Thus Barbus tetrazona and Barbus oligolepis are two different species within the genus Barbus. Most fish do, however, also have an easier common name. Barbus tetrazona, for example, is commonly known as the Tiger Barb or Sumatra Barb.
There are over twenty families of commonly kept freshwater tropical fish and within each family there can be thousands of species - often living in widely differing environments. The family Cichlidae (Cichlids), for example, are thought to have over 1,000 different species existing in the great African lakes alone.
The Main Families
Whilst there are over twenty families of freshwater tropicals, most fish of interest to the aquarist are members of one of the following eight families:
Anabantidae
Anabantoids are generally distinguished by the fact that they have a 'labyrinth chamber', a special organ which enables them to breath atmospheric air which they must have in order to survive. Native to the waters of South East Asia and Africa, most of the family have 'feelers' - modified ventral fins - which they use to detect food in murky waters. Most also create a 'bubble nest' for spawning. Examples of the family include Gouramis, Siamese Fighting Fish and the Paradise Fish.
Callichthyidae
Better known as catfish - probably the most popular tropical fish amongst hobbyists. Whilst most are hardy, adaptable bottom feeders they require occasional gulps of air to help supplement their gills. Catfish are also nocturnal and do best in a subdued light. Corydoras, one of the most popular aquarium species, have a bony plate along the side of their body. Other catfish have suckered mouths which enable them to fix onto rocks in the wild, which they use to graze algae from the side of the aquarium glass.
Characidae
Characins are one of the leading families of freshwater tropical fish, originating from Africa, and North and South America. All Characins have teeth but are without barbels or whiskers. Many also have a small extra adipose fin on the top rear of their body. Because of their schooling habit Characins, such as Tetras, are often kept in numbers in single species tanks.
Cichlidae
Most Cichlids are carnivorous and territorial and have a reputation for being aggressive. Many species are, however, very trendy and ideal for the aquarium. The family occurs naturally throughout North and South America and throughout most of Africa especially in the great lakes of Malawi and Tanganyika.
Cobitidae
Known commonly as loaches, this is a family of bottom dwelling fish. Their mouths have feelers to help locate food and their bodies often have defensive erectile spines. They are widely found in Asia, Europe and in parts of Africa.
Cyprinidae
Although a large family of fishes, Cyprinids, which include Barbs, Rasboras, Danios and Minnows, generally have barbs which allow them to sort food from the bottom. The family also includes cold water species such as Goldfish as well as those who need the warm tropical waters.
Cyprinodontidae
Found in Africa, North and South America and Asia, this is the family of Killifishes or Egg Laying Toothcarps. As they are sometimes predatorily on smaller fishes, care must be taken when introducing them into a community tank. They prefer slightly acidic water.
Poecilidae
This is the family of the Live Bearing Tooth Carps - small fishes such as Guppies, Platies, Mollies and Swordtails. As the name implies this family produce live young which are capable of swimming and feeding just after birth.
Choosing your Fish
There are two main areas which you need to consider. First there is a limit to the number of fish your aquarium can sustain without putting pressure on the Oxygen levels in the water and the level of pollution which fish create. You must also remember that fish grow and, as they do, will put even more pressure on their environment. The best advice is always to start off with just a few fish and add more over a period of several months. As a rough guide allow about 20 inches of fish combined body length for each square foot of surface water. For a tank 3ft long x 1 ft (3sq.ft.) wide you should not exceed 60 inches of fish.
The second consideration is the habit of fish. In their natural habitat fish lead very different lives and these natural habits will show themselves in your aquarium. In a community tank you might, therefore, wish to have fish which live and feed at all levels - top feeders such as Mollies, mid water feeders such as Barbs, and fish which live and feed on the bottom of the tank, such as Catfish.
Buying Your Fish
Buy locally if possible. Long journeys and a fall in water temperature on the way home can easily stress your fish. Should you later have problems it is also much easier to resolve them if your fish supplier is near by.
Choose an aquatic retailer with good stocks and a wide variety of fish - they are more likely to have specialist knowledge. Check that the fish have been properly quarantined before sale. Disease often takes a few weeks to show and a fish not quarantined can easily introduce diseases which infect all your fish.
Look at the fish carefully. Check that they are swimming peacefully and not rubbing themselves against the tank glass - often a sign of infestation.
Feeding the Fishes
To stay healthy, fish need a range of nutrients. The best and easiest way of providing these is in a complete balanced diet such as AQUARIAN flaked Fish Foods.
AQUARIAN~FLAKED FISH FOODS AQUARIAN Tropical Fish Flakes - A special blend of flakes to satisfy the nutritional requirements of all freshwater tropical community fish.
Specialist foods for freshwater tropical fish: AQUARIAN Carnivore Flakes - Contains higher levels of the necessary proteins required by carnivorous fish, such as some Cichlids.
AQUARIAN Herbivore Flakes - Ideal for fish that can utilize a higher proportion of algae or vegetable matter in their diet, especially Guppies, Mollies and Platies.
AQUARIAN Fry Food-A high protein food finely ground and balanced for rapid growth of new-born fish or 'fry'.
AQUARIAN Growth Food- Small nutritious flakes containing extra protein, suitable for growing fish that have progressed from the fry stage.
AQUARIAN Tablet Food - Made from AQUARIAN Tropical Flakes compressed into tablet form. Can be fed to larger fish, or to bottom feeders such as Catfish. The tablet can be pressed onto the inside of the aquarium, which brings the fish into view when they feed.
How Many Fishes?
They decided many years ago that four inches by four inches of surface area per inch of fish was the correct formula in a tank without ventilation, and this still stands today, even with all the technology that is available.
A four inch by four inch square of surface area per inch of fish is the minimum requirement, so if your fish is say four inches long, it would require a surface area of 16 square inches multiplied by four giving you 64 square inches of surface area to be on the safe side. So by the above guideline you can see that you would only be able to place two fish of four inches long in an 18x10x10 tank, as a third fish of this size would be just pushing the limit a bit.
If you estimate the length of your fish, not counting the tail, and use the conversion above, then you will not be far wrong, however, you need to consider several things when doing this. The main thing to consider is of course that the fish may not always be the size they were when you first bought them, and may soon outgrow the area you have allocated for them. Placing ten or fifteen NeonŐs in say a two foot tank would possibly be satisfactory, and the same would apply to fifteen baby Swordtails, but obviously, the NeonŐs will reach just over an inch when full grown, whereas the Swordtails can in some cases get to four inches an more, so this should be considered first.
Stocking Levels of Tank
The stocking levels of a tank can vary also in the example above, as a 24x12x12 wide tank will hold less fish than a 24x12x15wide tank. This is because the 24x12 wide will only give you 288 square inches of surface, whereas a 24x15wide will give you 360 square inches of surface area to play with, and therefore you can add a few more fish. The depth of a tank has little effect on the amount of fish you can keep, within reason of course, but the surface area is the thing that matters mostly. With the addition of aeration and filtration your fish levels may be increased, but still we will reach a level where the waste products produced by the fish will go beyond the capabilities of the filter. When this happens we have a buildup of ammonia, plus the nitrites and nitrates will climb, which will all lead to problems. Running a highly stocked tank is a gamble at the best of times, even with the best of filtration, and the water conditions will need to be at their optimum at all times, which may involve partial water changes several times a week, and regular checks for ammonia buildup.
Signs of Overstocked Tank
Some early signs of an overstocked tank are fish getting "left behind". By this you may see runty unwell fish, or even emancipated fish that rarely get a chance to feed in peace, so they are pushed to one side by the others, and soon become unwell, and possibly die. Fish lurking in corners with clamped fins are usually early signs of a problem. Other signs are gasping at the surface, or congregating on the bottom. The former is lack of dissolved oxygen, and the latter could be due to the metabolism of the fish being so low that it hasn't the strength to act in the normal manner. Red or inflamed gills or body parts are another sign of ammonia buildup, as the ammonia literally burns the mucus from the body of the fish leaving it open to infection. Once you fish become rundown, then problems can spread rapidly though the tank causing sudden deaths that appear to happen for no reason, but there is "always" a reason for a fish dying, and some of the reasons are above.
Deciding the Tank Size
We have situations where we followed the basics and set our tank up, then after a given period we began to add fish and plants, and in the following weeks everything is looking fine and healthy, but then the day arrives that you decide to add more fish to your stable setup. A quick trip to the LFS (Local Tropical Fish Shop) and you are faced with an abundance of fish that you would "just love to see" swimming in your tank, and in many cases you may consider the types you already have, along with the water conditions and space that they live in, or if they are compatible with your other fish... and also that you pick only the healthiest looking specimens you can see in the shop tanks, but invariably you don't, and in many cases buy more fish (or too many extra ones) on impulse. The choices you make at this point are the ones that will either "make" or "break" your established setup. So you arrive home, full of excitement, and longing to see the new arrivals swimming free. We have all reached this point at one time or another, and thought little about our actions at this point, as we were deterred by the pleasure of the moment. At this stage you only have the single tank, so quarantine is out of the question for the new fish, so you float the bag for a while, and then delicately empty the fish into your precious established water. The roulette wheel has just been spun, and you have just placed your bet, and the gamble has begun. The "gamble" is unavoidable, if you want to increase your fish stocks, and your "established" tank has now become your "quarantine" tank, as you have now added an unknown element into the environment, both in the fish you added, and the water they were contained in. The fish at this point may seem a little stunned, but soon start swimming around and mixing with the other occupants, so you sit back and watch your new arrivals. Presuming you took into consideration about the amount of extra fish you can add, and the types, plus the water conditions, then at this stage you perhaps feel pretty confident that you have done the right thing... and you may have,... but over the next ten days or so you "could" be in for a few moment of concern as the fish begin to show various signs of illness, and some may even die for some unknown reason.
If this happens, then several things may be the cause, along with all those mentioned above.
Preventing Diseases
Fish... much like us... have the ability to carry a disease but not show any symptoms, and a seemingly healthy fish could be harboring a parasite that you can't see, as it might be internal, or in its early stages of development. The water you added from the fish you bought could have been full of microscopic nastiness that took several days to manifest themselves, or a fish that you bought might just have rejected the new conditions it was placed in, so suddenly became ill and infected the others. There could also be a "dominant" fish in the ones you bought, which is un known to you, has been hassling the other fish, or preventing them for feeding freely, which again has led to stress of one or more fish, which has brought on the sudden outbreak of illness. There are so many factors here that to segregate them all would take many pages like this one, and even if you follow the strict quarantine rules, you could "still" get some of the problems mentioned above. Usually the way out here is to "blame the LFS"... but invariably they are "not" to blame, and provided the fish you bought were healthy, and the tank you bought them from was looking healthy (and possibly still is), then the fault may be your own.
Solution of Your Problems
You can only fit so many fish into a given space, and "any" increase in fish stocks should be done in small stages, and with great care. Just as with our roulette wheel... a small bet means a small loss, and a large bet can leave you broke. In a way it is the same with your fish, as adding a couple of fish per week can give you more control over what is happening, rather than dumping six or more newcomers into an established tank. As above... the newcomers may show no signs of problems, but they "could" contaminate your existing fish and leave you with a tank full of trouble. These newcomers need watching "very" carefully for "any" signs of illness or incompatibility with the others, and at the first signs of problems they should be removed and isolated from the rest of the tank inhabitants. Adding just a couple of fish each week will "still" change your tank conditions, but it will do this "slowly"... whereas placing a larger number of new fish in your tank all at once will change the conditions "rapidly" and cause possible stress to the fish through extra ammonia levels. This ammonia addition may seem insignificant at first, but as the days pass, these levels will grow, as will the problem.
So many fish keepers jump into this trap and overstock their tank in the early stages, and by the time they decide to buy another tank to cope with the overload, it is usually too late and they have to start all over again. Your over interest to "get things going" will come to an rapid halt if you don't have the patience to build things up in stages over a period of several months, rather than a period of several days. Do it right... get it right, and take your time, and your patience will be rewarded.
