QUATICAQU AT H E O N - L I N E J O U R N A L O F T H E B R O O K L Y N A Q U A R I U M S O C I E T Y VOL. 30 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2016 N o. 3 Pea Puffer - Carinotetraodon travancoricus HAPPYHAPPY NEWNEW YEARYEAR 1 105 Y EARS OF E DUCATING A QUARISTS AQUATICA VOL. 30 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2016 NO. 3 C ONTENT S PAGE 2 THE AQUATICA STAFF PAGE 21 TERRIFIC TETRAS. Part 1 of a series on easy to find tetras that PAGE 3 CALENDAR OF EVENTS. are excellent community fish. This BAS Events for the years 2016 - 2017 one is on the Von Rio tetra. ANTHONY P. KROEGER - BAS PAGE 4 NOTABLE NATIVES. The Pumpkinseed, Sunfish is a native fish and PAGE 23 LESSER KNOWN LIVE- one of the prettiest. BEARERS. An underappreciated ANTHONY P. KROEGER - BAS livebearer, Perugia’s Limia, an easy to care for and breed fish from the PAGE 5 SPECIES PROFILE. Lepomis Dominican Republic. gibbosus, the Pumpkinseed, also known ANTHONY P. KROEGER - BAS as the Sunfish or Sunny. JOHN TODARO - BAS PAGE 24 SPECIES PROFILE. Perugia’s Limia, Limia perugiae, an easy to care PAGE 6 REFLECTIONS: THE BIO- for livebearer. GEOGRAPHY OF CICHLIDS. Why are certain JOHN TODARO - BAS cichlids located where the y are and not located elsewhere? PAGE 25 SO YOU WANT TO GROW AQUATIC PLANTS. RON COLEMAN - MCAS A quick primer on growing aquatic plants. OLGA BETTS - VAHC PAGE 9 MALABAR PUFFERFISH. The breeding and PAGE 26 PLUMBING A SUMP. The basics of care of this oddball fish. Carinotraodon travancoricus plumbing a sump or wet/dry system. If you are a STAN CHECHAK - GPAS little handy, you can do this DIY project. STEVE MATASSA - BAS PAGE 13 WALTER WORMS. Information on these worms that are smaller than micro worms PAGE 29 THE PRACTICAL PLANT. This month, plus an online source for ordering them. Izzy discusses the care and propagation of the JOHN TODARO - BAS Sunset Hygro, Hygrophilia polysperma. Izzy Zwerin - BAS PAGE 14 WHAT’S IN A NAME? A humorous description of a few Latin names of fish and what they mean. PAGE 31 THE RED STRIPE BARB. This formerly ANTHONY P. KROEGER - BAS popular species of barbs, Barbus bimaculatus , is not often seen in pet stores, but worth looking PAGE 16 VEAL HEART & GARLIC STEW. An for, or special ordering. It’s an easy to breed barb. interesting recipe that uses veal heart rather than ANTHONY P. KROEGER - BAS beef heart because it contains less fat. JOHN TODARO - BAS PAGE 32 SPECIES PROFILE. The Red Stripe Barb, Barbus bimaculatus . PAGE 17 BLUE VELVET SHRIMP. Statistics on JOHN TODARO - BAS this freshwater dwarf shrimp and breeding of dwarf shrimp in the home aquarium. PAGE 33 MY FISH JUST DIED! So your fish just RYAN CURTIS - BAS died, or they are dropping like flies. What do we do?” BILL “PEGASUS” NZ - NEW ZEALAND PAGE 19 TOO TOUGH TO KILL. #5 in the series The Moon Wrasse, Thlassoma lunare. PAGE 36 SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS. THEY ANTHONY P. KROEGER - BAS SUPPORT US. WE MUST SUPPORT THEM. PAGE 20 SPECIES PROFILE. The Moon Wrasse, PAGE 38 SPONSORS ADS. Thlassoma lunare. JOHN TODARO - BAS PAGE 40 MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION. 2 A QUATICA STAF F Editor: John Todaro Contributing Writers: Anthony P. Kroeger Associate Designer: Ginny Cahill Olga Betts Steve Matassa Copy Editor: Kay Martin Stan Chechak Bill “Pegasue” Nz Freshwater Shrimp Editor: Ryan Curtis Ron Coleman Kevin Thurston Plant Editor: Izzy Zwerin Ryan Curtis John Todaro Catfish Editor: Sy Angelicus Marc Elieson Izzy Zwerin Illustrations: JohnTodaro Norman Doughty Chris Giam Julia Noonan All articles in Aquatica are the opinion and experiences of Shelly Sacks the author or authors, and do not necessarily represent Exchange Editor: Kay Martin the opinions of the editors or staff of Aquatica or the Brooklyn Aquarium Society Inc. Note: The Editor takes full responsibility for misspellings and punctuation errors . AQUATICA is published on line bi-monthly (except July/August) by BAS. Original articles may be reprinted by other non-profit organizations, provided proper credit is given to the author and AQUATICA , and two copies are sent to the Exchange Editor. Transcriptions of lectures may not be reprinted without written permission of both Editor and the Speaker. A notice of where original AQUATICA articles have been published should be sent to the BAS Exchange Editor; Tomasz Lis, P.O. Box 290610, Bklyn, NY 11229-0111 AQUATICA will exchange publications with all interested societies. If we do not receive your publications for three consecutive months, we will assume you no longer wish to exchange and your club may be removed from our mailing list. ALL CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING THIS PUBLICATION SHOULD BE SENT TO : • Editor: John Todaro, 247 Middletown Road, South Londonderry VT, 05155 - Phone Fax: 802 824-3743 You can submit articles to the Editor by mail, fax, or E-mail to: [email protected]. The Brooklyn Aquarium Society Inc. is a non-profit organization 501(c) (3) for people interested in the aquarium hobby and the study of aquatic life. The Society meets the 2nd Friday of each month except July and August at the Education Hall of the New York Aquarium at Coney Island, Surf Avenue at West 8th St., at 7:30 PM. Meetings are open to visitors. Refreshments are served. Membership is $25 per year family/$20 individual/$15 for students under 14. Send inquiries or membership checks payable to: Brooklyn Aquarium Society, c/o Membership Chairperson, P.O. Box 290610, Brooklyn, NY 11229-0011. BROOKLYN AQUARIUM SOCIETY BOARD OF DIRECTORS OFFICERS Exchange Editor: BOARD MEMBERS President: Tomasz Lis Bill Amely Steve Matassa Membership Chairperson: Stu Hershkowitz 1st Vice President: David Manuel Gene Kogen Alfred Turrisi Sergeant-at-Arms: Marty Karfinkel 2nd Vice President: Lita Goldberg Mike Roman Marie Licciardello Recording Secretary: Vito Sacchieri Treasurer: Kay Martin Denise Hershkowitz Web Master: Corresponding Secretary: Bernard Deren Dan Smith Editor: John Todaro 3 B R O O K LY N A Q UA R I U M S O C I E TY CALENDAR OF EVENTS ~ 2016 R HAPPY NEW YEA 2016 JAN 8 Jeff B ollbach ~ Getting Rich Breeding Fish ~ Marine fish, aqua-cultured corals,fre shwater fis h, plants & dry goods auction. FEB 12 Joe Caparatte ~ Triton Method ~ Marine fish, aqua-cultured c orals, freshwater fish, plants & dry goods auction. MAR 11 Sal Silvestri ~ Breeding & maintaining Apistogramma Genus and Other S. America Dwarf Cichlids ~ Marine fish,aqua-cultured corals,fresh waterfish , p lants & dry goods auction. APR 8 Richard Pierce ~ Seahorses, Pipefish & Sea Dragons ~ Marine fish, aqua-cultured corals, fre shwater fish , p lants & dry goods auction. MAY 13 Giant Spring Auction ~ Freshwater fish, plants, marine fish, aqua-cultured corals & dry goods in cluding a new 55 gal. tank & stand. JUN 10 Rit Forcier ~ Goodeid Livebearer ~ Marine fish,aqua-cultured corals,fre shwater fish, plants & dry goods auction. BAS elections. JULY/AUGUST - NO MEETINGS SEPT 9 Speaker TBA ~ Marine fish, aqua-cultured corals, fre shwater fish, plants & dry goods auction. OCT 14 Giant Fall Auction ~ Freshwater fish, plants, marine fish, aqua-cultured corals & dry goods, in cluding a new 5 gallon tank & stand. NOV 11 Speaker TBA ~ Marine fish, aqua-cultured corals, fre shwater fish, plants & dry goods auction. DEC 9 Holiday Party ~ Members, their families and friendsdinner. • Fish Bingo & Prizes • BAS awards presentations. 4 Anthony P. Kroeger - BAS Notable Natives he U.S. is home to caves and driftwood should many species of sunfish. complete the scene. I use TOne of the prettiest is Vallisneria and Hornwort as the pumpkinseed. cover plants for them. The top half is brilliant Pumpkinseeds eat any orange. The entire body is frozen food and will take overlaid with neon blue stripes. pellets and flake foods over This fish has an opercular time. They love to eat snails! flap with a large black spot They are peaceful with on it. This spot is edged in any fish they cannot swallow neon blue above and usually do not and below. A fire bother each other engine red spot The except at spawning trails the black time. spot. Fin rays are The breeders black. The caudal PUMPKINSEED must be chilled to is edged in blue Lepomis gibbosus 55˚ - 60˚F for one and all fins have month prior to neon blue dots on them. This is a very pretty fish. breeding. I feed the breeders heavily on earth- Pumpkinseeds are native from southern worms and beef heart prior to breeding. Canada to South Carolina, including New York. Raise the temperature to 68˚ - 70˚F. The They also occur from the Great Lakes down to male’s belly glows orange. He digs a pit that the the Mississippi River. pair will spawn in. Remove the female after In the aquarium, they usually grow to spawning; the male will guard the eggs which about 8” inches, though sometimes larger. hatch in about 3 days. Then remove the male once Pumpkinseeds are a very popular aquarium fish the eggs have hatched. The fry take baby brine in Europe. shrimp once free swimming and are easily raised Pumpkinseeds live in shallow cool waters and grow quickly. I change 25% of both the fry and lakes in nature. They usually stay near cover. and adults’ water twice weekly. A 55 gallon aquarium can easily accommodate Pumpkinseeds are very pretty and fun to half a dozen pumpkinseeds. breed.eed. TTryry this notable native, you’ll be glad you No heaters are needed; room temperature did. is fine; pumpkinseeds like cool water and rapidly fall ill to opportunistic bacterial diseases above y 75˚F.