When talking about plants suitable for the front of the tank, most of the aquascaping “community” automatically think of Glossostigma elatinoides, Echinodorus tenellus, Lilaeopsis, etc. However, several species of cryptocoryne provide alternatives to make the front scenery of an aquarium look impressive, or they can form a suitable enrichment to an otherwise perhaps monotonous low … Read more
Dario dario is a small, but at first sight very attractive fish, originating from the waters of the Indian provinces of West Bengal and Assam. It makes its home in small streams in the Brahmaputra river basin. The species was first caught and brought to Germany in the summer of 1999; already in January 2000, … Read more
Recently, thanks to a friend, I got a wonderful monograph on livebearers from a British antique shop [1]. Along with a number of otherwise hard to find facts that will warm the systematic zoologist, I found here also an unobtrusive information about the blind livebearer Amblyopsis spelaeus (from Greek: amblys = weak, opis = sight), … Read more
The Prolifera prolifica is the smallest of the 19 species of the extremely interesting genus Poeciliopsis, due to its size (males 10 to 18 mm and females 15 to 30 mm). Moreover, only a few litres of water are really sufficient for breeding. However, it is not its body size that determines whether or not … Read more
This genus, described by Hubbs in 1926, has undergone several transfers and revisions during its 90-year existence (e.g., Recepoecilia and Micropoecila). It was originally created as a systematic unit for the species Poecilia vivipara parae Eigenmann, 1894 (which was hereby revised to Micropoecilia parae). Gradually, it was replaced by a long series of species with … Read more
Colombia, specifically the Rio Truando River of the Rio Atrato system, has been cited as the location where Neoheterandria elegans is found in the wild. This fish is endemic to Colombia and cannot be found elsewhere. It was first described scientifically by Henn in 1916, but was not introduced to Europe until 1988 (Mörth). It … Read more
It is not known exactly which species we grow. We find various names in the literature and on the internet: among others M. angustifolia in Aman’s books, M. hirsuta on Tropica [1], M. crenata most often in shops (although Ch. Kasselmann [2] claims that this species looks different). In fact, the genus Marsilea has more … Read more
A small plant of low stature, native to New Zealand, Australia and Tasmania. It belongs to the family Scrophulariaceae. Its stature makes it suitable for the foreground of the aquarium, ideal for small tanks to fill the empty space right from the front glass of the aquarium. If suitably lit, its height will not exceed … Read more
Hemianthus callitrichoides belongs to the family Scrophulariaceae and is native to Cuba. It is one of the smallest aquarium plants in the world. Its size makes it ideal for small aquariums, but it can also be used in larger, well-lit tanks. Its root system is only a few millimetres below the substrate. On the surface, … Read more
Among the carpetaceae, this plant found its way into my aquariums first. It’s been a few years since I collected a few cups of this smallest representative of echinodorus with quite a lot of effort. The condition of the plants was deplorable, the owner of the aquarium shop gave me the cups for a symbolic … Read more