Any fish suggestions for my biotope research project?

[ants_aqua]

Hello all,

I would like to make a very accurate biotope aquarium for a research project. The issue I am encountering is that I am struggling to find a species of fish with enough research about its natural habitat to satisfy the level of detail I need to go into for my project. If anyone could suggest any such fish that have a decent amount of information available I would be very grateful. Ideally the fish should be fairly small (max 5cm) due to tank constraints. With regards to what kind of information I am looking for about the habitat: plant species (above and under water, including tree species if there is leaf litter present), water parameters, information about the substrate in the habitat, food sources and potentially even some information about the micro-organisms that are present in the habitat. A final requirement is that the fish can be kept at 'tropical' temperatures as even without a heater the tank would be too hot for cooler water species.

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

 

[PARAGUAY]

Probably have a look at these You Tubers Oliver Lucanus, Below Water, Ivan Mikolji and forum member Tai Strietman Biotopial who has lovely footage of small tetras and recently did one on Threadfin Rainbow fish ,not too large, Gabor Horvath visited Cardinal Tetra habitats and has a article in January's PFK

 

[nijat11]

Probably most of tetras from South America.

 

[Valeriy Aqyar]

You can start with Paracheirodon axelrodi, Corydoras arcuatus and Nannostomus marginatus, also possibly Apistogramma gephyra.
All of them are popular in the aquarium hobby, are easy to buy in the peace world and well studied both by scientists and amateur aquarists.

E.g. cardinal tetra or Paracheirodon axelrodi has tons of scientific articles about:

https://www.researchgate.net/search/publication?q=Paracheirodon+axelrodi

(though this scientific database is available in Ukraine via VPN, I hope, in Britain you can access it directly)

For studying their natural habitat I used this youtube channel:

Project Piaba

Conservation via Aquarium Fisheries For decades, home aquarium fishes have been collected from regions of biological importance across the globe. While resource extraction usually elicits concerns of over-exploitation, in many developing countries the home aquarium trade has instead provided...

www.youtube.com

I cannot recommend you to address Ivan Mikolji and Tai Strietman as they both never answer any messages and you'll only waste your time addressing them.

P.S.: if you are a risky person - why not try your local fishes (perches, gudgeons, sunbleaks, roaches)?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

You can start with Paracheirodon axelrodi, Corydoras arcuatus and Nannostomus marginatus, also possibly Apistogramma gephyra.

I like that.

I cannot recommend you to address Ivan Mikolji and Tai Strietman as they both never answer any messages and you'll only waste your time ....

@taistrietman is a member of this forum.

Cheers Darrel

 

[Onoma1]

I had the impression that tanichthys albonubes ( white cloud mountain minnow) was the fish of choice for researchers? A quick Google Scholar search suggested that there is a decent body of research on these fish. They are fairly hardy, lively little fish and readily available.

However, I am not sure what you want to achieve in your research. You may get someone more focused suggestions if you shared your research question and methods... if this isn’t too sensitive.

There are a fair few members of the forum who are researchers in this area and may be able to give you more help.

Ivan Mikolji has a number of books which could help you and @taistrietman is an expert in this area, he also seems a nice guy embeded in a research community and may be able to help.