification of the freshwater bullhead has been a topic of much confusion. So what species do we have in Britain, and how did they get here? Growing up along the river Avon, before I’d ever considered fishing with rod and line, as all young children should, I explored! I can recall many fond memories of walking along the margins with a little dip net, catching Three-Spined Stickleback, Minnows, and tadpoles; turning up stones in chalk streams, clutching Stone Loach and prickly Bullhead by hand; and even the using the age-old jam-jar-tied-to-string-with-a-chunk-of-bread-inside technique, an effective way of …

Biotopes of Hong Kong | Hill Stream Habitats | Blue Neon Stiphodon

Jeffery Chan Biotope, Biotopes of Hong Kong, Conservation 1 Comment

Hill stream habitats in Hong Kong are home to some of the most endearing and enigmatic fishes on Earth. These oxygen-rich, cool mountain streams or often, torrential rivers, provide crucial habitat, not only for exclusively freshwater dwelling species, but also form important migratory routes and nurseries for anadromous, amphidromous and catadromous fishes, those which migrate upriver, those with complex breeding strategies involving both fresh and saline systems and those which migrate downriver to the sea to spawn, respectively. One Hong Kong hill stream species which is particularly fascinating is the goby Stiphodon atropurpureus. From their striking iridescence, their adaptation of …

Biotopes of Brunei | The Jewels of the Karamunting Hills

Zaheer Afie Biotope, Biotopes of Borneo 2 Comments

Today, 30th April 2017, the Brunei Biotope Group embarked on another exploration trip, this time to the Bukit Karamunting (Karamunting hill), a public hiking locale connected to several other hiking trails in the area; it is situated in Subok Village. Accompanying me on this short trip was my friend and fellow member of the group, Ismail Mourad. The journey started off at around 7am in the morning, we met at Ismail’s house in Subok, the track that we planned to take was only a few hundred metres from his house and so we proceeded to walk to the bottom of …

Rio Nanay biotope workshop at Maidenhead Aquatics in Melksham

Chris Englezou Biotope, Biotopes of South America, Chris Englezou, Community, Events 4 Comments

This weekend I was invited once again over to Melksham by Maidenhead Aquatics to demonstrate another authentic biotope aquarium set-up. On my last visit here I showed how to recreate the Rio Atabapo during the high water season and this time after consulting with the Maidenhead team about what options we could work with, I gave my suggestions and once the fish list was confirmed, I decided on a biotope aquarium based on a lake along the Rio Nanay in the dry season.  The team at Melksham went right out of their way to try and ensure we had some interesting …

Biodiversity of the Rio Paraná Delta, Argentina

Marcelo Fernandez Biotope, Biotopes of South America 2 Comments

For many years, when thinking about ornamental fish, I wonder how this paradise of species has not been better recognised and appreciated. This Argentine delta is a unique place, unlike any other similar habitat in the world. It is a beautiful wetland, a magical place with lagoons, jungle, grasslands and floating islands that form in the space of just a few years and are constantly mutating to give birth to new biotopes for different species – this place is so very rich in biodiversity. Firstly, to appreciate the size of this Eden of ornamental fish it is instrumental to know …

Can owner interaction improve fish digestion?

Chris Englezou Community, Fish Health 2 Comments

Here at C.E. Fish Essentials, we receive questions upon questions daily about the best products, best way to feed fish and occasionally a question or two from the more scientifically literate about digestion. Finding ways to improve nutritional uptake and digestion in ornamental fish species is central to the core ethos of our company. In fact, it’s what sets us apart from all the rest; that being said, it is not easy to devise new and inventive ways for fish to absorb nutrients! One of my key ‘fish nutrition’ interests as of late has been the connection between mental stimuli …