The Fish Tank Biologist

The Western Ghats is a mountain range that spans 160,000 square kilometers along the western coast of the Indian peninsula. This mountain range is reported to be older than the Himalayas and is home to an enormous proportion of India’s biodiversity. Endemic to the rivers of the Western Ghats is our featured fish, Sahyadria denisonii, the Denison barb, or roseline shark. S. denisonii was described to western science by Francis Day in 1865. Day was a prominent ichthyologist in

Where Can I Put My Aquarium? It may seem pretty straight forward to choose a spot in your home or business for your new aquarium. “It would look great right here” is about all the forethought that seems necessary. However, moving a full aquarium after you realize the spot you choose doesn’t work is not only hard work, but can be risky to the integrity of the tank and the lives of your inhabitants. In this article, I will detail all the factors you should consider when choosin

Male M. boesemani In 1954, an expedition to Dutch New Guinea, now West Papua, sponsored by the Rijks Museum of Natural History in the Netherlands, and headed by Dutch ichthyologist Dr. Marinus Boeseman, collected several specimens of rainbowfishes from the family Melanotaeniidae (Mel-a-no-tay-nee-id-ee). Twenty six years later, in 1980, Gerald Allen and Norbert Cross of the Western Australian Museum reviewed those specimens and classified four new species, including the subje

In a previous article, I wrote about limiting factors and how CO2, light, and nutrients all played an interconnected role in the growth of plants in the freshwater aquarium. Carbon is required by plants the most and makes up nearly 50% of a plant’s dry weight. The most efficient way to supply carbon to plants is to inject into the aquarium as CO2 gas. The other nutrients usually come in the form of a liquid fertilizer. Before you conclude you have a nutrient deficiency, consi