Talk:List of freshwater aquarium fish species

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Contents

[edit] Older topics

I started adding some structure to the listing, mainly grouping by family. Expansion with more species would imho be better to place in articles on the respective families. -- OlofE

Maybe the list should be just a hiearchy down to the level of families and sub-families/logical groups? For instance, instead of a dozen cichlid species, maybe just say something like this for the cichlid node of the tree:

  • Cichlidae
    • African Cichlids
    • American Cichlids

One downside with this is the list is supposed to be targeted towards aquarists but a family page won't be. -- [[User::Zhyla|Zhyla]]

actually, splitting cichlids between american and african might really help aquarists because it is easier to keep african cichlids with african cichlads and americans with americans, they are less likely to beat on each other. and then the african cichlids could even be split up by native lake.. i'm still learning about cichlids but that is what we keep. ours aren't even listed yet, but if/when i find out what they are i will take pictures and add them. we only have african ones.Loosgroov 23:37, 22 October 2005 (UTC)

In my experience, a list grouped by family is most useful, because even if a specific fish is not on a list or in a reference book, similar fishes will be easier to find. Listing by region is less helpful, and an alphabetical listing (whether by scientific name or, worse, common name) is useless -- and yes, I do have a book arranged that way. On another note, maybe instead of just a list there could be section headings for each family, which would generate a table of contents. Ginkgo100 23:59, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Using the table

I'm converting the list to the table format just like the one used for List of marine aquarium fish species. Also I'm adding a picture of each fish if it's available in wikipedia. This is a lot of editing works but at the end it should help readers. Sorry for the inconvenience if you find this format harder to edit.--Melanochromis 07:34, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

I like these changes. The plain list was close to meaningless. --Ginkgo100 talk 15:23, 2 December 2006 (UTC)
Excellent job, Melanochromis. I know you are putting painstaking hours into fixing this. This list is easy to read and user-friendly. And I'm working on that rosy-red minnow pic. --Terrapin83 24:00, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] the pleco situation

This is supposed to be a list of species. But when it comes to the suckermouth catfish, species list is simply not possible and not practical as their taxonomy is not well-structured and many fish share the same common names. So I mostly list the genera instead of species unless it's a well known species. And I doubt an average fish keeper would need to know more than the genus level anyway. --Melanochromis 08:57, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] kissing gourami

the link to kissing gourami actually takes you to black ghost knife fish. This should be addressed sometime soon.--Terrapin83 10:36, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

thanks for pointing it out. I already corrected it. --Melanochromis 13:54, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Common names are not capitalized

Just want to remind people that fish common names are not capitalized (with a few exceptions). It's neon tetra, not Neon Tetra. See the guidelines of common names and scientific names here. PS. the scientific names in the list will probably have to be italicized.

--Melanochromis 06:47, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Please keep description short

I don't think it should be longer than 10-30 words. Personally, I even want to change "description" to "remarks". Things that should be in the description are:

  • Possible confusion with other species (and ways to identify them)
  • Strains, breeds, subspecies, or hybrids
  • Warnings (legal status, dangers to keepers, etc.)
  • Brackish/marine nature (some fishes commonly sold as "freshwater" fishes are actually brackish or marine; some other "freshwater" fishes migrate to brackish/marine when older)

Other aquarium care information should be added to the articles, not to the list. --Melanochromis 23:03, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Well, "description" has already become "remarks". I hope this will help with the length control. --Melanochromis 13:08, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Addition of more rainbowfish

Their is a Boeseman's Rainbowfish, Praecox Rainbowfish, Lake Katubu Rainbowfish, Madagascan Rainbowfish, Australian Rainbowfish and Threadfin Rainbowfish.CorreyBonnick 17:28, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

Madagascar rainbowfish are not in the Melanotaeniidae (Rainbowfishes) or **Pseudomugilidae (Blue-eyes) families and are thus not classified as true Rainbowfish. They belong in the Bedotiidae (Madagascar rainbowfishes) family. Same goes with Celebes rainbowfish, which belong to the Telmatherinidae (Sailfin Silversides) family. They should not be put with Rainbowfishes. Also, there is no "Australian" rainbowfish. That is a blanket name that has been given commercially to at least four different species of bows in the Melanotaenia genera. ** still some controversy, however their placement with rainbowfishes is widely accepted

[edit] Rainbowfish common names

Hrm, a lot of the bows are listed with the wrong common names. It stands to reason that if Werner, who first discribed Glossolepis incisus in 1908 as the Salmon-Red rainbowfish, had wanted it named "Red rainbowfish" he would have stated as thus. Same thing goes for the "Dwarf neon rainbowfish" -- it's a Neon rainbowfish sans Dwarf. If no one objects, I'll fix them and list a few. As an aside, quoted sizes I will add to the lists are known sizes reported by rainbowfish hobbyists such as myself and won't even come close, in some respects, to what fishbase may have. Bows are known to grow larger in the tank than they do in the wild. As an example, the much lauded size of 3" max for M. boesemani is far from the 6" it can grow to if it lives 10 years in captivity. My boesemani are about 1½ years old and all are close to 3.5" already Roan Art 02:28, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

Roan Art, you seem to be more knowledgeble on rainbowfish tham most of us. So, I'd say you should just go ahead and edit the list as you see fit. Here's a couple of reminders:
  • This list should be consistent with the taxonomy in Fishbase and other articles in wikipedia
  • Don't put every existing species, just the ones that are common in the aquarium trade.
  • "Description" section in the list is more like remarks. If you have a lot to add, you might wanna consider creating species article.
Have fun with the list. --Melanochromis 04:30, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Rainbowfish locales

Another comment: rainbowfish of the same species can look totally different depending on the locale they are from. For instance, my Melanotaenia affinis are Pagwi, from Goo obo Falls in PNG and they do not bear much of a resemblance to the Bluewater Creek or Standard variety. There are no less then ten different variations of Melanotaenia trifasciata (and more could be discovered in the future). YOu can see them here, 'cause I'm not gonna type them all out ;) :

http://members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/Trifas.htm

Commercial fisheries have a nasty habit of selling bows with their locale as their common name (ie: Goyder River rainbowfish instead of Regal rainbowfish, Goyder River). It is very important that these locales be noted and tracked by hobbyists/breeders and that people be encouraged not to hybridize the fish. Can a new column be added to the rainbowfish section for locale? Roan Art 02:41, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

What about mentioning different colorations in the "description" section? --Melanochromis 04:32, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

Gourami's

How about adding the Thick-Lipped Gourami to the Gourami list.CourtneyBonnick 01:42, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

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