Clown Loach

Native

The clown loach, Chromobotia macracanthus, or tiger botia is a tropical freshwater fish belonging to the Cobitidae (loach) family. It is the sole member of the Chromobotia genus. It originates in inland waters in Indonesia on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.

Description

Their body is elongated and mostly asymmetrical. Loaches have barbells(or feelers) around their mouth and are bottom dwelling fish with flattened undersides. Their bodies are often armed with erect spines-such as those situated in front of the eyes-which act as defense mechanism. Loaches may take air from surface and extract oxygen in the gut. This shows that they have evolved to live in stagnant waters. Clown Loaches are very active fishes with funny behavioral characteristics as rolling over and lying around as if dead!. The maximum size in aquarium is 30cm.

Kissing Gourami

Native

These fish originate from Thailand to Indonesia. They are highly commercial food fish which are farmed in their native Southeast Asia.

Description

Kissing gouramis, also known as kissers (Helostoma temminckii), are large tropical freshwater fish. The most distinctive feature of the kissing gourami is its mouth. Other than being terminal rather than superior, the kissing gourami's mouth is highly protrusible. Kissing gouramis reach a maximum size of 30 centimetres (12 “).Kissing gouramis are also popular with aquarists for the fish's peculiar "kissing" behaviour of other fish, plants, and other objects. These fish may be useful as algae eaters to control algae growth. The fish will accept vegetables such as cooked lettuce and any kind of live food.

Clown Knifefish

Native

Most knifefish species come from Southeast Asia, specifically Thailand, Borneo, Malaysia, India, and Sumatra.These fish usually are found in lakes, swamps, and river backwaters. They prefer still waters and can survive with low oxygen.

Description

The clown knifefish, clown featherback fish or spotted knifefish, Chitala ornata, is a nocturnal tropical fish with a long knife-like body. The clown knifefish is very distinct, normally silvery gray with a long knife like body (laterally compressed) and a long anal fin that gives these fish their common name. Mature fish normally have 5-10 (or even more) black spots ringed with white that usually increase in number and size as the fish grows. The clown knifefish grows to a fairly large size, up to 100 cm and 5 kg in the wild. It has 2 nasal tentacles above their large toothed mouth. They normally hunt live prey and will try any fish that fits into their mouths. Clown knifefish are hearty eaters, one of the reasons people like them as pets. They are predatory fish and will take live foods such as feeder fish, ghost shrimp and blackworms. With time they can be adapted to foods such as beefheart and will sometimes learn to accept commercial food pellets. They prefer feeding when the lights are off.

BlackGhost Fish

Native

The black ghost knifefish, Apteronotus albifrons, is a tropical fish belonging to the ghost knifefish family (Apteronotidae). They originate in South America in the Amazon Basin in Peru and from Venezuela through Paraguay in the Paraná Rivers.

Description

They are becoming popular in aquaria. The fish is all black except for two white rings on its tail, and a white blaze on its nose, which can occasionally extend into a stripe down its back. It moves mainly by using a long fin on its underside. It will grow to a maximum length of 25 inches (60 centimeters). They are nocturnal, but they are weakly electric fish and use an electric organ and receptors distributed over the length of their body in order to find insect larvae. They should not be kept with neon tetras and other very small fish because the black ghost knifefish will eat the small fish. In the aquarium black ghost knifefish will eat carnivore pellets, bloodworms and feeder fish. They will also eat peas, earthworms and frozen community fish foods.

Pompom Goldfish

Native

The Country of their origin is Japan and China.

Description

Pompoms or pompon or hana fusa are a type of fancy goldfish that have bundles of loose fleshy outgrowths between the nostrils, on each side of the head. The pompom has a similar body shape and finnage to the lionhead but instead of supporting a head growth it has nasal outgrowths. The extent of the nasal outgrowths, which are enlargements of the nasal septum, vary in pompom goldfish. In some, the outgrowths hang down past the mouth. These skin outgrowths around the nostrils of pompoms are developed through selective breeding. Pompoms may have either metallic or nacreous scalation, and can occur with or without a dorsal fin. It will be best if these fishes are engaged with the same variety or other dorsal fin less fishes.

Butterfly Goldfish

Native

The butterfly tail goldfish or jikin, as it is known in Japan, is believed to have been developed from the hardy wakin, a Japanese goldfish variety (also common in China and the rest of Asia) which is very similar to the river carp.

Description

Butterfly tail is also called as star tailed.The butterfly tail is similar to the wakin except that, when viewed from behind, its double tail fin has a pronounced "X" shape. It has a characteristic long, cigar-shaped or torpedo-shaped body that is white, with red lips, fins and gill covers.

Pearscale Golfish

Native

The Country of their origin are Japan and China.

Description

The pearlscale or chinshurin in Japanese, is a spherical-bodied fancy goldfish with finnage similar to the fantail. The characteristic feature of the pearlscale is its thick, domed scales with pearl-like appearance.Its body is round and similar to a golf ball. The finnage may be long or short. Pearlscales can reach up to 8 inches long and grow up as large as oranges. However, pearlscale fancy goldfish are prone to swimbladder disorders which affect the ability to maintain normal position in the water. The colour may be metallic (self-coloured or variegated in a pleasing pattern and similar on each side) or calico. Metallic colours should appear as burnished metal, extending into the fins. Calico fish should have a blue background with patches of violet, red, orange, yellow and brown, spotted with black.

liohead Goldfish

Native

Lionheads were bred in China to depict the image of the mythical Chinese lion-dog They were introduced to Japan from China during the 17th and 18th centuries. The Japanese produced lionheads with more rounded back profiles, modified tails and diminished size of the headgrowth.

Description

The lionhead is a hooded variety of fancy goldfish. This fish is the precursor to the ranchu. The tremendous hood or headgrowth and fat cheeks of lionheads give them a facial appearance similar to canine puppies. Lionheads have short but deep bodies, and relatively straight or evenly arched backs without dorsal fins. The finnage, in general, is short. The tail of a traditional lionhead can be fully separated, partially separated, or webbed. The back of the proper lionhead is quite broad to support the placement of the raspberry-like hood. Hood development may vary but is more pronounced in males. The hood normally takes a year to develop in young fry. Mature male lionheads periodically shed patches of their headgrowths.

Veiltail Goldfish

Native

The veiltail is believed to have originated in Japan but has been bred in the United States in the 1900s.

Description

The veiltail is a beautiful and graceful fancy goldfish which is known for its extra-long, flowing tail. The veiltail has a modified deep-and-round They are not good swimmers but can be kept with other fancy goldfish.-shaped body accented by a lengthy and graceful tail. The tail is square but without any forking or indentation between the lobes. It also has a high, prominent and well-developed dorsal fin. The anal fins are paired and are quite well-developed as well. Veiltails are available in many colors and may have either metallic or nacreous scales. They can grow from 8 to 12 inches (20 to 31 centimeters). The long and trailing tail of the veiltail is delicate and can be easily damaged. Veiltails are also susceptible to low water temperatures. Telescope-eyed veiltails have difficulty competing for food with more active goldfish.

Shubunkin Goldfish

Native

Shubunkins are a hardy, single-tailed fancy goldfish with nacreous scales. The shubunkins are of Japanese origin.

Description

The shubunkin, nicknamed "Poor Mans Koi", are similar to the common goldfish .They have streamlined bodies with well-developed and even fins. However, the shubunkins like calico goldfish; they possess nacreous scales (a mix of metallic and transparent scales that are pearly in appearance). The overlapping patches of red, white, grey and black (along with dark speckles) normally extend to the finnage of shubunkins. It may take several months for the nacreous coloration to develop on a young fry(baby fish). Shubunkins are excellent pond fish because they reach a length of 9 to 16 inches (22.86 to 40.6 centimeters) at adulthood. A shubunkin goldfish is considered an adult at 2 to 3 years of age.

Koi Carp

Native

They originated from the Caspian Sea with natural habitat surrounding the North, Baltic, Mediterranean, Black, Azov, Caspian and Aral Sea basins. Wild populations of the common carp now exist in North America, Africa, Europe, Asia and South America.

Description

Koi carp belongs to Cyprinidae family(the largest group among freshwater fishes).They rely on their teeth in their pharynx to break up their food.These are cold water fishes from which the Chinese and Japanese have developed fascinating variations of colours and shapes over centuries, starting from the 11^th century in China.Koi varieties are distinguished by coloration, patterning, and scalation. Koi have many different colors. Some of the major colors are white, black, red, yellow, blue, and cream.Their maximum size in the aquarium is 30cm. They are well suited to life in aquariums and ponds,live for long years and grow to good sizes.

Calico Goldfish

Description

Calico or nacreous goldfish are goldfish of any breed that sport a mixture of metallic and transparent scales that produces a pearly appearance. The name "calico goldfish" is often associated, and sometimes confused, with the shubunkin goldfish. Calico goldfish have patches of red, yellow, grey and black along with dark speckles on a blue background. This nacreous coloration of usually extends over the fins. Although calico coloration occasionally occurs in other fancy goldfish varieties such as telescope eyes, fantails, ryukins, orandas, and ranchus, this nacreous characteristic is exclusive to the shubunkins which are single-tailed fish that are similar to the common goldfish and could grow up to 12 inches in length.

Ranchu Goldfish

Origin

The modern-day ranchu is a Japanese development of the lionhead.They are the direct outcome of crossbreeding experiments of different Chinese lionhead specimens.

Description

The ranchu is a hooded variety of fancy goldfish developed in Japan. It is referred to as the "king of goldfish" by the Japanese. Compared to lionheads, ranchus have a more downturned tail and tail fin. Although similar to lionheads, ranchus have more-arched backs and have much shorter tails that are tucked-in at a sharp angle. A ranchu has an egg-shaped body with a deep belly that is between 5/8 to 3/4 the length of the fish. The most prominent feature of the ranchu is its head. Mature ranchus can reach between 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 centimeters) in length. Ranchus may come in orange, red, white, red-and-white, blue, black, black-and-white, black-and-red, natural, and chocolate coloration. Scalation may either be metallic, nacreous (calico) or matte. Ranchus with a pale-yellow bodies and bright red heads are rare.

Black Arowana

Native

Its natural habitat is the Amazon river in South America as well as in still waters in Guyana.

Description

It has a long body and a tapered tail and can grow to a maximum size of around 1 m in captivity. The species is also called water monkey or the "monkey fish", because it can literally jump out of the water and capture its prey. It usually swims near the water surface awaiting for potential prey. Although it has been known to eat larger prey like small bats and birds and even small monkeys, their main diets consist of shrimps, insects, smaller fishes and other animals that float on the water surface, on which its draw-bridge-like mouth is exclusively adapted for feeding. Arowana are also called "dragonfish" by aquarists because of their shiny armor-like scales, which are similar to the Asian’s folklore of dragons. It is important to have a large enough tank to keep these large fishes. The minimum tank size for one Arowana for life is a 96"L x 36"Wx 36"H or 538 gal aquarium . As it grows, a larger tank will be necessary to insure the maximum length and life span of the Arowana. The tank must have a sturdy lid, as these fish are active jumpers and will jump out of the tank and die. It is very important that you do not overfeed Arowana when they’re young, because as they grow, they might develop drop eye. Arowanas will eat insects, shrimp, pellets, live fish, beef heart, frogs, etc. The best diet for Arowanas is pellets, live crickets, and shrimps. Small feeder fish are often raised in poor conditions and can carry many diseases transmittable to predatory fishes.

Paradise Fish

Native
The paradise fish or paradise gouramis (Macropodus opercularis), are small freshwater labyrinth fish found in ditches and paddy fields in East Asia, ranging from the Korean Peninsula to Northern Vietnam.

Description
These small fish (adults are typically about 4" (10cm)) are ideal lone inhabitants of aquariums, being physically robust, somewhat colorful and more alert/behaviorally interesting than goldfish. The paradise fish is one of the more aggressive members of its family, by being more aggressive than the blue gourami. Yet they are far less aggressive than the rarely kept Combtail. Paradise Fish are fairly combative, harassing and attacking each other as well as potentially killing small fish. In the wild, they are predators, eating insects, invertebrates and fish fry.
In an aquarium male paradise fish should be kept apart, since they will fight aggressively by locking jaws. Male can be kept with females; females may also be kept together in groups. Paradise Fish are often aggressive thus tankmates must be chosen with care. Suitable tankmates include large tetras,most smaller catfishes and even some of the less aggressive cichlids,such as firemouth cichlids. Slow moving or long finned fish such as fancy goldfish and freshwater angelfish are likely to be attacked, gouramis may also be victimized due to their resemblance to paradise fish. Male paradise fish may also attempt to court female gouramis. Small fish less than 3cm are likely to be consumed. Males are particularly aggressive and should not be kept with slow fish or fish with long, flowing finnage which is commonly shredded by the territorial paradise. In a community tank, male Paradise fish fight other paradises, as well as any other fish for dominance. Paradise fish will often fight with other fish for dominance, particularly other aggressive, robust fish, such as cichlids, gouramis. They therefore should not be housed with any other fish which may attempt to challenge them, because this leads to fighting.

Killifish

Native
Found in parts of North and South America, Africa, Southern Europe and Asia.

Description
This egg-laying tooth-carps or killifish fish belongs to a family called Cyprinodontidae. They have mouths, which are turned upwards to enable surface feeding, and armed with teeth. They are keen predators of smaller species but are not dangerous to most aquarium fishes as Killifishes themselves are very small. Killifishes, though not very common in the aquarium hobby in India, are an extremely interesting group of aquarium fishes as they have brilliant colours-especially the males-are very hardy, need little space and aquarium equipment to maintain them and feed well in aquariums.

Neon Tetra

Native

These fish live in shoals in the smaller rivers of South America.

Description

The tropical forest is like a green roof over the river. The leaves are so thick that they do not let the sun’s ray through, and the water is black. The fish are used to living in darkness, and find each other with the help of the bright blue stripe on their bodies. It’s a shaft of sunlight gets through, it lights up the water and the stripe flashes like a neon advertisement on a city street at night. That is why this fish is called Neon Tetra.

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