mikemou
Aquarium Advice Activist
is zebra danio?
The purpose of this article is to recommend some fish that have proven their ability to survive almost anything, short of the tank being emptied of water. Obviously, we do not condone the intentional abuse of fish, but the fish listed here are very forgiving of a few minor or even major errors on the part of the learning hobbyist.
mikemou said:Interesting list, shawmutt, thanks, but I don't believe I've ever seen Hart's Rivulus or Paradise Fish in my LFSs. Are they community fish?
[Rivulus Harti] ranges across the top of South America from Colombia to the Guianas, and occurs on a few Caribbean Islands. [They] live in mountainous regions and at sea level, so the temperatures can vary from low 60s to high 90s.
Breeding populations have been observed in sewage ditches (these were not collected). If the water hole dries up, they will flip across the ground until they find another one. So long as they can stay damp, they can absorb atmospheric oxygen through their skin.
This species is one of the larger Rivulus, reaching 5 to 6 inches in length, yet an adult pair can be kept in a 5-gallon tank--and will grow and breed there.
They are slow growing, but I have seen them live for as long as 10 years.
The biggest problem with R. harti is keeping them in the tank. These fish love to jump and manage to escape through holes that don't seem large enough for them to squeeze through. Of course, jumping out doesn't necessarily mean the end of the fish. One well-known Canadian aquarist had a breeding colony in his basement in about half an inch of standing water. The fish had escaped a not-quite-perfectly covered aquarium and managed to travel en masse to a hidden corner, where a water leak kept a small puddle on the floor.
madasafish said:Just a fun fact I picked up in one of the fish magazines a few months ago.