Moenkhausia cosmops - Aqualog

Aqualognews NUMBER 96 12
hard, neutral to slightly alkaline water,
such as comes out of the tap in many
places, is quite OK. But they are greedy
feeders that need significantly more food
for healthy development than do fishes
of similar size from other families. And
then, of course, there is the most
important point: goodeids are not
tropical fishes that can be kept yearround
at the same high temperature!
Their habitats lie in subtropical zones at
an altitude of up to 2000 meters above
sea level and are characterized by
marked daily and seasonal temperature
fluctuations as well as intense UV
radiation. They thus unequivocally
Outdoor facility of the Fish Ark project at the University of Michoacán in Morelia.
Photo: Gunter Teichmann
belong in an unheated tank sited in a
room that isn’t heated too strongly. In the
warm part of the year, say from around
the beginning of May to the end of
Girardinichthys viviparus
Moribund residual water at Los Pinos on the upper Rio Canatlán, until a few years ago the habitat of a
Characodon population Photo: Gunter Teichmann
September, the method of choice is
outdoor maintenance in planted
containers or even the garden pond.
After a four to five month stay in the
open air, even during an average central
European summer, the fishes will of their
own accord exhibit a brilliance and
intensity of color such as can never be
Ameca splendens Photos: Susanne Schleussner
achieved in the aquarium. The photos of
various goodeid males accompanying
this article are proof that under such
conditions these purportedly drab fishes
Aquarium facility in the Fish Ark.
Photo: Gunter Teichmann
can hold their own with the most colorful
species in the standard aquarium-hobby
repertoire.
Birnbaumskamp 4b
31139 Hildesheim
Tel (05121) 47671 Fax 45750
www.michalski-aquaristik.de
At irregular intervals Aquarium Glaser is
able to offer small quantities of various
species of goodeids captive-bred by the
few people keeping and breeding them
in Germany – a rare opportunity to leave
the well-trodden paths of the aquarium
hobby and get to know this fascinating,
often undervalued group of livebearers
more closely.