Measuring in at 55 ft. long and 19 ft. wide, the vessel was packed with 600 vases (amphoras) filled with sardines, salted mackerel and garum, a popular Roman fish sauce. But recently archaeologists found signs that this ship also housed an oxygenated fish tank on board that would allow for storage and transport of live fish.

This mobile fish market included a lead pipe located in the stern area (rear section) of the ship and fed a tank via a hole cut into the ship’s hull.

“No seaman would have drilled a hole in the keel, creating a potential way for water to enter the hull, unless there was a very powerful reason to do so,” researchers noted in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology.

Archaeologists speculate this pipe would be connected to a hand operated piston pump that would deliver sea water into the fish tank located on the deck. Although the pump was not found with the wreckage researchers determined the ship could have carries a tank containing around 4 cubic meters (141 cubic feet) of water, which could have housed 440 pounds of live fish.

Needing to replenish the water once every half hour, calculations show with a flow rate of around 66 GPH, a piston pump would fill the tank in around 16 minutes.

[via Discovery News]

Measuring in at 55 ft. long and 19 ft. wide, the vessel was packed with 600 vases (amphoras) filled with sardines, salted mackerel and garum, a popular Roman fish sauce. But recently archaeologists found signs that this ship also housed an oxygenated fish tank on board that would allow for storage and transport of live fish.

This mobile fish market included a lead pipe located in the stern area (rear section) of the ship and fed a tank via a hole cut into the ship’s hull.

“No seaman would have drilled a hole in the keel, creating a potential way for water to enter the hull, unless there was a very powerful reason to do so,” researchers noted in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology.

Archaeologists speculate this pipe would be connected to a hand operated piston pump that would deliver sea water into the fish tank located on the deck. Although the pump was not found with the wreckage researchers determined the ship could have carries a tank containing around 4 cubic meters (141 cubic feet) of water, which could have housed 440 pounds of live fish.

Needing to replenish the water once every half hour, calculations show with a flow rate of around 66 GPH, a piston pump would fill the tank in around 16 minutes.

[via Discovery News]

In addition to the information about Symphisodon species, DiscusBook 01 also divulges on new dwarf cichlid and angelfish strains as well as some spectacular Loricariids suckermouth catfish. If you’re an avid discus fan or just want to know more about the Amazon from the point of view of an aquarium fish explorer, DiscusBook 01 is available from Discus South for £19.95, plus £2.35.

[via PFKmag]

Trochilocharax ornatus is the new official name of a new Peruvian tetra which was first imported for the aquarium trade by Aquarium Glasser in Germany. For a while this beautiful Characin was thought to belong to the genus Heterocharax or Tyttocharax but it was described into a genus that was erected just for this species, Trochilocharax. In the aquarium trade T. ornatus is being called the crystal rainbow tetra or the orange-tailed glass tetra. A male crystal rainbow tetra is pictured above, and there’s a picture of a female after the break. For more information visit Aquarium Glasser and the German description of the Crystal Rainbow Tetra is available in pdf.

Panaque armbrusteri is the official description of what has previously been called the Xingu Royal Pleco L27c. Photo by Lujan et al.

Panaque armbrusteri, P. titan and P schaeferi are three species of large plecos (Loricarids) which were recently described by Lutjan et. al in Revision of Panaque in the journal Copeia. Panaque armbrusteri is the new latin name given to what has been called the Xingu Royal Pleco, an extremely striking gold striped black fish which also has been known by the L-number of L27c. Panaque titan is the new name of a fish which looks very similar to the “Peru Green Royal Pleco”, L418/L27b although the type specimen was collected in Ecuador, a country which borders Peru.

Also belonging to the genus as Panaque armbrusteri is the Royal Pleco, Panaque nigrolineatus, one of the most popular large plecos available to the aquarium trade and the blue-eye, Panaque cochliodon. It is very exciting to see some new taxonomic work being undertaken on the very popular Panaque genus. Having more species of these riverine fishes officially described just reinforces the case for protecting biologically diverse river systems of South America.

One glance at the intensity of the red coloration on these Chilli Endler livebearers and it’s easy to see how these will likely become a very unique domestic strain of the once-wild strain of wild guppy. We just spotted the Chilli Endler in an AquaBid auction listing so we have no details on their origin and who is responsible for this fantastic strain. The completeness of the coloration and the residual bar and spotting are particularly attractive. If you have any info on the red Chilli Endler let us know what’s up in the comments.

Badis juergenschmidti male photographed by Ingo Schindler.

Badis juergenschmidti is a new species of Indo-Burmese freshwater fish from the family Badidae which was recently described from specimens collected in Myanmar. Badis juergenschmidti differs from similar Badis species by it’s distinct lack of an opercular spot, and the bright white margins of it’s unpaired fins. The largest specimen, the Holotype of Badis juergenschmidti , measures in a just under 35mm, or about 1.5 inches long. This may seem small but it is still much larger than other more diminutive Badis species which rarely reach over an inch long. A male Badis juergenschmidti is pictured above without any bars, but males appear to display this barring pattern at will. Badis juergenschmidti has already been spawned in captivity and it has been discovered to be a cave-spawning species with young being under parental care for about 7 days. Badis juergenschmidti was described by Ingo Schindler and Horst Linke in the latest issue of Vertebrate Zoology. More and larger images of Badis juergenschmidti can be seen on the Mesonauta website.

With plants as with corals, if you grow them well and in high density, your aquarium will invariably suffer from too much of a good thing. Case in point are these images of the aquarium I am currently overhauling with new substrate because my Eriocaulons have nearly replaced the substrate with the thickest root mat you ever did see. The plant that is mostly responsible for this corner of the clogged substrate is Eriocaulon “Aussie 2″ which has never yet flowered for me, therefore it gets uprooted and replanted much less frequently than say Erio ‘Japan’ or Eriocaulon cinereum. These picture represent just about a year and a half of intensive Eriocaulon culture and I’m just amazed at how much mass of roots the Eriocaulaceae can produce.

The floating gardens of Benjamin Graindorge & Duende is an interesting proof of concept installation which is part aquarium and part planter. For the life of us we cannot figure out if this is a fish tank with a planter for a filter or a planter with an attached aquarium for the fish to provide a source of natural nutrition. Judging by the sparse (read: nonexistent) aquascape in the aqueous portion of the tank, we’d guess the designers conceived this project first as a planter. The Floating Garden was designed to instill some introspection as to how the world is a balanced ecosystem. Don’t expect the BG&D Floating Garden to show up at your local fish store as this project was really more of an art exhibit than a prototype aquarium product. Even though the concept of using vegetative biology to absorb nutrients from aquarium water, we still think that these guys pulled off it in a very stylish way and that the Floating Garden could be an inspiration for aesthetic continuum from the aquarium to the external vegetative filter.

[via Duende Press]

Fluorescent Cichlids are really the last thing this hobby needed but that hasn’t stopped Taiwanese researchers from doing to cichlids what they’ve done to zebra danios. Fluorescent angelfish and fluorescent convict cichlids are the first unfortunate casualty of the Asian desire for freakish fish like flowerhorns and blood parrots. We’re actually kind of surprised that the freak show didnt start with those triploid and hybrid mutants but our guess is that their genetic makeup is already too corrupted to accept any more genetic errors. Although the Fluorescent cichlids began their existence by injection of the fluorescent gene(s) into fertilized eggs, the fluorescent angelfish and convicts now have bred several generations while successfully passing on the fluorescent traits. These genetically modified organisms will be regulated in some countries but like the Glofish before them, it will be a matter of time before fluorescent angelfish adn fluorescent convict cichlids are a mainstay in many aquarium shops around the world. Follow the break for another video of the Fluorescent Convict Cichlids

[via PFK]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyHV3gPIGPY