Different fish, different depths?

[David]

Suppose one were to construct a five foot deep aquarium, to be stocked
as a community tank with a variety of tropical freshwater fish. Would
one expect that the different species would tend to inhabit different
depth levels in the tank, or would everybody be anywhere and
everywhere, all over the tank?

Thank you very much,
David

[Billy]

"David" > wrote in message
...
| Suppose one were to construct a five foot deep aquarium, to be
stocked
| as a community tank with a variety of tropical freshwater fish.
Would
| one expect that the different species would tend to inhabit
different
| depth levels in the tank, or would everybody be anywhere and
| everywhere, all over the tank?
|
| Thank you very much,
| David

The former. What you are suggesting sounds like a facinating project.
A few examples.

Most tetras would be called mid swimmers, and would inhabit,
primarily, the middle to upper ranges.

Platys are top swimmers, and stay in the higher sections.

Catfish (cories) and loaches are bottom swimmers, primarily
inhabiting lower areas.

A good rule of thumb in the absence of proper research is to look at
the fish's mouth. A top swimmer's mouth is upturned to facilitate
aquiring food from the suraface. Mid swimmers have straight-on mouths
for grabbing free-floating food. Bottom feeders have downturned
mouths for bottom feeding. This isn't a perfect rule, but can help.
For example, I have several clown loaches that like the top of the
tank, and I have several platys that like to swim about in the java
ferns. YMMV. There are also fish that defy the aforementioned
criteria, I'm sure.

billy

[CanadianCray]

That's an interesting way of looking at it. Fishes mouths... hmmm pretty
cool! :)

--
Craig
________________________________
www.CanadianCray.tk
www.Bluecrayfish.com
"Billy" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> "David" > wrote in message
> ...
> | Suppose one were to construct a five foot deep aquarium, to be
> stocked
> | as a community tank with a variety of tropical freshwater fish.
> Would
> | one expect that the different species would tend to inhabit
> different
> | depth levels in the tank, or would everybody be anywhere and
> | everywhere, all over the tank?
> |
> | Thank you very much,
> | David
>
> The former. What you are suggesting sounds like a facinating project.
> A few examples.
>
> Most tetras would be called mid swimmers, and would inhabit,
> primarily, the middle to upper ranges.
>
> Platys are top swimmers, and stay in the higher sections.
>
> Catfish (cories) and loaches are bottom swimmers, primarily
> inhabiting lower areas.
>
> A good rule of thumb in the absence of proper research is to look at
> the fish's mouth. A top swimmer's mouth is upturned to facilitate
> aquiring food from the suraface. Mid swimmers have straight-on mouths
> for grabbing free-floating food. Bottom feeders have downturned
> mouths for bottom feeding. This isn't a perfect rule, but can help.
> For example, I have several clown loaches that like the top of the
> tank, and I have several platys that like to swim about in the java
> ferns. YMMV. There are also fish that defy the aforementioned
> criteria, I'm sure.
>
> billy
>
>

[Billy]

"CanadianCray" > wrote in message
.. .
| That's an interesting way of looking at it. Fishes mouths... hmmm
pretty
| cool! :)


Nature adapts all animals to best acquire their preferred food. For
instance, giraffes eat leaves that are very high up, so they have
become tall enough to do so. Moles spend most of their lives in total
darkness, so their sense of touch is highly advanced, but they're
almost totally blind. <g> I wish I could quit my job and study the
sciences. :)

billy

[Dick]

On Wed, 02 Feb 2005 18:52:39 -0700, David
> wrote:

>Suppose one were to construct a five foot deep aquarium, to be stocked
>as a community tank with a variety of tropical freshwater fish. Would
>one expect that the different species would tend to inhabit different
>depth levels in the tank, or would everybody be anywhere and
>everywhere, all over the tank?
>
>Thank you very much,
>David

At five feet, how would you reach the bottom to plant and take care of
live plants, arrange ornaments/plants or remove dead fish, snorkel ?
My 75 gallon is only 2 feet deep and it is all I can do to reach the
bottom with my arm. How about weight of this giant? I can think of
so many challenges to such a large tank, fish levels would be pretty
low on the list of concerns.

The fish in the 75 gallon do stratify, but where they are is not
consistent. My 3 Blue Gouramis usually are near the top, but often
retire to the bottom in the plants. The 2 males take opposite corners
and the female the center, but, then they often shift positions or
chase each other up and down, side to side.

The 7 female Black Mollies usually stay near the top, but right now
are gathered mid tank. The White Clouds usually are near the top, but
right now are swimming just above the plant tops. The Siamese Algae
Eaters are usually near the bottom and often rest of the larger plant
leaves (I love when most of them find leaves near each other to rest
on, they look like "faries" resting so lightly on the leaves).

However, with such a large tank, I suppose you will stock it with
larger fish. If I had such an urge, I would build the tank and then
set about exploring the possibilities. Sounds like fun!

dick

[David]

Thank you for your perspectives, Dick. All good!

Re depth/size: actually I am contemplating an outdoor pond. (I didn't
intend to get into this, because I thought it would probably be a red
herring (yes -- bad pun!) and would take the thread off in an
unintended direction.) I am contemplating a tropical pond/water
garden (in a tropical location where it never freezes, or even gets
cold), with one side of the pond being adjacent to the wall of the
living room -- with windows into the pond. So yes, you are probably
right ... a snorkel. A fish pond of this size is common in the koi
community, (as you probably already know better than I); but my
primary concern right now is adapting the koi ponding technologies,
(skimmers, filters, pumps, etc.) so that they won't ingest these
smaller tropical fish. Maybe you have some ideas?

Re your first hand examples of stratification and territory: Very
interesting. I cannot add any first hand observations to it, except
that the behavior you describe is familiar to me with salt water
species.

Thanks again,
David


On Thu, 03 Feb 2005 05:27:39 -0600, Dick >
wrote:

>
>At five feet, how would you reach the bottom to plant and take care of
>live plants, arrange ornaments/plants or remove dead fish, snorkel ?
>My 75 gallon is only 2 feet deep and it is all I can do to reach the
>bottom with my arm. How about weight of this giant? I can think of
>so many challenges to such a large tank, fish levels would be pretty
>low on the list of concerns.
>
>The fish in the 75 gallon do stratify, but where they are is not
>consistent. My 3 Blue Gouramis usually are near the top, but often
>retire to the bottom in the plants. The 2 males take opposite corners
>and the female the center, but, then they often shift positions or
>chase each other up and down, side to side.
>
>The 7 female Black Mollies usually stay near the top, but right now
>are gathered mid tank. The White Clouds usually are near the top, but
>right now are swimming just above the plant tops. The Siamese Algae
>Eaters are usually near the bottom and often rest of the larger plant
>leaves (I love when most of them find leaves near each other to rest
>on, they look like "faries" resting so lightly on the leaves).
>
>However, with such a large tank, I suppose you will stock it with
>larger fish. If I had such an urge, I would build the tank and then
>set about exploring the possibilities. Sounds like fun!
>
>dick

[David]

Thank you, Billy
Now that's cute -- I never even thought about this perspective; but,
being an evolutionary thinker, it certainly makes sense!

Regards,
David

On Wed, 2 Feb 2005 18:35:37 -0800, "Billy" >
wrote:

>A good rule of thumb in the absence of proper research is to look at
>the fish's mouth. A top swimmer's mouth is upturned to facilitate
>aquiring food from the suraface. Mid swimmers have straight-on mouths
>for grabbing free-floating food. Bottom feeders have downturned
>mouths for bottom feeding. This isn't a perfect rule, but can help.
>For example, I have several clown loaches that like the top of the
>tank, and I have several platys that like to swim about in the java
>ferns. YMMV. There are also fish that defy the aforementioned
>criteria, I'm sure.

[Nikki Casali]

Dick wrote:
> On Wed, 02 Feb 2005 18:52:39 -0700, David
> > wrote:
>
>
>>Suppose one were to construct a five foot deep aquarium, to be stocked
>>as a community tank with a variety of tropical freshwater fish. Would
>>one expect that the different species would tend to inhabit different
>>depth levels in the tank, or would everybody be anywhere and
>>everywhere, all over the tank?
>>
>>Thank you very much,
>>David
>
>
> At five feet, how would you reach the bottom to plant and take care of
> live plants, arrange ornaments/plants or remove dead fish, snorkel ?

With a semi-autonomous, teleoperated ROV, no less! Just throw in a
miniature Titanic for a bit of extra fun.

Nikki

[Larry Blanchard]

In article >,
says...
> Nature adapts all animals to best acquire their preferred food.

> I wish I could quit my job and study the
> sciences. :)
>
A little off topic, but I just finished reading a book called "The First
Chimapnzee". Not light reading, but the authors make the technical
stuff more interesting than most. It's mainly about how DNA testing has
changed some theories about the time since we and the apes split up.
But there's a pretty good review of the current overall state of primate
evolution theories too.

--
Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description