Species from Retroculus genus may not be the most colourful ones but they have this „thing” that grabs attention of any fish enthusiast: very unique, one may say even dragon-like, appearance, attractive behaviour and extremely interesting breeding strategy untypical for other cichlids. (...) Retroculus name (Latin retro = ‘to the back, oculus = ‘eye’) reflects the fact that the cichlid eyes are located relatively to the back of the head. It allows fish to reach deeper for food when browsing the substrate. Species from Retroculus genus live in South American waters and nowadays three species belong to it: R. lapidifer (Castelnau, 1855) found in Rio Tocantins and Rio Tapim basins, R. xinguensis Gosse, 1971 found in Rio Xingu and Rio Arapiuns in Brazil and R. septentrionalis Gosse 1971 found in Oyapock and Araguari basins in French Guyana.
Aquarium titbits – a real miracle of nature - Michał Pręgowski;
Blind cave fish (Astyanax mexicanus) that live in dark underwater caves are a curiosity in themselves – they have no eyes.
Nomenclature: how should we talk about aquarium fish? - Michał Pręgowski;
Aquarium hobby is one of those passions that put a hobbyist to a language test – it’s impossible to avoid strange names that are difficult to remember. It’s worth knowing though that Latin nomenclature has a deeper sense to it. Without that an unbelievable chaos would ensue. That concerns aquarium hobby as well. Systematic division to families, genera and species is a part of taxonomy (that is – biological classification) of the animal kingdom. Owing to that we know that white could mountain minnow (Tanichthys albonubes) and golden pencilfish (Nannostomus beckfordi), though they look similar, they are not closely related at all. The anatomy of both species is so different that they were classified in entirely different families – minnow belongs to cyprinids (Cyprinidae) and pencilfish – to characids (Characidae). That also means – although it’s hard to believe it at first sight – that pencilfish are closely related to piranhas and minnows – to bettas and gouramis.
A bit different approach to water - Jerzy Kaszuba;
Water is the most important element of the aquarium hobby. In this article I’ll try to present a bit broader approach to it.
Breeding fish from Danio and Brachydanio genus - dr Hubert Zientek;
Danios are one of the most popular fish kept in home aquaria.
Fish etology in the eyes of an aquarium hobbyist. Part III. Living in a group - Marcin Graczyk;
Living in a group gives a sense of security, facilitates finding and gaining food. Social predation may be much more effective than lone hunting. Fish infamous for their blood thirst expressed in a group, like piranhas (Serrasalmus) and barracudas (Sphyraena), can be an example of such a hunting method.
Dwarf cichlids - Sławomir Siudakiewicz;
In this article I will present the most important information on the two most popular dwarf cichlid species, that is striped dwarf cichlid (Pelvicachromis taeniatus) and common krib (Pelvicachromis pulcher). (...) So far I have managed to find information on the following variations of Pelvicachromis taeniatus: „Nigeria Yellow”, „Nigeria Red”, „Nigeria Green”, „Moliwe”, „Muyuka”, „Wouri”, „Dehane”, „Lokoundje”, „Kienke” and „Lobe”. Whereas colour variations of the Pelvicachromis pulcher are: „Green”, „Red”, „Blue” and „Yellow”. There is also a variation named „Ndonga” found in Cameroon.
Iguanas – tiny dragons - Witold Borkowski;
Long, long ago (any fairytale should start like that) in the basement of the house on Krzywe Koło Street a horrendous monster names Basilisk lived. (...) According to the most modern taxonomy the name „iguanas” (Iguanidae family) belongs to a few dozens of species only, grouped in eight genera (Amblyrhynchus, Conolophus, Ctenosaura, Cyclura, Brachylopus, Dipsosaurus, Iguana and Sauromalus). The remaining few hundreds of species were classified in separate families – among others Opluridae, Phrynosomatidae, Crotaphytidae, Corytophanidae and Polychrotidae, but still some of them are called iguanas (at least in Polish). It shouldn’t be changed though because the names that became well-established shouldn’t be replaced by the new ones, even if the taxonomy evolves.
Harmful advice - Alicja Papiór, Szymon Najdora;
When deciding to buy or take new pet we usually try to learn how we should care for it.
Mister of Malawi Protomelas sp. „steveni Taiwan” - Mariusz Suwalski;
Fish from the Great African Lakes are increasingly popular and they are placed in aquaria more and more often. (...) Protomelas sp. „steveni Taiwan” is known and present in aquarium hobby for quite a long time already. Constant development in research on cichlids led to changing the name and brought new data on evolution in taxonomy. At first the fish was thought to be a colour variation of Protomelas fenestratus and was named Protomelas fenestratus „Taiwan”. Only later it was categorized as a separate species Protomelas sp. „steveni Taiwan”. Unfortunately to this day the old name is used by the aquarium dealers, especially in Germany. Other names you can come across are: Protomelas „Chimoto Red” and Protomelas fenestratus „Ngkuyo”. Protomelas fenestratus „Ngkuyo” is currently being established and is thought to be a colour variation of P. sp. „steveni Taiwan” that is found in the area of Ngkuyo island located in the vicinity of Mbamba Bay.
Aquazoo – Aquarium fairs - Editor;
Professional advice on aquarium setting, hints about how to maintain high water quality and information on nutritional requirements of many fish species were the highlight of the fairs.
The Art of the Planted Aquarium - Hanower 2008 - Bartłomiej Lipczyński;
On January, 31st – February 3rd, 2008 a second Heimtiermesse in Hannover (Germany) organised by TMS Event took place.