Native Fish for the Home Aquarium
(Page 8 of 8)
November/December 1984
By Bill McLarney
Almost equally problematic is the matter of aggression between fish. Some species are naturally sociable; others are solitary and territorial. (Take a clue from nature here: Did you collect a lot of a certain species immediately in one place, or did you find them in small numbers here and there?) Some fish are aggressive primarily toward their own kind; others nip and harass other species. A community of fish is like a community of humans: How individuals get along with one another is largely a matter of "chemistry." Don't assume that all fish of a given species will behave alike, but do remember two rules:
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[1] Allow your fish some opportunity for privacy within the aquarium. Just as humans like to have rooms of their own, fish get along better if they can sometimes swim away from the crowd. Two sunfish that would fight to the death in a bare tank may cohabit peaceably in a tank with an assortment of plants and rocks.
[2] Avoid great disparity in the sizes of fish, especially within a single species.
A FINNY FINIS
Using the information presented here, and the education available through research and experience, you should be well on your way to a new hobby, a pastime that will treat the eyes . . . increase your understanding of, and love for, the natural world that surrounds you . . . and-in effect-bring a little of the brightness of the summer outdoors into your living room yearround!
EDITOR'S NOTE: The best single source of information and encouragement for anyone interested in keeping native fish in the home aquarium is the North American Native Fishes Association (NANFA). A major tenet of NANFA is that without popular appreciation of our native fish, there is unlikely to be effective conservation of the fish and their habitats.
NANFA's official publication is American Currents, a ten-issue-per-year magazine featuring articles on finding, observing, collecting, and breeding native fish.
To join NANFA, send $7.50 (U.S., Canada, and Mexico) or $12.50 (other countries) to Robert Syracuse, Treasurer, 101 Country Club Dr., New Orleans, LA 70124. For further information, write R. Bruce Gebhardt, President, 123 W. Mt. Airy Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19119.
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