Mike Ophir Long ignored as the maintenance crew of the community freshwater aquarium, the group of fishes commonly referred to as “Loaches” have clearly enjoyed increased popularity in the aquarium trade in recent decades. An increase in demand has resulted in an appreciation of the diversity of this loosely group assembly of species and yet, it […]

Stefan van der Voort reports on some new discoveries… Two studies published recently in the journal Zootaxa have revealed five new species of Badis. These works significantly increased the species richness of the genus in West Bengal, India, and hopefully pave the way for further exploration of that and surrounding areas.

Thomas Frank introduces three recent additions to the aquarium hobby… For loach-lovers 2008 was certainly not the worst year. It started in the middle of the year, when small loaches arrived in Aachen under the name Misgurnus anguillicaudatus but which could easily be identified as members of the genus Cobitis. They came from the Dutch ornamental fish wholesaler […]

In the first of what we hope will become a regular interview series, we catch up with Malawi cichlid expert, ichthyologist, aquarist and webmaster Michael K. Oliver. Michael has a long-standing interest in the cichlids of Malawi and both his Masters and Ph.D. research concerned the systematics of African cichlids. He’s made a number of […]

Matt Ford introduces a little-known group… The traditional image of killifishes is that of ostentatious, highly-coloured African or American species from genera such as Aphyosemion, Nothobranchius or Simpsonichthys, but it might be surprising to learn that there also exist a number of rarely-discussed, very attractive species native to Eurasia of which several are found in southern Europe. In […]

It’s fair to assume that not many of us consider animal cruelty or neglect to be positive things, yet in one respect the aquarium hobby is arguably among the worst offenders in the global pet trade. In the first of a series of articles in support of BIAZA’s ‘Big Fish Campaign’ we explain why, in […]

It is often said that a tiger never loses its stripes, but what about its name? Matt Ford investigates… Cases in which a fish long thought to be one species turns out to represent something else are not especially unusual within the aquarium hobby. Notable examples include that of the ‘arulius barb’, for many years […]

A number of aquarium favourites have new scientific names following a recent study. Here’s a handy guide to the changes. Barb fans beware; an extensive review of South Asian Puntius spp. published in the latest volume of ‘Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters’ has resulted in a large portion of the genus being split up and many species placed in […]

How to keep and breed this beautiful ‘dwarf’ Channa species…

The Dwarf Loach has probably always been my favourite loach; with Clowns and Emperors coming a very close second. For me, there is just something about the outgoing character of Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki that sets them apart from other loaches. I have kept Y. sidthimunki on and off continually throughout my 30 years of fish keeping, but had only ever […]