mixing of fish???

[GaryE13 11]

I think I recently read that the East coast of the U.S./Canada was once attached to the West coast of Africa and the spreading of the Mid Atlantic plate actually ripped the huge land mass apart. If you look at a map you can see how they fit together at one time. So it makes sense to find the same rock in both places.

Just how ancient some of our fish are also adds up from that. I have killifish in my area, from the same broad family as fish I could travel to Africa, South America or Europe for. Cichlids are found on several continents, as are barbs, Characins, etc. You can find evidence of plate tectonics in the rocks, but also in biogeography - the distribution of fishes. I had to be convinced of all of this because of the traditions I was taught as a kid, and I really enjoy learning about it. It's part of why I enjoy knowing where my fish come from as precisely as possible. Small fish don't get to be nomadic like us. Where they are tells a story we may understand more in detail as we go along.

It really jumps out if you get into African killies.

 

[Jennet32 90]

But I'll cheat, put chemically neutral beach rocks and grow crypts, because I like growing them.

I read somewhere on Mr Google that you should not use beach rocks in aquariums. I always used them before without testing any. Can I use them again, and just test the water regularly with them in to note changes? This would seem to me the best way to go about it.

 

[GaryE13 11]

Beach rocks are rock rocks that happen to be in water. If you take a short bit of time and use a website, a field guide or an identification app, you can identify the rocks and avoid anything that'll mess with hardness. Around here, I get a lot of basalt and granite, and have to avoid limestone. There are a lot of varied volcanic rocks that wash up with the tides, and I've tested them and learned which ones I want. As sea rocks that have been in the tides on the move for ages, they tend to be rounded, which doesn't make them the best aquascaping tools, but they can look great.

When the dog and I go for walks, I throw a bag on my shoulder and if something looks like it will fit an idea, I throw it in. Here. I can be on a 2 km beach alone with my dog - we don't have the human population density my British friends expect. So my odd rock here and there habits don't put any pressure on the environment. Such collecting is legal here, and there are only limits on industrial quantity removal. At night when it's stormy, I can hear the rocks rolling against each other as the waves and tides deliver up a new beach floor on a regular basis. It's a cool sound.

I've known people who went to quarries, or collected driftwood in lakes for sale to stores. I've heard hobbyists saying that they only buy from stores because it's safe, when a 15 minute walk from the store would put you at the river where the non tropical driftwood was collected.

 

[malfunction27 2]

I’m gonna be that guy that says mixing is great as long as fish temperament and water parameters are compatible. I started off as a mixer, then became a purist, then realised being a purist is vastly over- rated so mix in all of my tanks now.



My display tanks mix rainbowfish, South/Central American cichlids, tetras, Malawi cichlids, bristlenoses. My breeding tanks mix bristlenoses with rainbowfish/barbs or apistogramma with rainbowfish. I’ve found over the years that mixing fish provide both different appearances and different behaviours that keep my tanks interesting. I very rarely rescape my tanks or switch my stock because there’s always something different going on in the tank stops me getting bored.



As far as I can tell, the fish don’t care at all. No weird diseases or untimely deaths; they breed regularly (even when I don’t them to); and they seem to exhibit healthy colours.

 

[Back in the fold8 6]

I think I recently read that the East coast of the U.S./Canada was once attached to the West coast of Africa and the spreading of the Mid Atlantic plate actually ripped the huge land mass apart. If you look at a map you can see how they fit together at one time. So it makes sense to find the same rock in both places.

Pangea I think it was called when ALL of the land masses were completely connected . Continental drift is a very interesting subject . It is even thought that North America was split in two at where the Mississippi River is . Who knows ?

 

[FattyFish]

I'm really lucky as all my guppies, endlers, corys, and tetras were all tank bred and all come from the Northeast of England

 

[Rusty_Shackleford52 167]

Pangea I think it was called when ALL of the land masses were completely connected . Continental drift is a very interesting subject . It is even thought that North America was split in two at where the Mississippi River is . Who knows ?

I'm pretty sure some of our members remember that.

 

[Innesfan50 12]

I'm pretty sure some of our members remember that.

Yes. A sad time. The world became very divided...

 

[Magnum Man53 167]

so possible communication understanding is mentioned above… this morning I noticed something interesting with my mixed silver dollars… the red hook has a more developed adipose fin, than the other varieties in the tank, and seems to display mood or communicate through moving it… and while the other dollars have a much less developed adipose, they seem to understand the rippling movements of the hooks adipose… this is 3 different adults, with no clear tank boss, but that creates a lot of sparring, but seems the hook would like to run the show, and often is screaming at the others, when it’s adipose gets wildly rippling, they all move away from it… I’m betting another fish not from the same family wouldn’t speak the language???

 

[GaryE13 11]

I'm really lucky as all my guppies, endlers, corys, and tetras were all tank bred and all come from the Northeast of England

so possible communication understanding is mentioned above… this morning I noticed something interesting with my mixed silver dollars… the red hook has a more developed adipose fin, than the other varieties in the tank, and seems to display mood or communicate through moving it… and while the other dollars have a much less developed adipose, they seem to understand the rippling movements of the hooks adipose… this is 3 different adults, with no clear tank boss, but that creates a lot of sparring, but seems the hook would like to run the show, and often is screaming at the others, when it’s adipose gets wildly rippling, they all move away from it… I’m betting another fish not from the same family wouldn’t speak the language???

There's the key. If one fish speaks with a northeast of England accent and the other's from Alabama, how are they supposed to understand each other? In some of the isolated villages around here, the locals may have adipose fins by now, and I can't communicate with them.