Native Fish for the Home Aquarium

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

The killifish (family Cyprinodontidae) are one of the few groups of native aquarium fish that have attracted a following. A small but dedicated organization of fanciers, the American Killifish Association, has adopted the enlightened outlook that native "killies" deserve equal billing with their tropical brethren. (Killies occur on all the continents.) One Florida species in particular, the flagfish (Jor danella f loridae), is most commonly used to pull the "new import from Timbuktu" hoax.

No tropical-fish tank would be complete without at least one South American "vacuum cleaner" catfish serving as a scavenger. And the native-fish fanciers will be glad to know that its counterparts among the North American catfish (family Ictaluridae) run to more than 35 species. The more familiar kinds, such as bullheads and channel catfish (Ictalurus spp.), are attractive (well, maybe cute) when young, but they may eventually outgrow their quarters in your home. However, the majority of American catfish be- , long to a group known as the madtoms (Noturus spp.), few of which exceed six inches in length.

Some aquarists derive particular (some would say perverse) pleasure from keeping "goldfish gulpers"-single, large predatory pets. For me, the best of such fish are the redfin pickerel (Esox americanus americanus) and the grass pickerel (Esox americanus v ermiculatus), which are miniature pikes that nature made in aquarium sizes. They seldom reach more than a foot in length. The young of the larger pikes (Esox spp.), garfishes (Lepisosteus spp.), and bowfins (Amia calva), to name a few, might also make acceptable denizens of your aquarium.

At the other extreme, a hobbyist who has really limited space should consider the tiny, hardy sticklebacks (family Gasterosteidae), which thrive in the smallest containers. An ordinary dime-store goldfish bowl is an ade quate facility in which to maintain sticklebacks, allowing you to observe their fascinating breeding behavior.

For fanciers of the bizarre, there's the American eel (Anguilla rostrata). And if obscurity is your criterion, try searching the swamps for cavefish (Amblyopsidae). Some species of gobies (Gobiidae) do well in either fresh or salt water, as do killies and small flatfish-such as the hogchoker (Trinectes m aculatus)-which can be interesting novelties. The suckers (Catostomidae) are alternatives to the varieties of catfish. Species of pupfish (Cyprinodon spp.) hail from such extreme habitats as thermal springs or isolated pools in Death Valley. Texas specialties are the Mexican tetra (Astyanax mexicanus) and the Rio Grande perch (Cichlasoma cyanoguttatum), respectively the only North American members of the families Characidae and Cichlidae, which include many popular tropical fish. And then there's the yellow perch (Perca flavescens), the Atlantic needlefish (Strongylura marina), a mixed bag of minnows apart from shiners and daces, and a few native species of the live-bearer family (Poeciliidae), which includes such popular tropicals as the guppy, the platys, swordtails, and mollies. You get the idea: There's no shortage of native fish to appeal to any aquarist's "pet" interest.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print