Neon tetras are beautiful fish, aren’t they? And hopefully, you already noticed the neon tetra on our cover, which is not one of the neons we’re used to seeing in the hobby these days – it’s a veilfinned neon.
Never heard of a veilfinned neon? That’s because they all but disappeared from the hobby for many years, which is a shame. As is evident from the cover photo – and the other photos of these and different neon varieties shown in the article “The Veilfinned Neon Tetra Resurfaces!” by Petr Zelenka (page 32) – these are lovely fish that just about any freshwater aquarist would love to have in his or her home. Imagine a bunch of these tetras in a planted tank – that would be a beautiful display.
Speaking of beautiful displays, reef tanks are obviously eye-catching setups, and reefkeepers spend a lot of time making sure that they choose fish that will not do any harm to the inverts in their setup. Yet what about inverts that could possibly harm fish or even the entire tank in general? There are both sessile and mobile inverts that can be problematic in reef tanks, and they should not be overlooked. Which inverts can be troublemakers in your tank? Find out by turning to Tim Hayes’ article, “Avoid Invert Mayhem,” on page 40.
If reef tanks aren’t quite your interest, let’s go back to freshwater. Biotope tanks that house fish from a particular region are becoming more and more popular in the hobby, and with good reason. They’re a great way for hobbyists to specialize in a particular part of fishkeeping but be able to still keep a community of fish rather than a species tank (if your interest is in community setups). This month, you can learn how to set up a Central American biotope step by step in Iggy Tavares’ article starting on page 50.
Also, we’d like to take this opportunity to let you know about something new we’re working on: We’d like to start running profiles of fish clubs and societies in the pages of Aquarium Fish International. If we have any fish clubs out there that are interested in participating, please let us know. We’ll then follow up with you to let you know how to participate and what’s involved. We know that aquarium clubs are an important part of the hobby and would love to showcase some of them in the magazine!