SCAN ME FOR EXPERT AQUARIUM CARE AND ADVICE 51 HEALTH What’s killing our new introductions? Three times now we’ve added new fish to our 160-litre tank and some or most of the newly added fish have died, taking some of our pre-existing fish with them. The latest and worst was this week. The tank had two rasboras—the sole survivors among the last and relatively recent addition of six—and a 15cm dojo loach that we'd had for several years. Two to three weeks ago we added two yoyo loaches, three kuhlis, two more dojos, and five scissortail rasboras. All appeared healthy upon arrival, but now only the two dojos are still alive. Worst of all, our original dojo suddenly died today. All were behaving normally. Our long-term dojo seemed somewhat hyperactive the night before, but that was hardly unusual. One of the two new little dojos was particularly hyperactive for a short while tonight, but then calmed down. We carried out a water change with conditioned tapwater after discovering and removing the dead fish. Both pH and temperature are fine. We haven't measured dH, but we know our tapwater is hard. The tank has an undergravel filter. Do you have any idea what might be causing these deaths? P. HOUDE PETER REPLIES: Sudden deaths can be tricky to investigate and resolve. But in general, when several aquarium fish die suddenly, and without obvious symptoms, one of the most common causes is a sudden deterioration in one or more water parameters. This may be a spike in ammonia and/ or nitrite levels, perhaps due to inadequate or faulty biological filtration; change in pH; a drop in dissolved oxygen levels; a change or large fluctuations in water temperature; exposure to tapwater that has not been dechlorinated; water contamination with airborne toxins such as insecticide sprays or paint fumes, or with toxins leached from ‘suspect’ aquarium décor, such as unsuitable rocks and gravel. When newly-introduced fish die suddenly, it can be a result of chemical shock. One form of chemical shock is where fish are introduced to an aquarium that has high nitrate levels. The resident fish may have physiologically adapted, within limits, to a slowly increasing nitrate level, but newly introduced fish, that likely will have come from low-nitrate conditions in the dealer’s tank, will be unable to Newly introduced fish may also die as a result of thermal shock. This can arise from over-heating or over-cooling during transit of the fish from the dealer’s tank to home, or when the fish are moved to an aquarium which is much warmer or cooler than they are accustomed to. It’s another reason why new purchases should be acclimatised to the aquarium slowly. suddenly adapt to the high nitrate, often resulting in their untimely death a day or two later. Aggression from resident fish towards new introductions can also cause problems, but there are no obviously aggressive species in your set-up. Even large dojos—aka Misgurnus weather loaches—are generally peaceful, although I should mention that these are cool-water species, and a tropical aquarium would be at the upper limit of their normal temperature range. I note that you are using an undergravel filter, which is a method much less commonly employed these days. Undergravels can trap the dirt within themselves and may become blocked, resulting in ‘dead spaces’, where filtration is less eff icient. Bear in mind that several of your fish are bottom-dwellers, so are in almost constant bodily contact with the gravel. I would definitely consider a complete strip down of your tank and cleaning the gravel. You might like to consider installing an ordinary powerhead-driven canister filter in addition to (or to replace) your undergravel. In my experience, a thorough tank overhaul can resolve mystery deaths where the cause remains unknown. I’d refrain from adding any more fish, at least for the time being. I would initially perform a range of water tests including the nitrate level, and consider some of the points I’ve covered above, especially with regard to water SHUTTERSTOCK parameters and toxins. ALAMY Dojo loach, aka the weather loach. Test everything first in a crisis!
52 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING Fishkeeping—you love it, live it, drink it. But could you be one of the 12,000 or so people in the UK who work it? ADVICE SHUTTERSTOCK
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 53 OR ANY FISH enthusiast it might have crossed your mind once or twice, or maybe it’s a constant dream—can you work with fishes? Since the early days of my fishkeeping journey, I wanted to work with fish, although it isn’t always straightforward. It’s not easy to find the range of jobs available working with fish or to know what path to take to get to your desired end goal. I think it’s easiest to split working with fish into three genres: scientific, veterinary, and husbandry. Each has its crossovers—for example, zoological collections and veterinary surgeons might contribute to science, while most university laboratories that work with fish often have their own aquarium and relevant husbandry specialists. Husbandry Probably the most diverse category given how vital fishes are for many aspects of society. Many hobbyists have spent time in this category at least once and maybe in multiple diff erent types of jobs. 6 Retail — This backbone of fishkeeping, and the job many fishkeepers have done, teaches skills vital to hobby and industry. Unlike a general hobbyist, you have access to a variety of diff erent setups and way more fishes than any general hobbyist could dream of—unboxing fish and seeing new arrivals is one of the most exciting aspects. More often than not it requires working weekends and bank holidays, and work might be quite physical depending on the store layout. Generally, sales assistants earn around £10.42 an hour (minimum wage) with pay rises depending on the level of management attained. Running a store and owning one are diff erent challenges. It will be a lot more time consuming and requires a lot of paperwork to run one. And, unless electricity costs improve imminently, it is a costly industry with narrow profit margins and heavy competition. An alternative direction for sales would be to become a brand representative for a manufacturer or wholesaler. This involves abundant travelling and discussing with stores or maybe zoos regarding the products or services your company off ers, but the initial pay rates can be much better. 6 Aquarium maintenance — When I started working in the industry, I worked in the store off ering this service, and it’s certainly a career choice few think of. Unlike working in stores there is a much stronger husbandry element, focusing almost exclusively on caring for fishes. Largely it requires being selfemployed, and building a reputation and customer base is arduous. It is a physically demanding job, especially when working with ponds, but even aquarium work will routinely require Cafish enthusiast Rebecca is firmly on her way to an ichthyology career. REBECCA BENTLEY SHUTTERSTOCK
54 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING ADVICE you to lift 10-20L buckets and/or aquaria. Pay will vary depending on the jobs you are happy to do, your experience, the calibre of your work, and the demand for your services. Ponds particularly are very seasonal as customers often will not require much work during winter. Qualifications are not required but are strongly advised. 6 Zoological collections/public aquaria — Now here’s a competitive industry. Working with fishes few get the chance to, and with aquaria that dwarf home tanks, it’s easy to see why working in a zoo environment is popular. There’s a lot of maintaining setups and the fishes within them, but without dealing so much with the public. Pending where you’re based, you might even end up working with reptiles and invertebrates. Typically, careers in this field will require an undergraduate degree. Marine biology is usually preferred, but an undergraduate degree with plenty fish and the aquatic environment modules is sufficient. Some might require a master’s degree, and experience and volunteering are a must. Hours are can be long but pay could be up to around £25,000, depending on the experience and hours. Promotion to curator will involve a higher pay bracket. 6 Laboratory aquarium care — For those interested in the sciences, aquarium labs might be connected to a university or to an industry. You’ll likely be working with a small diversity of species, particularly those popular in studies such as zebra fish, Danio rerio. In universities you might be exposed to a wider range of species depending on the academic staff and student present. 6 College lecturer/practical instructor — Ever wanted to help widen the awareness and understanding of aquariums, fishes and their care? This might be the job for you. This is quite distinct from academia as it doesn’t involve any research, although there are academic staff at universities who go down the teaching route. This is great if you don’t enjoy research, prefer more hands-on qualifications, and particularly enjoy the education element. Also, unlike universities, you’re unlikely to need a PhD which saves four years of education! Staff here will likely be teaching anywhere from Level 1 (pre-GCSE) to postgraduate courses. It's highly likely you’ll have long hours creating course content, marking work, and for practical instructors, caring for the animals. SHUTTERSTOCK SHUTTERSTOCK
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 55 Note that usual practice is not to take holiday during term time, which is a big consideration, especially for those with families. Often a practical instructor will not be required to have a degree but will need some qualifications and experience in their topic. Lecturers will be required to have an undergraduate degree in a relevant topic such as biology, animal management, zoo biology—but to teach undergraduate and masters courses further postgraduate qualifications might be required (such as a master’s degree). Eventually, or on starting, you’ll be required to obtain a teaching qualification which is an additional workload. Pay generally starts around minimum wage upwards depending on experience, though pay can rise yearly on a graded system. Lecturers can expect to earn more than practical instructors—around £25,000—and promotion is perfectly possible. 6 Aquaculture — A great idea for anyone who enjoys being outdoors and wants to be hands on, particularly anyone with a side interest in fishing. The majority of fish farmed in the UK are those that can cope with our temperatures; largely carp, but maybe quite a few catfishes (Ictalurids), or even the European eel, Anguilla anguilla. A particularly innovative farm in Yorkshire was even breeding sturgeons and sterlets. The majority of fish produced will be for the food market but some ornamental fisheries exist. For those interested in where our fish come from this could be an enlightening role. The starting salary won’t be much over minimum wage, but with experience and time you could see it rise as high as £50,000. Science Being an ichthyologist has long been my personal dream, but it’s no easy path getting there. SHUTTERSTOCK ALAMY
56 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING ADVICE Ichthyology is the study of fishes; a form of zoology. Science is about improving what we know and discovering new things. You could be travelling the world, working with museum specimens, improving our collective knowledge of disease, or identifying the extent of fish intelligence. Nowadays it’s a long journey through multiple qualifications, the minimum being an undergraduate degree. It doesn’t have to be marine biology, and I’d argue a general biology degree will give you as much (or more) of an understanding of the big picture. It doesn’t even have to be biological sciences. Many have gone into biology from a chemistry or mathematics degrees, all have something to offer to the field—particularly the importance of computer coding these days. There are also niche undergraduate degrees, with the University of Hull offering a degree in Marine and Freshwater Biology. In reality all will give you an understanding of biology in different aspects. Training to get into research depends on your experience and moving into increasingly niche topics. It seems more than often that a master’s degree is required to pursue experience in independent research. My recommendation is not to look at studying ‘fishes’ per se, but rather to look at what it is about fish you want to study. There are many branches, including: 6 Developmental biology. You could be looking at how fish embryos develop and the genetics involved. 6 Evolution. My own field of interest looks at how fishes change over time. This tends to include phylogenetics and taxonomy (describing species). 6 Behaviou-r. Are fish intelligent, and how so? How do fish react in certain situations? 6 Paleobiology. This overlaps a lot with evolutionary biology but studies fossil fishes over extant ones. ALAMY SHUTTERSTOCK
57 OTHER ROLES AT A GLANCE: 6SOCIAL MEDIA — Being a YouTube or Instagram celebrity can bring rewards, but it’s risky work and there’s no magic formula for success. 6FISH JOURNO/AUTHOR — Print refuses to die, and while you won’t get rich writing breeding articles or publishing a catfish encyclopedia, it sure is some nice pocket money! 6FISH BREEDER — Most commercial breeders are stationed abroad, but if you can turn over enough high-value fish (like discus or rare catfish) then you could have a healthy side-gig. 6CONSERVATIONIST — Very much a scientific pathway, expect to spend most of your time raising funds for noble aquatic causes. 6PHOTOGRAPHER/VIDEOGRAPHER — Retailers, websites, magazines and books all need images to accompany features, and are prepared to pay for the right visuals. 6R&D — Do you have technical skills? Are you a computer whiz, or engineering genius? You might find a home developing aquatic products for a major manufacturer. The last bit of education often required is a PhD/doctorate. This is where you choose a narrow topic to explore, understand and learn skills for over 3-4 years, and it’s entirely independent. PhD topics are often released usually around October every year on websites such as findaphd.co.uk. Funding before this point isn’t common, and so for PhD students that is the competitive part—there are many fully funded fish projects released each year. Alternatively, the Fisheries Society of the British Isles (FSBI) offers funding for students/topics developed with a supervisor. This path is considerably time consuming. An undergraduate degree takes (at least) three years, a master’s degree another one or two years, and a PhD yet another three or more years. Jobs are competitive. At the end you have a choice: industry or academia, each with pros and cons. While it’s hard to put a salary range on industry jobs, average incomes for postdoctorate academic positions are around £35,000, with professors just below £91,000, although earning more is possible depending on the university. Veterinary Who hasn’t dreamed at some point of being a vet? In this role, it’s not just pet fish that you could be working with, but aquaculture and zoological collections would also require your services. A considerable amount of time needs to be devoted to education and training. You’re looking at five years for an undergraduate course in veterinary medicine, but very few universities offer the course meaning that admission is competitive. Training seems sparse regarding exotic animals in general (let alone fishes) but perhaps you could stand out from the crowd amongst the few fish vets in the UK. Similarly, there are many scientists who specialise in fish pathology, a field focused on researching disease in fishes. The University of Stirling has a centre focused on this field. While a newly qualified vet can earn anywhere from £30,500, and the most experienced around £92,500, the niche aspect of working with fish makes a salary unpredictable. Vets, like scientists, often work long hours, but being customer-facing the role does present new challenges. THE RIGHT CHOICE? Something that rarely gets discussed enough in regards to working a ‘fish job’ is burnout. Many people who work with fishes no longer keep any of their own, and with alarming frequency. Making your hobby your job means you’ll have less time to take a break from it, and mistakes become all the more costly as it’s not just something you do on the side. Once you’re immersed in the fish life, you won’t get a breather from it. For some, that’s the dream, but it can easily cross the thin line and become a nightmare. SHUTTERSTOCK SHUTTERSTOCK
58 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING Not all of us can grow plants in substrate. But why worry? There are plenty that’ll grow on rocks or wood, too. ADVICE PLANTS AT A GLANCE Tom is the founder of the Freshwater Fishkeeping UK Facebook page. TOM ACKRILL piphyte plants (a term that causes some debate between hobbyists and terminology purists) are those species which thrive attached to hardscape such as wood or rock, as opposed to being planted in substrate. These plants can be used to amazing eff ect in tanks where a suitable planting substrate is either not desired, or is impractical—such as in cobbled river tanks. Anubias The Anubias genus contains a variety of shapes and sizes. Some are extremely tiny, with leaves a couple of centimetres, others boasting leaf sizes over 30cm. Brilliant for low-energy tanks (low light, no CO2 injection) where there’s a need for sturdy plant coverage that isn’t going to quickly grow out of control. Keep eyes open for ‘mini coin’, ‘bonsai’, and ‘petite’ cultivars for smaller tanks, and A. barteri or A. coff eifolia for larger ones. Bucephalandra Bucephalandra look almost multicoloured when they catch the light, with a ‘petrol-esque’ shimmer. Always check the source of the plant. Many of these are still harvested in the wild, which is a rather destructive process involving dredging the sides of riverbanks. SHUTTERSTOCK SHUTTERSTOCK Bucephalandra may flower underwater!
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 59 HOW TO ATTACH? After you’ve taken plants out of pots and removed any rockwool from the roots, attaching them to wood or rocks is usually achieved in one of four ways. Elastic bands — perhaps the most obvious way to hold a plant in place, the downside is that the bands are ugly. Fishing line/thread — while fiddly, using fine thread or fishing line will secure plants without being as obvious on the eye. Push and hope for the best — plants like Java fern might be able to be pushed into place in a hole in wood or rocks, but be careful not to damage the rhyzome by forcing it into a gap, and expect the chance of it floating back out. Glue — aquascaping glue can be used to secure root structures and mosses down, but be conservative as excess glue will turn an obvious white colour. For easy to grow varieties, look for B. theia, B. ‘Kedagang’, and B. biblis. Note that all are slow to develop, but may even flower underwater. Mosses Mosses are a great way to add texture and interest to a tank with plants that are less ‘leaf-like’. They do tend to have a fast growth rate, and are well-known collectors of detritus. Give them a ruffle during water changes to ensure that they do not become riddled with algae or dirt. Look out for Christmas moss, Vesicularia dubyana, weeping moss, V. ferriei, and Java moss, Taxiphyllum barbieri, as easy growers. Glue them onto branches for a long carpeting effect. Microsorum (Leptochilus) Java fern is an old stalwart of aquatics, and as time has gone by, more and more versions have been cultivated, so there’s a fern for every taste! While slow growing, it can reach impressive sizes, and will eventually drop daughter plantlets that develop on its leaves. Keep an eye out for the attractive ‘trident’, ‘narrow leaf’, and ‘Windelov’ cultivars, as well as the plain Microsorum (now Leptochilus, but the trade is slow to catch up) pteropus. Does well even in surprisingly low light levels. SHUTTERSTOCK SHUTTERSTOCK NATHAN HILL Mosses will need a ruffle. OPPOSITE TOP: The classic Anubias on wood. BELOW: Narrow-leafed Java fern
60 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING ADVICE Hydrocotyle Off icially a stem plant that’s commonly grown in a substrate, it also does incredibly well on hardscape. This is an attractive plant that adds detail and texture to an aquascape, and will even grow up and out of the water. It grows fast in the right conditions and can become somewhat invasive so be ready with a sharp pair of scissors to try and keep it tamed. For attractive small leaves, look out for H. tripartite ‘Japan’, and H. tripartite ‘mini’. Ferts, moderate to high light, and CO2 injection will help keep it in tighter clumps. Hygrophila pinnatifida Attached to hardscape, or even used as an emersed plant (where it’s allowed to grow clear of the water!) this can be an interesting addition, relished by aquascapers. Under moderate lighting, with CO2 and quality fertilisers, the burgundy colour of the leaves will start to shine, while in lower energy tanks it tends to stay a greenish-brown. Micranthemum sp. ‘Monte Carlo’ “That’s a carpeting plant!” I can hear you shouting. Yes, primarily it’s used as a low, dense, plant that’s popular in high energy aquascapes. But that isn’t its only use. For low-energy tanks where a dense carpet isn’t achievable, it’s possible to grow Monte Carlo attached to rocks, further up in the water column where it can develop and thrive. CO2 injection and quality ferts will definitely benefit this plant, and help avoid it becoming leggy as it grows. Bolbitis heudelotii Soft, acidic water benefits this African fern-like plant with slightly transparent leaves. This one can grow pretty large at up to 40cm or so, and is prone to being smothered with algae when kept under intense light/poor flow situations. Be prepared to sacrifice some smothered growth if it becomes infested. Also, never bury the rhizome into substrate as this will kill the plant. Hydrocotyle can be added to hardscape. Hygrophila pinnatifida has gorgeous colour. NEIL HEPWORTH SHUTTERSTOCK
This can be an interesting addition, relished by aquascapers. Under moderate lighting, with CO2 and quality fertilisers, the burgundy colour of the leaves will start to shine, while in lower energy tanks it tends to stay a greenish-brown WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 61 Micranthemum ‘Monte Carlo’ can get leggy without help. Bolbitis huedelotii can grow large. SHUTTERSTOCK ALAMY
READER VISIT Steve Webb 62 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING Gabor Horvath visits an aquarist with a unique breeding accomplishment. The breeder
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 63 Prolific breeder and aquarist Gabor has an enviable, eco-friendly fish house in Wales. GABOR HORVATH Blue spot stingray, a modern rarity! ALL PHOTOS: GABOR HORVATH
64 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING T’S ALWAYS GREAT hearing about stingray breeding successes in a private tank, but when someone contacts you to say that they’ve bred a marine ray you know it’s something special. Aquarist Steve Webb informed me about the birth of a blue spotted stingray, Taeniura lymma, pup many moons ago, but for various reasons I had to delay my visit for a long time. When I finally managed to pop in to see his rays, I met a genuine and devoted fish keeper (and of course plenty of beautiful fish). Here’s how it went. After entering the kitchen, I was greeted by a huge aquarium wall, consisting of two large tanks plus the trimmings (sump tanks) at the side. It was a strange combination having goldfish in the top tank and blue spotted stingrays in the lower one. I wanted to discover the story behind it right away but my host suggested that we should begin in the fishhouse in the garden. Off we went and entered the shed where the warm and humid air and the humming of the central airpump made me feel at home in no time. It was a perfect backdrop to get into some fishy talk. GABOR HORVATH: Firstly, thank you very much for inviting me. Could you please tell me about your fish-keeping background? When did you start? STEVE WEBB: I've been keeping fish for a long time but only since 2001 in this shed. I have upgraded it in 2016, improving insulation and adding a fiberglass inner layer. GH: How many tanks have you got? SW: I have never counted. I’ve got around 50 I reckon. GH: What about the filtration and heating? SW: Most of my tanks run with a central filtration system under each block. I have 300W heaters in some of the sump tanks but no additional heating, as the shed is very well insulated. 4.5” Kingspan both inside and outside the wall, plus a layer of fiberglass. The insulation keeps the heat from the lights, and the residual heat from the pumps, and everything in very well. Even the doors are insulated. Imagine, when the door is shut you are really sweating here. The insulation works both ways, as the temperature was constant even in this hot summer. GH: Do I see that you are actually using pond pumps in many of your sumps? SW: Yeah, they seem to last longer. The Oase pumps have been running there for three years without any issues. GH: What species do you keep? SW: There is one rack for corals in the fish house, the rest are freshwater. In the smaller compartment of the fish-house I keep cichlids, various plecs, black and cherry shrimp. The Neocaridina shrimps are the ones that don't need specific soil and other bits so are relatively easy to maintain. I have a rack standing empty for the past two years, so I’m thinking about READER VISIT Steve Webb BELOW: Steve and (some of) his tanks. BELOW MIDDLE: System automation and control. Gold dust stingray, Potamotrygon marinae.
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 65 breeding some other shrimp, possibly trying more Caridina species, using active soils. My plan is to place the soil in the sump, so it’s easily replaceable when needed. The only potential issue is that some of these substrates break down easily and the particles could be picked up and washed away by the current, so they need to be in a place with a relatively slow flow. I will divide the sump tank up to accommodate the soil and maybe some plant, too. GH: Have you got a favourite fish? SW: Definitely stingrays. I have been keeping them since 2015. The bigger room in the fish house is mainly for freshwater rays. I have a large female Leopard frog plec. Magnificent goldfish.
66 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING READER VISIT Steve Webb FACTFILE BLUE SPOT STINGRAY 6Scientific name: Taeniura lymma 6Pronunciation: Tay-nee-urra lim-mah 6Size: To 35cm 6Origin: Vast, from Eastern Africa to the Solomon Islands 6Habitat: Often associated with coral reefs to a depth of around 30m 6Tank size: Ideally a large footprint around 200x100x50cm 6Temperature: 25°C 6Temperament: Ideally suited to a species only tank 6Feeding: Enjoys fresh and frozen meaty fare, such as shrimps, fish pieces, whole fish, crabs, mussel, cockle and so on 6Availability and cost: A rare find nowadays with prices starting around £300 1000 l+ Water volume Blue spot stingrays don’t have a fixed gestation period. Females have been known to carry pups for as little as four months or as long as seven months! gold dust stingray, Potamotrygon marinae. It’s a very rare species, as far as I know she's the only one in Europe. I’m looking for a male to go with her. I also bred the marble stingray, Potamotrygon motoro, and managed to raise several pups. The ray tanks are custom built by MG Marines to perfectly fi t to the available space. They were assembled here, in the fi shroom. Every tank has a sump tank underneath to keep the water pristine. GH: Talking about water, how often do you change water? Usually with the rays the water quality is a big issue. SW: Yeah, they need very good water quality. I do a 10% waterchange in the morning, another 10% in the afternoon and 10% in the night. GH: Every day? That must be a lot of work! SW: Not really, as the waterchanges are done automatically, with computer-controlled solenoid valves. Every tank system is individually connected to the central unit, so I could do a waterchange three times a day at the required percentage whether it’s only a 10% ‘refreshing’ or a 50% big change. The aquariums have overfl ows directly plumbed to the drain, so no need to lift heavy buckets. For water changes I use RO water mixed with HMA fi ltered water. My tapwater has a pH of 7.5 and not too hard, so good to use. GH: Well, it’s no surprise then that with so many waterchanges they do so well. Do you do the same with the marine tanks? SW: In the marine tank I do 100 litres once a week (that’s about 10%). That’s not automated. I have a large female gold dust stingray, Potamotrygon marinae. It’s a very rare species, as far as I know she’s the only one in Europe Hand feed stingrays at your peril!
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 67 STEVE’S FISH LIST: 6Blue spotted stingray, Taeniura lymma 6Gold dust stingray, Potamotrygon marinae 6Marble stingray, Potamotrygon motoro 6Cherry shrimp, Neocaridina davidi 6Parrot cichlids: polar blue, platinum, pink 6Jack Dempsey, Rocio octofasciata 6Red devil cichlid, Amphilophus labiatus 6Angelfish, Pterophyllum scalare 6Geophagus tapajos 6Leopard frog pleco, L134 6L46 zebra pleco, Hypancistrus zebra 6Queen arabesque pleco, L260 6Panaqolus tankei, L398 6Green phantom pleco, L200 6Bristlenose pleco, Ancistrus sp. 6Red titanic cactus pleco, L273, Pseudacanthicus sp. 6Clown loach, Chromobotia macracanthus 6Goldfish, Carassius auratus Fish that arrived after my visit: 6Red arowana, Scleropages formosus 6Blackberry silver dollar, Myleus schomburkii 6Tiger silver dollar, Metynnis fasciatus 6Cuckoo catfish, Synodontis granulosus GH: Staying with the marine theme, could you please tell me more about your blue spotted stingrays, as breeding them in captivity is extremely difficult and rare. I know that a public aquarium (The Deep in Hull) managed to do it some time ago, but I couldn’t find any reliable records from private breeders. How did you achieve it? SW: I reckon I’m among the firsts in Europe to achieve it. When I purchased my pair I went to the top fish shops and they said that I could never breed them but I thought why not to give it a go. I looked after them the best I could and two years later I had a pup. GH: You must have done something well. SW: Yes, I guess I’m doing it right. They live in a 193-gallon (just under 1000-litre) tank. The system is not new, over 25 years old. The tanks are custom made by MG Marines. There’re some structural concrete posts in the kitchen and the system was built around them. It comes with two separate sumps, one for the rays and one for the goldfish tank. The rays are mainly fed on prawns, mackerel, squid and pellets. GH: The goldfish above the ray tank look absolutely gorgeous. They seem to really enjoy the big tank. SW: Yes, they like it here. Many of them were born here, as I have recently started to breed goldfish. I use a spawning mop and hatch the eggs separately. It’s very interesting that when young some fish were black and then changed colour. GH: Any future plans? SW: I plan to move the goldfish to the shed and bring the gold dust ray in. I hope that I could buy a male soon, but they’re very expensive, costing in a region of £1200. My female is around seven years old, should be ready to breed soon. She has plenty of time as rays could live up to 50 years, so they are really long-time commitments. GH: Thank you for having me here and I wish you good luck with the gold dusts—please inform me if (or rather when) you managed to breed them as well! Many of Steve’s goldfish are home bred. A curious mix!
RETAILER FOCUS ituated just a few minutes’ drive from Stoke-on-Trent railway station, Just Finns sits in an easy-to-spot location on a street corner as part of a small complex of buildings. A cautionary note—if you’re using Google Street View to recce the position in advance, the approach from one direction uses some obsolete old images that show the building in an older incarnation, and with a different business (and its signs) in residence. A car park JUST FINNS Nathan Hill takes a journey out to a growing store with an exciting future. AT A GLANCE JUST FINNS Address: Unit 1, Wheldon Road Industrial Estate, Campbell Road, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 4DX Phone: 01782 848029 Website: www.justfinns.co.uk Facebook: Just Finns shop Parking: On-site car park sits directly out front of the property, making visiting easy. Walking through a short entrance corridor, the store opens up (almost explodes) in many directions. My advice is to take a loop around everything first just to get your bearings—there are rooms off of rooms, and they’re all different. Just Finns is a store that has grown and reborn several times (starting as a small, home-breeding enterprise, the business moved through ever increasing property sizes before settling where it is now), and it’s obvious that there’s more growing yet to do. The current home is an old industrial building that used to make tank parts, so it’s something of a warren of office rooms and open spaces inside. So where to start? I’ll get the part least likely to interest aquarists done first—the reptile room. A recent addition (technically an expansion from a previous, smaller room), it boasts everything the typical herp-fan is looking for: snakes, chameleons, geckos and dragons. For the wily fishkeeper, such rooms can be a valuable source of live foods (aquarists with big carnivores have long appreciated access to the likes of crickets and various worms), 68 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING Marines are vibrant and healthy.
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 69 and for someone bridging the aquatic and terrestrial worlds with paludariums, the frogs will be of interest. Back in the main arena, the freshwater systems sit along a side wall, and contain a heady, eclectic mix of species. It’s difficult to put the livestock into any set genre, with as many recently ‘in vogue’ species as there are old school classics. There are occasional tankbusters (young shovelnose catfish, giant gourami, peacock bass) pockmarking the oddball/curiosity racks, but there’s also plenty of stuff that makes you go ‘Oh… Oh, okay!’ In my case, it was a (really) large fahaka pufferfish (£99.95), Holland’s piranha, Serrasalmus hollandi (£49.95), figureof-eight puffers (£9.95, for chunky little lumps), and a couple of blasts from the past: giraffe catfish (£34.99); and a newly arrived marbled clarias. Love or hate the Clarias, I’ve a soft spot for them. Into Africa There’s also a clear dedication to Malawi cichlids, with a few banks devoted just to them. Credit where it’s due, while there’s always a temptation to import small, cheap fish with good profit margins, Just Finns prefers to steer towards something a bit chunkier and far Phantom plecs make up one of several loricariids. The newer reptile section. Easy to spot! ALL PHOTOS: NATHAN HILL
70 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING RETAILER FOCUS Roadtrip: JUST FINNS brighter, and at reasonable prices to the customer. Some especially bold orange blotch Aulonocara caught my eye at £11.95 a pop, but the whole spread of Africans was an affordable buffet to be enjoyed. Given the surging costs of livestock (and running aquatic stores in general) it’s obvious that the days of cheap tankfillers are behind us, but moving to the community section of the freshwater selection revealed robust, healthy fish of a perfectly reasonable price. I arrived immediately after a bank holiday weekend, so the best livestock had been cherry picked, but for the keen-eyed aquarist there were still plenty of gems to be had: Corydoras schwartzi (£7.95, three for £21), along with intermittent Apistogramma and suckermouth cats. As a barometer to the pricing of fish, staples that you can pick up here at £3.95 a head include male guppies, kuhli loach and rummynose tetra—you get the idea. Down past the tropical selections, the systems become coldwater/ unheated tanks with the obligatory goldfish. Again, another fish that has seen its prices creep up over the years, Just Finns’ offerings give bang for their buck, with some good sized goldies—standard and fancy—at respectable prices. Keep an eye open for some sweet ranchu at £14.95 a pop. Turn 180° and you’re now face to face with a few indoor ponds housing koi. Yet again, everything is respectable and fairly priced, but there’s no emphasis on gigantic or exclusive fish. Rather, what’s on offer caters to that middle-of-the-road pondkeeper who’s neither looking for absolute entry level nor high-end livestock. A short trip around behind this part reveals an adequate array of pond sundries—filters, foods,
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 71 INTERESTING FISH AFRICAN PIKE CHARACIN The ‘pike’ part of the name is no mistake for this fish; adults look similar to native UK pike. For sure, it needs a big tank, and it has the potential to grow over 60cm long (rare in tanks, however), but in the right setting (I’m thinking a 6x2x2ft tank) and with robust tankmates that it can’t eat, it’s an impressive focal piece. 6Scientific name: Hepsetus odoe 6Pronunciation: Hep-set-uss oh-do 6Size: To 60cm+, usually half of that 6Origin: Africa, widespread 6Habitat: Large bodies of water like rivers and lakes, often at banks or amongst plants 6Tank size: 180x75x60cm 6Water requirements: Soft and acidic to slightly alkaline water; 6.0-7.5pH, 6-20°H 6Temperature: 24-28°C 6Temperament: Will eat smaller fish and ignore similarly sized ones 6Feeding: Fresh meaty foods like whitebait, fish chunks, earthworms, cockle, mussel, prawn 6Availability and cost: An infrequent find, this one was available for £42.95 800 l+ Water volume medications and the like—and a modest selection of garden pond plants in fine fettle. Aquarium plants are available, although it’s generally quite run of the mill greenery (most aquarium stores now are pretty generic on the selections available) and there’s not a huge emphasis on aquascaping— yet. The first seeds of aquascaping seemed to be emerging on my visit, with a section of shelving given over to CO2 hardware, substrates, ferts and other planting essentials— largely Colombo branded. Moving across the spacious building, you eventually find a marine section through a door in another corner. An even mix of livestock and dry goods (largely TMC and Red Sea), with the dry goods catering to a reasonably advanced level of reefkeeper. The marine department was a little light on livestock—as with the freshwater side, the marine fish, along with soft corals, LPS and SPS had had a busy weekend—but not light on knowledge. Section head Michael is something of a powerhouse of marine information, with a history of running his own, marine-only businesses previously. Get chatting to him and a nicer marine buff you’ll struggle to meet, with equal parts experience and enthusiasm. Staff deserves a mention more broadly. The many heads around the store create a hive of activity, with customers revelling in the attention. For those who might suspect it was a show put on in my presence, one only has to look at the string of reviews across social media and the company’s own website to see that reverence for the team is probably the most common theme. ‘Helpful staff , friendly bunch, appreciations to the team…’ make up the bulk of feedback. African pike characin. Albino ruby shark. The community side of the fish house.
72 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING RETAILER FOCUS Roadtrip: JUST FINNS Drying up For dry goods, Just Finns is a little disorienting and takes some navigating. The layout has undergone a few trial-and-error morphs, with most products now being arranged roughly by category, but if you’re after something specific there may be some searching involved. There are some quirks (a tiny room seemingly dedicated to nothing but aquarium wood), but as you scout around you see a blend of both value and premium aquarium gear from the likes of Fluval, Ciano, Betta, Aqua One, Superfish, Eheim, Vitalis, Hikari, Fish Science, Oase and so on. As a former retailer myself, what becomes most notable on my visit is the amount of still untapped potential of the premises. Given the privilege of a behind the scenes tour, it’s obvious that there are still several (currently closed off) rooms in waiting—currently in use as either quarantine facilities or product storage—and conversations with manager Mark suggest that the business will be evolving further still, so I’ll be watching with some excitement. As well as being a bricks-andmortar site, Just Finns has embraced the inevitability of mail order, but currently that applies to dry goods and inverts. There are external services also provided, from system installation to maintenance, all of which can be enquired after either in store or at the Just Finns website. On the whole, this is a store with appeal for a wide demographic of fishkeepers. Newcomers will enjoy the variety and the abundance of advice, more advanced aquarists looking for something different will enjoy the blend of old school oddities mixed with more recently fashionable treats, and marine keepers will enjoy the expertise on offer. For sure, at first glance the infrastructure looks a little dogeared, but then so do my favourite books and I still enjoy them. ABOVE: A wide building with a bit of everything. BELOW: Pond plants are located indoors.
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 73 Given the advantage of a behind the scenes tour, it’s obvious that there are still several (currently closed off) rooms in waiting, and conversations with manager Mark suggest that the business will be evolving further still, so I’ll be watching with some excitement Psychedelic mandarin fish. Even axolotls can be found here. Figure of eight puffers are well priced. Look for the mudskipper tank. Boesemani rainbowfish.
74 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING READERS’ POLL Vote for your favourite store in our Readers’ Poll – and you could win a great prize from Fluval! ERE WE are again! It’s your annual opportunity to vote for your favourite stores from anywhere across the United Kingdom. Each year, PFK runs its highly anticipated Readers’ Poll as a way to give you, the aquarium-shopping public, a clear voice on who you think has gone above and beyond, or simply deserves long-due recognition. For retailers, coming top place in one (or more) of the multiple categories is a badge of honour, and it’s more than possible that you’ve visited a previous winner before. But more than that, it’s also a huge ‘thank you’ to hard working teams working what is often a thankless job. Your votes really do make a difference. Not only do store workers strive to offer the best advice possible, but they work tirelessly over long hours to keep their livestock in perfect shape—they’ll even share your grief if you have a fishy disaster at home. The Readers’ Poll matters to the sales assistants and weekend algae wipers as much as it matters to the managers and store owners, and for some, there’s no higher praise. The Poll, as it always has been, is entirely democratic—one person, one vote. And it relies on you to make it happen! It matters not whether you’re voting for a new store or old; a large, nationwide chain or a small independent; a mainstream shop or a hyper-specialist one. Furthermore, you aren’t expected to vote for the same store across all categories (unless it really is that good). Instead, take your time and think back to the best experiences you’ve had in each of the 11 voting areas. We want the names of the crème de la crème of UK retailers and nothing less! To keep things tidy (and to reduce the carbon footprint of postal votes), we’re repeating our ‘online only’ voting format— sincere apologies to fans of sending letters! How to vote Simply go to the PFK website at practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/readerspoll. From there it’s as simple as writing a name down alongside each of the categories in the Poll. Eagle-eyed former voters may notice that the categories have changed over the years, as we evolve to reflect the industry. As a quick walkthrough for those new to the Readers’ Poll (and a reminder for those who aren’t), here’s a breakdown of the categories we’re asking you to fill... RETAILER OF THE YEAR Big or small, chain or standalone, all we want is for you to tell us the single best store you know of. ONLINE RETAILER OF THE YEAR This doesn’t have to be ‘only’ an online store, but any store with a website you can buy from. INDEPENDENT RETAILER OF THE YEAR Specifically, we’re asking you about your favourite store that isn’t part of a larger chain. We like to let the little (and often not so little) guys shine. MARINE FISH RETAILER OF THE YEAR Who would be your go to for saltwater fish (not corals) in the UK? CORAL RETAILER OF THE YEAR Who would be your go to for saltwater corals (not fish) in the UK? ODDBALL RETAILER OF THE YEAR Everything freshwater and unusual lives in this category, from pufferfish to snakeheads, archerfish to Polypterus, knife fish to stingrays, and everything in between. AQUASCAPING RETAILER OF THE YEAR Whether it’s for the best plants or the best supporting hardware for planted tank, tell us who keeps your ‘scapes tip-top. CICHLID RETAILER OF THE YEAR It could be Apistogramma, it could be African Rift Valley fish, but all we want to know is where you’ve seen the best selection of cichlids. CATFISH RETAILER OF THE YEAR Whether you prefer Corydoras and plecs, or big pimelodids and bagrids, we want you to tell us the store that has the best catfish. DISCUS RETAILER OF THE YEAR Whether it’s a committed discus-only retailer or a general store with an amazing selection, we want to know who has the best in the country. POND RETAILER OF THE YEAR A catch all category for everything that goes outdoors, whether koi, goldfish, pond plants or hardware.
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 75 TERMS & CONDITIONS WHAT YOU COULD WIN! RULES: The business that receives the most votes for each category will be declared the winner of that category, followed by a runner-up in each. The 40 retailers (or websites where applicable) with the highest numbers of votes will also be listed alphabetically in a PFK Top 40 Shops ranking. 6Retailers, their staff and families are not eligible to vote. Votes believed to be spurious will be disqualified. Voting is open to UK residents only. All published results are final, and no correspondence will be entered into by the promoters of the Readers’ Poll. 6One vote per reader. Vote online at: practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/readerspoll. 6Multiple votes are not allowed. 6Prize winners will be notified by post. There is no cash alternative. 6All entries will be placed into a prize draw. The first ten names drawn will win one 90g pot of Fluval Bug Bites flake food. If for any reason beyond the promoter’s control it is not possible to provide the stated prize, the promoter reserves the right to off er an alternative prize of no less value. The promoter’s choice of alternative prizes is final. No entries can be returned, no cash alternative given and no correspondence will be entered into. 6The promoter accepts no responsibility for resultant loss or damage to persons or properties (other than death or personal injury due to negligence of the promoter or their agents) as a result of these prizes being awarded. Prizes will be dispatched 28 days after the closing date. 6We and our partners reserve the right to feature the names, photographs and locations of the winners in any future promotional activity. 6Details of the winners will be available towards the end of the year by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to: Practical Fishkeeping, Warners Publications, The Maltings, West Street, Bourne, Lincs, PE10 9PH Without your votes, there’d be no Readers’ Poll! So, by way of a thank you, we automatically put your details into a prize draw for a 90g tub of Fluval Bug Bites Flakes. FLUVAL WRITES: “Most freshwater fish are omnivores and regularly feed on insects in the wild. However, not all insects are created equally when it comes to a fish’s diet. Bug Bites Tropical Flakes are formulated with sustainably harvested Black Soldier Fly Larvae which are raised on fruits and vegetables for exceptional ‘super food’ nutrition. “The ingredients in the Tropical formula include high quality protein sources that stimulate a strong feeding response in fish, while providing a complete amino acid profile that is essential to their growth and condition. The end result… a delicious food fish simply can’t get enough of! “10 lucky winners will receive a large tub of Fluval Bug Bites!” SHUTTERSTOCK SHUTTERSTOCK Share pics and stories of your favourite shops on our Facebook page. #pfkreaderspoll
76 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING Cast your vote NOW for your favourite retailer! READERS’ POLL CLASSIFIED READERS’ POLL 2023 AQUATICS CENTRE 01772 623497 Over 250 tanks stocked with Top Quality Fish and a Huge dry goods section! www.aquahome.co.uk VOTE FOR US FLUKE-SOLVE PLUS FLUKE-SOLVE PLUS is a product developed by Fish 7UHDWPHQW/WGIRUWKHFRQWURORIWKHUHVLVWDQWÁXNHV ZKLFKKDYHPDGHWKHLUDSSHDUDQFHLQNRLVLQFHODWH in 2019. 2QHVLQJOHWUHDWPHQWLVDOOLWWDNHV-XVWULSWLSDQG VWLU(IÀFDF\KDVEHHQGHPRQVWUDWHGE\H[WHQVLYH clinical trials in problem ponds where other treatments just hadn’t ZRUNHG)RUXVHLQ.RL&DUSH[FOXVLYHO\6DIHDQGHIIHFWLYH %X\GLUHFWZZZÀVKWUHDWPHQWFRXN 75$'((148,5,(6:(/&20( Tel: 01773 861255 Open 7 Days - 65-67 Wharf Road, Pinxton, Notts. NG16 6LH (near M1 J28) TROPICAL - MARINE - POND & COLDWATER Six-time winner of top UK aquatic retailer www.wharfaquatics.co.uk We would like to say a big thank you to all our loyal customers, and also the many new faces we have met over the last two very difficult years. Despite the difficulties during the pandemic, we are very pleased that so many of you left very positive reviews about our friendly and helpful staff team. Google 4.8 (over 1,900 reviews) Facebook 4.8 (over 500 reviews) Your continued support is always appreciated, and if you haven’t been able to visit for a while, we hope to see you again soon – come and see our newly revamped tank showroom! Huge range of livestock in more than 600 tanks! RETAIL SHOPPERS ONLY 220 Bethnal Green Road, London, E2 Tel: 020 77395356 www.wholesaletropicalsaquatics.co.uk Vote for us! ‘New aquarium store based In coastal Norfolk that is fresh open after only one year they have successfully established a beautiful selection of freshwater and marine aquaria which will impress most hobbyists.’ We aim to provide a warm welcoming experience with a friendly feeling in an open clean and well presented environment. We proudly offer quarantined fish for purchase and will do out utmost best to ensure only quality colourful livestock is available to you whenever you visit us at competitive prices. We welcome all fish keepers no matter how experienced and if your not in a rush will provide you with an option of a beverage and a chinwag. All topics and experiences about aquarium keeping will be greatly received.’ We even offer a loyalty card to collect stamps with each purchase of only £10! And when full you can enjoy 20% off your next shop with us. We wish for your vote to be your top store in 2023! Follow us on Facebook, tiktok and or Instagram plenty of sneak peeks and availability.’ Little Fish Aquatics UK www.littlefishaquaticsuk.com Bring your aquarium to life with our aquatic plants Visit our Aquascaping shop and showroom Unit 20C, Uplands Industrial Estate, Mere Way, Wyton, Cambs PE28 2JZ Delivering you the highest quality plants & aquascaping supplies www.aquariumgardens.co.uk 01480 450572
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 77 FIRST LOOK GEAR & REVIEWS Nathan Hill takes a first look at OASE water conditioning and plant food While the plant root tablet isn’t anything especially new, it’s nice to see a readily available option appear from OASE. Targeted at plants in substrates (so of little use for the epiphyte plants discussed on page 58 of this issue) they’re a slow-release fertiliser that gets nutrients right where they need to be. And that’s great for me as I’m notoriously bad for adding liquid supplements on time. One tablet treats two large plants (think of a couple of juicy, hungry Amazon swords) for eight to ten weeks at a time, and adding them is as simple as poking them into the substrate near to the base of the plants you’re feeding. The ingredients are nicely comprehensive too, with a mix of nitrate, phosphate and potassium (the main ingredients) bolstered by magnesium, manganese, iron, copper, zinc, molybdenum and boron. That’s a lot of important bases covered right there. A pot of 20 tablets will cost you £10.99 at full retail price. Foam package insert is a nice touch. Can be hard to gauge when they need replacing. When I asked OASE to slip me in a bottle of dechlorinator with some review products they were sending me, I didn’t expect several litres of it to turn up. That said, I’m not complaining as it’s top notch. Most of us are aware of the need to dechlorinate water, but it has become such a commonplace act that lots of newcomers possibly don’t know why it’s so essential. First and foremost, chlorine that is added to tapwater (it stops us from catching things like typhoid and cholera, so it’s pretty useful) can be outright lethal to fish—it takes out trout in spectacular fashion, for example. Where it doesn’t kill outright, it can damage the skin and mucous layer of fish, burn gills, and attack more exposed regions like fins and eyes. Chlorine bad. Next, chlorine is added to tapwater to kill bacteria. Now think about what lives inside your biological filter, converting all of your fish wastes down and keeping the tank safe. A slimy citadel of bacteria, who really don’t want a run-in with the stuff . That’s why so many tanks suff er catastrophic crashes after a filter has been rinsed under a cold running tap. So those are the basic reasons, but there’s more to tapwater than that, and more to a modern dechlorinator like we have here. Heavy metals, for example, are bound up and neutralised by the ingredients. There have also been advances in the addition of Vitamin B complexes, as found in OASE’s product. Pending your sources, you might read that Vitamin B complexes help to reduce stress, or that they are depleted rapidly in stressed fish. Either way, there’s a link between adding them to the water and reducing stress/negating the eff ects of stress. And we know that a Vitamin B deficiency in fish can cause a host of problems including anaemia, rapid breathing, lethargy, organ damage, reluctance to feed, and lot more. I’d rather have the stuff in my conditioner that not, if you know what I mean. Using it is easy. Give the bottle a good shake first (shake it to wake it), and then add 25ml per 100 litres of tank water. It’s unlikely you’ll be lugging a 100-litre tub of water from sink to aquarium, so reduce the dosage accordingly— 2.5ml (half a teaspoon) per 10 litres will do the job. It acts almost instantly, so after a swill about you’re good to go. A slight overdose isn’t an issue, either. Oh, and I know someone will ask—treat the water before pouring it into the tank. Five sizes are available, with approximate prices given as: 100ml (£4.80); 250ml (£8.65); 500ml (£12.99); 1 litre (£21.00); and 5 litre (£72.00) The Vitamin B complex is a real bonus. It’s a late arrival to an established dechlorinator market. OASE PLANT BOOST TABLET Reviewer: Nathan Hill More info: oase.com OASE LESSSTRESS PLUS WATER CONDITIONER Reviewer: Nathan Hill More info: oase.com
78 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING GEAR & REVIEWS TRIED & TESTED things we get in tiny packages these days. There was a time that I’d not go near many LED lights, in part because I felt they were overhyped, but also because I refused to get a smartphone, which was needed to control the more advanced models. You need a smartphone to operate the Fluval Plant Nano. In the packaging come some instructions about installation, and on those you’ll find a QR code taking you to the app. Install that, make sure your Bluetooth settings are on, and once you open the app you’ll see the device right there. Connect it up and away you go. If you want to make things more personalised, you can rename the connection—just go to the three dots in the top right of the screen and go to ‘Rename’. FLUVAL PLANT SPECTRUM LED NANO Reviewer: Nathan Hill Review period: 8+ weeks Price: £136.99 at full RRP More info: uk.hagen.com Out of the box you get the light (12.7x12.7cm), along with the mounting accessories. Assembly is intuitive enough, but instructions are included. The height of the light is adjusted manually and secured with a screw fitting, while the mount is connected to the glass via a deep indent and another securing screw. You can use it on glass from 3mm to 8mm thick, which is where any sensible nano is going to be. A cable fixed to the back of the light slips through the mount via a holding clip underneath the supporting arm. It’s all very tidy. You can even swivel the head through 90° to focus on one area of the tank, though the 120° spread of the light is pretty comprehensive for any nano set-up. The LED unit is rated IP67, which means if it dunks into the tank, it won’t leak unless it goes beyond 1 metre deep. The lifespan is quoted at 50,000 hours, which equates to over 11 years (assuming it’s on for 12 hours daily). It contains 63 LEDs and has a power consumption of maximum 15W. Now, the fun bit. With the light fixed in place, and with the power on, opening your smartphone (and the FluvalSmart app) allows you to connect the devices together and turn it on. Off the bat you’re presented with three options: Manual, Auto, and Pro. In Manual, you’re presented with five sliding bars, each of which alters the intensity of any one configuration of LEDS. The diodes are arranged by colour (pink, blue, cold white, pure white, and warm white) and you can adjust them up and down, playing with the colours until you find something you like. If you stumble upon something really pleasant, you can save it—hold one of the ‘P’ buttons at the bottom of the screen and it’ll be there waiting for you whenever you press that ‘P’ button. Great fun, but it does rely on you to access the app each time you want to turn the light on and off . If you’re happy doing that, you have a range of around 12 metres (pending phone) to do this. Next you have the Auto setting. Here you have three presets (to scroll through them, click the ‘export’ icon at the bottom of the screen, highlight which preset you want to use, and click export. You have three preset options: Tropical River, Lake Malawi (which feels a bit redundant on a nano), and Planted, each with a diff erent arrangement of LED intensity. Planted is notably white and pink, Lake Malawi is mainly pure white with a little pink and cold white, while Tropical River is the warmest with a mix of whites and pink. ABOVE: That’s a lot of diodes for a nano! BELOW: In situ, it really delivers.
WWW.PRACTICALFISHKEEPING.CO.UK 79 VERDICT EASE OF USE: FEATURES: VALUE: OVERALL: As an LED for a nano tank, this delivers so far above and beyond that it makes me wonder how I even survived in the olden days of T5 bulbs. Okay, it’s not the cheapest at RRP, but most retailers have them at under the £100 mark, which is really good for what you’re getting. If you’re a nano tank aquascaper and can’t get plants to grow with this, I can assure you that the lighting is not the problem. By adjusting the sunrise and sunset settings (displayed on the bottom of the Auto screen) you can change your photoperiod to suit yourself, slowly ramping the lights up and down for as long as you like, whenever you like. The ‘sleep’ option allows you to decide exactly when everything goes off if you’re also using the ‘night’ setting feature. Simply save your setting once you’re happy with it, exit the app, and that’s what the light will keep recreating, to the same timeline, day in and day out. Then into the Pro setting. This is where it gets really spicy. Here you have ten different timepoints, each of which can be adjusted at 5-minute increments. At each timepoint you can use sliding bars to specify exactly what intensity of each diode configuration you want, allowing you to rise and dip throughout the photoperiod. Fancy a blackout siesta in the middle of the day? Just slip one in. Want a long, drawn-out sunset that blends into a slow rising moonscape? Total doddle. You have absolute control within a ten-point timeframe to do whatever you want. And, as with the auto setting, simply save it once it’s done, exit the app, and that’s what you’ll keep getting until the day it dies. The only exception comes if the light unit gets disconnected from its power supply (when it comes back on it automatically resets to midnight), in which case just go back into the app, pick your saved setting, and it’ll jump back to where it should be. How much light does it pump out? Luckily, I have an ITC PARwise to hand, and so I ran it thought a few presets and came up with the following at a depth of 20cm in clear water. Under Tropical River I had ~51 PAR, and 1500 LUX. Under Lake Malawi I had ~37 PAR and 1000 LUX. While under Planted I had ~60 PAR and 1700 LUX. Going all out and ramping everything up to maximum in the manual settings, I had ~70 PAR and 1900 LUX. Which, for a nano light, really isn’t shabby at all. If you ever find yourself stuck, all just go back to the home screen, and at the bottom you’ll see the Support icon. Tap this, and suddenly you’ve access to a user manual, FAQs, troubleshooting tips, and even some videos to help guide you through getting the most out of it. ABOVE: A versatile glass mount. TOP: Blue LEDs on show. BELOW: A glance at some of the many setting options.
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82 PRACTICAL FISHKEEPING Sometimes you can use a word your whole life and then one day wake up and it doesn’t make sense. Well, we certainly have one in fishkeeping... S IT TIME that we gave up on old phrases that have outlived their utility? As aquarists we’ve experienced decades of evolution, seeing our equipment transform from primitive (I’m looking at you undergravels) to astoundingly high tech. And yet, despite all of this progress, some of our fi shkeeping lexicon seems woefully archaic. In particular, I’ve long questioned just how useful the legacy fi shkeeping phrase ‘community aquarium’ is. At face value, it seems to convey some meaning, but you only need to graze the veneer at its surface to realise just how nebulous it really is. Community tank seems to be more of a fl awed concept than a blueprint. I’m guilty of using it, repeatedly. If I scanned back through the pages of this issue, I’ve likely written it down myself somewhere. And it seems like such an authoritative term, with such a long history of use in the hobby, that it almost seems to mean something. But did it ever? I decided to burrow back into history a bit to see if I could fi nd an origin for this ambiguous phrase. I’ll confess, I couldn’t pinpoint when it started, or when it became adopted in common parlance, but interestingly I did fi nd that some of the fi shkeeping pioneers were as leery of the term, decades before I was even born, as I am now. A great example is in William T Innes’ Exotic Aquarium Fishes (1966 edition), where he dedicates three pages to a section entitled “Community Tank” Combinations (his own quotation marks). His opening remarks to it deserve quoting in full. ‘In response to many requests for “happy family” selections for diff erent sizes and kinds of aquariums, we present, with some hesitation, the following suggestions.’ With some hesitation. That’s how I always felt when I was asked by customers to advise on community fi sh. Without any context or qualifi cation, the term seems almost nonsensical. Does community mean they don’t eat each other? Not chase each other? Not intimidate each other? Live in some utopia of perfect harmony? The oddest thing is that all of us seem, somewhere deep down, to have our own interpretation of what it means, while simultaneously being unable to defi ne it. In dictionary terms, a ‘community’ is a social unit that shares some form of commonality. No help there, then. So many fi shes share a multitude of overlapping commonalities. But perhaps in an earlier time, when the selection of livestock was a fraction of what it is now, the term did have some guidance value, assuming it was used in an exclusionary sense. Perhaps to be ‘noncommunity’ was a way to defi ne fi sh that grew too large (or small), became too hostile or nervous around others, or had some environmental requirement that put them outside the fringes of mainstream fi shkeeping. On that basis we’d be left (as we were) a confused mishmash of fi sh that tolerated each other and survived long enough to keep their owners happy. Even assuming that might be the case, the term has become a vestigial fragment in the wider world of fi shkeeping. Nowadays it’s used universally in the many fi shkeeping niches—Malawi community, nano community, shrimp community, temperate community, cichlid community... it just goes on. For the newcomer, just how helpful is such a defi nition? And who even decides whether a fi sh is community or not? Alas, the politics of fi shkeeping determine that there will never be any objective, agreedupon answer to this conundrum. I suggest that it’s time we considered redefi ning this tired, worn-out phrase from the past. But then again, maybe I’m just not fi tting in with the community. Nathan Hill is editor of Practical Fishkeeping magazine as well as fish magazine. He’s also on the jury for the Biotope Aquarium Design Contest, and an advisor to conservation initiative SHOAL. NATHAN HILL Community tank? Yes, and also somehow no at the same time. TAILPIECE Tailpiece SHUTTERSTOCK
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