Fish

Fish shimmies are a symptom rather than a disease. Dr. Mollie Newton, DVM, in Columbus, Ohio, says shimmies are characterized by shaky swimming. This behavior may not be immediately noticeable in active species, like tetras, and it may come and go. Affected fish may shake, twitch or rock their body for short periods of time and otherwise swim normally. Shimmying is an indication that the fish’s nervous system has been compromised. You may notice other behavioral changes such as: head shaking clamped fins (aka holding their fins closer to their body than usual) labored breathing Changes to the fish’s physical appearance may also occur, but these can vary depending on the underlying cause of the shimmies. For example, fish who are stressed by high ammonia levels may also exhibit red streaks on the body and gills or cloudy eyes. Because shimmying is a neurological response to stress, any fish can develop shimmies. There are, however, some fish who appear to be genetically predisposed. Livebearing tropical fish like mollies, platies, swordtails, and guppies are especially prone to shimmies, while other species like platies and swordtails may also be affected. Some experts suggest certain livebearers are predisposed to shimmies due to the way they’re bred and raised. Fancy mollies, for example, are typically bred overseas in brackish conditions where both the pH and general hardness (GH) levels of the seawater are high. In the home aquarium, however, these fish are frequently kept in freshwater. Keeping aquarium fish in water conditions that aren’t ideal for their species or that differ significantly from the conditions in which they were originally raised can cause severe stress. Over time, chronic stress can tax the nervous system and cause the fish’s body to break down. Shimmies can be an indication of this process.,Jump to section What Are Fish Shimmies? Why Is My Fish Shaking? How To Treat Fish Shimmies Preventing Fish Shimmies Other Livebearer Fish Diseases

The beautiful and popular freshwater angelfish (Pterophyllum scalare) has been a staple of the aquarium hobby for more than 100 years. The first importations were recorded in the decade that preceded World War I and created quite a sensation, with aquarists referring to them as the “king” of aquarium fish. For many years, they simply called them “scalare.” The term angelfish became popular in the 1920s and soon became the common name that has remained to this day. In the past decade or so, as the marine hobby became more prominent, some people started referring to them as “freshwater angelfish” to differentiate them from marine angelfish, but when most aquarists say “angel” or “angelfish,” they are referring to P. scalare. Amazingly, they still create quite a sensation to this day, drawing compliments out of folks who aren’t even aquarists. They have a stately bearing that seems to radiate graceful beauty. There’s just no other way to put it.

While there are over 70 members of the genus Betta, the most popular species in the aquarium hobby—and the one often referred to simply as the betta—is Betta splendens. Betta fish are endemic to Thailand, formerly Siam, which is why this species was once known as the Siamese fighting fish. The nickname also reflects the species’ natural territorial and aggressive attitude toward male betta fish. Wild Betta splendens are unremarkable in appearance but may exhibit strong coloration when agitated. Ornamental betta fish, on the other hand, have been selectively bred for brilliant colors and a variety of fin shapes. They’re some of the most vibrant freshwater fish in the aquarium trade. How big can betta fish get? Betta fish generally only grow to a length between 2.5 and 3 inches, though long-finned varieties may appear to be bigger. How long do betta fish live? Both wild and captive-bred betta fish live for an average of 3–5 years.,Jump to section Betta Fish Overview What Do Betta Fish Need? Aquarium Setup for Betta Fish Betta Fish Tank Maintenance What Do Betta Fish Eat? Betta Fish Health Betta Fish Tank Mates FAQs About Betta Fish Care

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Two months ago, you bought that little 10 gallon fish aquarium and stocked it with the usual nice, friendly community fish. Everything has been going really well. You worked through the cycle, you lost one or two, but that was to be expected. After the tank cycled, you added some new fish, and they’re doing great. But. . . what’s that? There’s an ugly brownish spot on the front. The tank is rusting! Quickly, you call your fish friend and ask what’s going on with the tank. “It’s just allergies? What do you mean my tank has allergies?! Oh, algae! Okay, so I need an algae eater!” A visit to the fish store reveals an entire world of algae eaters. The salesperson steers you, oddly enough, away from the fish labeled “algae eaters,” explaining that they get kind of big, don’t eat algae when they get big, and can kill your fish. Instead, he recommends this sucker called a Plecostomus. You plop down your $5, and you and Mr. Pleco are on your way home. Mr. Pleco does a great job of eating the algae in the tank, too. But two weeks later, he’s dead. If you’ve got a good store, they explain to you that you do actually need to feed your pleco, sell you another and a bag of algae wafers. If you’ve got a bad store, they just sell you another. So, you and Mr. Pleco (the Second) head home, and you feed him. And he lives. And he grows. And grows. And grows. And grows. And grows.

The highfin blennies (Astrosalarias) have big eyes and look like ghostly creatures when they swim around. There are two species: the highfin or brown coral blenny (A. fuscus) and the hosokawa blenny (A. hosokawai). The latter is rarely seen in the aquarium trade.,Microalgae. How we loathe it! It can cause reef aquarists great despair as it smothers their corals or makes a once-gorgeous reef tank look like an overgrown meadow. We try to avoid this by keeping phosphate and nitrate levels down (food for algae), adding herbivorous invertebrates (snails and hermit crabs) to reduce algae and also seeking the assistance of algae-eating fish (tangs and rabbitfish, among others). Members of these two fish families can help control algal growth, but they are large and need a lot of swimming room.

Goldfish are extremely popular pets, whether they are living in a fish aquarium inside a home or a pond outside in a yard. But there is one question that goldfish owners often ask—do goldfish sleep? Goldfish do not have eyelids and cannot close their eyes, but they do, in fact, sleep—just not in the same way we do. What Do Goldfish Look Like When They Sleep? Unlike people, goldfish do not lie down when they sleep. Rather, they become less active, staying in one place and moving slowly to keep themselves stable. They look like they are hovering in the tank or pond, usually low in the water, an inch or so off the bottom, with their heads pointed slightly downward. Their color may fade a bit while they are sleeping and will return to normal when they are awake. They change color as a safety measure to hide themselves from predators when they sleep. Finally, goldfishes’ brainwaves don’t change when they sleep, and goldfish don’t enter into periods of deep, REM sleep, as people do.

Camallanus worms are among the most commonly encountered internal parasites for aquarium fish and may infect a wide range of fish species, from guppies to goldfish. Read on to learn about how your aquarium fish can suffer from Camallanus worms how you can identify, treat and prevent these worms from infecting your fish.

We all love pretty fish. Saltwater aquarists can get especially spoiled, as there is a seemingly unlimited range of bold colors and patterns amongst the reef fishes. But, is there more to an “ornamental” fish than its pigments? Can a drab fish have very much value to an aquarist? There certainly is one species that fits the bill—the molly miller blenny (Scartella cristata). Adapted for Many Nearshore Habitats Scartella cristata is very much cosmopolitan in distribution. Built to withstand the rigors of life in the shallow intertidal zone, it is established throughout many tropical, subtropical and temperate seas. Not one to allow itself to be excluded from any sort of nearshore habitat, the species can be found in the Northwest Pacific Ocean (Japan to Taiwan), the Eastern Atlantic Ocean (from Mauritania and the Canary Islands to South Africa), the Western Atlantic Ocean (from Florida to Brazil) and the Mediterranean Ocean (from Spain to Greece). Its growing presence in Southern Europe has been attributed to the effects of global climate change. Molly millers prefer very shallow waters where large predators are scarce and benthic algae is abundant. Densities sharply decrease with increasing depth. While they occupy small tide pools down to around 10 meters deep, population densities are greatest at 2-4 meters depth.