Gouramis, or gouramies, are a group of freshwater anabantiform fish that comprise the family Osphronemidae. The fish are native to Asia—from the Indian Subcontinent to Southeast Asia and northeasterly towards Korea. The name "gourami", of Indonesian origin, is also used for fish of the families Helostomatidae and Anabantidae.
The black neon tetra is a freshwater fish of the characin family (Characidae) of the order Characiformes. It is native to the Paraguay basin of southern Brazil. They are often found in the aquarium trade.
Barbodes semifasciolatus, the Chinese barb, is a species of cyprinid fish native to the Red River basin in southeast Asia where they occur in fresh waters at depths of 5 metres (16 ft) or less. The captive variant popularly known as the gold barb or Schuberti barb is an extremely popular aquarium fish.
An aquarist is a person who manages aquariums, either professionally or as a hobby. They typically care for aquatic animals, including fish and marine invertebrates. Some may care for aquatic mammals. Aquarists often work at public aquariums. They may also work at nature reserves, zoos, and amusement parks. Some aquarists conduct field research outdoors. In business, aquarists may work at pet stores, as commercial fish breeders, or as manufacturers. Some aquarists are hobbyists, also known as "home aquarists," who may vary in skills and experience.
A reef aquarium or reef tank is a marine aquarium that prominently displays live corals and other marine invertebrates as well as fish that play a role in maintaining the tropical coral reef environment. A reef aquarium requires appropriately intense lighting, turbulent water movement, and more stable water chemistry than fish-only marine aquaria, and careful consideration is given to which reef animals are appropriate and compatible with each other.
A marine aquarium is an aquarium that keeps marine plants and animals in a contained environment. Marine aquaria are further subdivided by hobbyists into fish only (FO), fish only with live rock (FOWLR), and reef aquaria. Fish only tanks often showcase large or aggressive marine fish species and generally rely on mechanical and chemical filtration. FOWLR and reef tanks use live rock, a material composed of coral skeletons harboring beneficial nitrogen waste metabolizing bacteria, as a means of more natural biological filtration.
Tropical fish are generally those fish found in aquatic tropical environments around the world. Fishkeepers often keep tropical fish in freshwater and saltwater aquariums. The term "tropical fish" is not a taxonomic group, but rather is a general term for fish found in such environments, particularly those kept in aquariums.
Takashi Amano was a professional track cyclist, photographer, designer, and aquarist. His interest in aquaria led him to create the Japanese company Aqua Design Amano.
Aquascaping is the craft of arranging aquatic plants, as well as rocks, stones, cavework, or driftwood, in an aesthetically pleasing manner within an aquarium—in effect, gardening under water. Aquascape designs include a number of distinct styles, including the garden-like Dutch style and the Japanese-inspired nature style. Typically, an aquascape houses fish as well as plants, although it is possible to create an aquascape with plants only, or with rockwork or other hardscape and no plants.
Fishkeeping is a popular hobby, practiced by aquarists, concerned with keeping fish in a home aquarium or garden pond. There is also a piscicultural fishkeeping industry, serving as a branch of agriculture.
Devario chrysotaeniatus, commonly called the gold-striped danio, is a tropical fish belonging to the minnow family (Cyprinidae). Originating in China and Laos in the upper Mekong river, this fish is very rarely found in community tanks by fish-keeping hobbyists. It grows to a maximum length of 3 inches (7.5 cm).
The substrate of an aquarium refers to the material used on the tank bottom. It can affect water chemistry, filtration, and the well-being of the aquarium's inhabitants, and is also an important part of the aquarium's aesthetic appeal. The appropriate substrate depends on the type of aquarium; the most important parameter is whether the aquarium contains fresh water or saltwater.
Julian Sprung is an American writer on marine aquarium fishkeeping. He is an alumnus of the University of Florida where he studied zoology, graduating in 1988.
Tropical Fish Hobbyist Magazine is a bimonthly magazine geared to hobbyist keepers of tropical fish, with news and information on a variety of topics concerning freshwater and marine aquariums. The magazine was first published in September 1952. The magazine is based in Neptune City, New Jersey. It is published by TFH Publications, which publishes books relating to the care aquarium fish and pets.
The Buenos Aires tetra is a tropical fish from South America. It was first observed in the wild in 1907, by Carl H. Eigenmann.
Algae eater or algivore is a common name for any bottom-dwelling or filter-feeding aquatic animal species that specialize in feeding on algae and phytoplanktons. Algae eaters are important for the fishkeeping hobby and many are commonly kept by aquarium hobbyists to improve water quality. They are also important primary consumers that relay the biomass and energy from photosynthetic autotrophes up into the food web, as well as protecting the aquatic ecosystem against algae blooms.
Aquarium Fish International (AFI) was a North American monthly magazine, published by BowTie Inc. of Irvine, California, and dedicated to freshwater and saltwater fishkeeping and the aquarium/fishkeeping hobby in general.
An aquarium is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquatic reptiles, such as turtles, and aquatic plants. The term aquarium, coined by English naturalist Philip Henry Gosse, combines the Latin root aqua, meaning 'water', with the suffix -arium, meaning 'a place for relating to'.
An algae scrubber is a water filtering device which uses light to grow algae; in this process, undesirable chemicals are removed from the water. Algae scrubbers allow saltwater, freshwater and pond hobbyists to operate their tanks using natural filtration in the form of primary production, much like oceans and lakes.
