I know that feeling...
Why aren’t fish more popular?
- Thread starter RatioTile
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ifesbob
Well-Known Member
You could also rely on the crowd sourcing thing to help with identification, and hopefully at least a general region is on the sign of the tank.
No, you don't. Just upload an observation of the fish with the location tagged at the aquarium, and mark as captive/cultivated. And if you weren't planning on uploading an observation, knowing the native range wouldn't really get you anywhere, anyways.
I meant finding out what a fish is when you don’t know it, not already knowing the species and reporting you saw it captive. I haven’t tried if you can list a captive animal and its location without a name and see if anyone will ID it for you. Is that an option?
ifesbob
Well-Known Member
you don't need to know the species to upload it to iNat, people will suggest IDs
Yes, it is.
I think one of the problems concerns display. I've seen several tanks containing very similar species, such as Lake Malawi cichlids, which are hard to distinguish by non-experts. I think fish would become more popular in zoos and aquaria if tanks contained fish that were easy to distinguish, as well as audio-visual material to interest visitors. I remember visitors to the London Zoo Aquarium being interested in an electric eel's electricity being used to power light bulbs. Similarly, insects could be used to encourage archer fish to show their 'spitting' skills.
More interesting are narrow endemic fish from Europe and Middle East. They are overlooked, although it is an endangered species living in rich First World.
I wonder what are the most interesting fish for you? What are the most unusual freshwater habitats recreated?
I was amazed to see a Congo blind spiny eel Caecomastacembelus brichardii in Berlin aquarium. I did not know that there are freshwater fish in deep rivers with white color and reduced eyes like deep sea.
I wonder if any aquarium ever displayed candiru fish? Can they even be seen - or they permanently live inside fish gills?
I was shocked to learn on my most recent trip to Shedd that there are freshwater flatfish - like the Peruvian Freshwater Sole.
Well, the way I normally use it is to understand taxonomy, and then I can look for similar fish using the database. For example, with butterflyfish, I can look through photos and see ones with a similar pattern if they are not signed in an aquarium.
Is that the one in the tiny tanks next to the caiman lizard tank in amazon rising?
Two of those tiny tanks have the species in them.
One of the most unusual things to me is just how many families of fish have species that will traverse land of their own accord - some of them capable of going quite a distance overland! They are all dependent on nearby water of course, but a fish going about its business out of water is much more regular than a lot of people think.
Here's a Four-Fingered Lipsucker (Andamia tetradactylus), a blenny that climbs around on piers and harbor walls, at Toba Aquarium. A number of Japanese aquariums keep this wonderful species.
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Similarly I've seen Pacific Leaping Blennies (Alticus arnoldorum) at MBA, very entertaining little fish.
ifesbob
Well-Known Member
I didn't see it because I was too physically exhausted to go on that walk, but others on my Costa Rica trip saw fish that could hop around out of the water. I saw the video, it was pretty cool. Really shows that part of the lack of overall fish popularity is just because people don't know about all of the cool things some fish do.
As others have said, fish often get the short end of the stick when it comes to signage. This is especially bad in zoos in any exhibit where fish are not the primary draw (think Jacksonville's Jaguar exhibits). Any exhibit that houses fish alongside other animals is going to undersign their fish.
Even aquariums aren't safe from this; Georgia Aquarium has lapsed in some spots and SeaWorld Orlando seems to not give a rodent's behind. Then you get instances where a fish species is downright labeled as the wrong species and your average visitor won't notice. For example, the Greensboro Science Center has Redhook Myleus (Myloplus rubripinnis) mislabeled as Threadfin Geophagus (Acarichthys heckelii, sym. Geophagus heckelii) despite the 2 species looking nothing alike.
On the other side, I want to highlight the Tennessee Aquarium; they do an excellent job of labeling all of their exhibits and fish, including at least 2 species that iNaturalist doesn't recognize. You could identify just about every fish there because their signage is on point. Just look at my iNaturalish Species List here -> Tennessee Aquarium Species List. At 419 species documented, it exceeds even Georgia by almost double because they actually label their stuff. It's yet another reason why I rank Tennessee above every other aquarium.
Even aquariums aren't safe from this; Georgia Aquarium has lapsed in some spots and SeaWorld Orlando seems to not give a rodent's behind. Then you get instances where a fish species is downright labeled as the wrong species and your average visitor won't notice. For example, the Greensboro Science Center has Redhook Myleus (Myloplus rubripinnis) mislabeled as Threadfin Geophagus (Acarichthys heckelii, sym. Geophagus heckelii) despite the 2 species looking nothing alike.
On the other side, I want to highlight the Tennessee Aquarium; they do an excellent job of labeling all of their exhibits and fish, including at least 2 species that iNaturalist doesn't recognize. You could identify just about every fish there because their signage is on point. Just look at my iNaturalish Species List here -> Tennessee Aquarium Species List. At 419 species documented, it exceeds even Georgia by almost double because they actually label their stuff. It's yet another reason why I rank Tennessee above every other aquarium.
What are interesting habitat types for fish?
Most aquaria have some generalized freshwater tanks. Popular are also: a local sea, often with whatever can be brought from the shoreline, a coral reef, flooded forest from Amazon and rock-filled tank with mbuna cichlids.
Non-existent Danmarks Akvarium had several unusual ones, including a fast flowing stream when one could really see water running (it was feeding a much larger waterfall in another tank), a seasonal pool, a seagrass bed and night aquarium.
Most aquaria have some generalized freshwater tanks. Popular are also: a local sea, often with whatever can be brought from the shoreline, a coral reef, flooded forest from Amazon and rock-filled tank with mbuna cichlids.
Non-existent Danmarks Akvarium had several unusual ones, including a fast flowing stream when one could really see water running (it was feeding a much larger waterfall in another tank), a seasonal pool, a seagrass bed and night aquarium.
Sicarius
Well-Known Member
When exactly did you see this species in Berlin?
The candiru from the family Trichomycteridae which is known for its parasitic behaviour was never successfully kept in an aquarium, but the Cetopsis coecutiens (which often carries the same name) is. They are famous killing machines from the Amazon river that are also famous for attacks on humans. It is sold in the aquarium trade, and sometimes visible in public aquariums (mainly in Japan).
In November 2013.