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• Identify articles, lists, and categories that are related to fishkeeping and aquarium fishes. There are at least 24,600 known species of fishes, but a small proportion of these are commonly kept aquarium fishes. When you do find them, please place ((WikiProject aquarium fishes)) in the talk page of those article. In doing this, you are not only directing our members to those articles, but also directing potential members from those articles to us !! The template you posted will appear like this:

Aquarium Fishes NA‑class

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Aquarium Fishes, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Aquarium Fish articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Aquarium FishesWikipedia:WikiProject Aquarium FishesTemplate:WikiProject Aquarium FishesAquarium Fishes articles NA This article has been rated as NA-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.

• Categorize the articles taxonomically. It will make it easier for editors to browse or find a fish. See the full list of existing taxonomical categories here. Here're shortcuts to some common categories:

• Category:Characidae (any characins except tetras)

• Category:Tetras

• Category:Cyprinidae (cyprinids other than barbs, carps, danios, chubs, or rasboras)

• Category:Carp

• Category:Goldfish breeds

• Category:Danios
• Category:Rasboras

• Category:Cobitidae (most loaches)
• Category:Poeciliidae (mollies, guppies, platies, swordtails)
• Category:Callichthyidae (corydoras and other callichthyids)
• Category:Loricariidae (suckermouth armored catfish including plecos)
• Category:Cichlidae (all cichlids)
• Category:Osphronemidae (bettas, paradish fishes, and most gouramis)

For other articles that is not taxonomical (articles that are not about a particular species, genus, family, or group of fish) you might want to put those articles in one of these categories:

• Category:Fishkeeping
• Category:Fish diseases

• Categorize the uploaded images, especially those that are not from Wikimedia Commons (Wikimedia Commons images are already categorized in Wikimedia Commons).

• Add stub templates. Stubs are very short articles. Most fish articles, unfortunately, are still stubs at this point. They need to be marked up with the appropriate stub template at the bottom of the article. This will identify articles that need to be expanded. The currently defined stub templates are listed below. New stub templates can be created as required though generally 35–50 articles minimum are needed for a new stub template. Please note that new stub templates should be proposed for discussion prior to creation at Wikipedia:WikiProject Stub sorting/Proposals.

The page counts were last updated on November 17, 2011.

Trick: click at each category above in the table and see if there are any stub articles you want to expand.

• Update the lists. We maintain several lists related to aquarium fishes. These are:

• List of aquarium diseases
• List of brackish aquarium fish species
• List of brackish aquarium plant species
• List of freshwater aquarium amphibian species
• List of freshwater aquarium fish species
• List of freshwater aquarium invertebrate species
• List of freshwater aquarium plant species
• List of marine aquarium fish species
• List of marine aquarium invertebrate species
• List of marine aquarium plant species

Again, there are at least 24,600 known species of fishes. We can't possibly put every fish in the list. Don't put a fish in the list just because it can fit a tank. Focus on more well-known fishes that are available in the hobbyist trade.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Actinopterygii.

• Add pictures of aquarium fishes. The articles in general are seriously in needs of good pictures. Use Wikimedia commons. Find an appropriate taxonimical category there then add the fish picture with caption that identifies the common name and scientific name. You might want to start at the category Actinopterygii or ray-finned fish (see link in the box). If you have problems finding the exact category of identifying your fish in the picture, just post it in the discussion section of this page, other members can help you identify the fish.

Keep in mind that Wikipedia is very strict about copyright and/or the license. Your own pictures are the best. If the picture is from a public domain or is a U.S. government work, it's also useable. When uploading, declare where the picture is from, and/or copyright status and/or the license.

See current picture requests here.

• Identify pictures when requested. Or just browse Wikimedia commons for unidentified, wrongly-identified or uncategorized images. Give common name and scientific name, and place the picture in the appropriate category. You can also help putting up pictures in the articles too. This Actinopterygii article has a helpful taxonomical list that can be a good tool.

See the format guidelines here.

See current writing/editing tasks here.

• Create articles. You can create an article about any fish but the more well-known aquarium fishes should be given prority over the rare ones. Before creating, make sure the article doesn't already exist under a different name (another common name, scientific name, or included in the genus article, etc.). You can also request other members to create an article about a particular fish or topic.

• Expand current existing articles, especially the stubs. You can find stubs by looking into associated categories as shown in the table above.

• Copyedit articles that are badly written. Fix grammar, convert to "wikipedia" style of writing, and reformat according the guidelines provided in the format guidelines section.

• Collaborate on the designated article of the week/month. You are encouraged to suggest an article for the next collaboration in the discussion section.

The current collaboration is fishkeeping

Articles may be assessed by placing Template:WikiProject Aquarium Fishes on the articles talk page. Articles can be viewed by quality assessment at Category:Aquarium Fishes articles by quality and by importance assessment at Category:Aquarium Fishes articles by importance

Aquarium Fishes articles by quality and importance
Quality	Importance
	Top	High	Mid	Low	NA	???	Total
FA		1					1
GA			1	1		1	3
B	3	5	10	3			21
C	2	5	32	39			78
Start		13	71	187		81	352
Stub			13	247		115	375
List	2	3	3	11			19
Category					33		33
Disambig					2		2
File					6		6
Project					24		24
Redirect				5	28		33
Template					6		6
Assessed	7	27	130	493	99	197	953
Total	7	27	130	493	99	197	953
WikiWork factors (?)		ω = 4,391			Ω = 5.29

Black ruby barb
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Cypriniformes
Family:	Cyprinidae
Subfamily:	Barbinae
Genus:	Pethia
Species:	P. nigrofasciata
Binomial name
Pethia nigrofasciata (Günther, 1868)
Synonyms
Barbus nigrofasciatus Günther, 1868 Puntius nigrofasciatus (Günther, 1868)

• Fish articles have a specific format to follow. See Wikipedia:WikiProject Fishes for general guidelines on writing about a fish (species, genus, family, etc.). We provide additional guidelines specifically for the aquarium care of fish

• Most fish articles begin with a taxobox. Goldfish breed articles begin with a breedbox instead (see an example here). On the right is an example of a species taxobox for black ruby barb. You can easily modify this to another fish. The taxonomy information is provided by fishbase. See more information about references in the references section below.

• Taxobox asides, ideally an aquarium fish article should be organized in the following format.

1. Introduction paragraph (mention of trade names, alternate names, etc.)
2. Range or geographic distribution
3. Physical description, including sexing, size, weight, and age
4. Habitat, diet, and related information
5. Aquarium care
   1. Popularity, hardiness, availability, general introduction
   2. Behavior in captivity, aggressiveness
   3. Tank set-up, tankmates, temperature, pH, salinity, water requirements
   4. Feeding
   5. Breeding, more details on sexing
   6. Diseases and treatments
   7. Varieties, breeds, colorations (if different breeds have significantly different behaviors or require different care, you may want to move this topic up)
   8. Mentions of related species, how they are different or similar
   9. Other aquarium care information
6. Other importance to humans (game fish, fishing, etc.)
7. Conservation status or invasive species status
8. Other noteworthy information (Avoid lists of miscellaneous information)
9. References
10. Gallery

• Many of the current aquarium fish articles already follow this format to some degrees. Others have a messy format and need a serious revision.

• Here are some examples of the better organized articles:

• Panda corydoras, this is a species article
• Yellow clown goby, this is a species article
• Dwarf gourami, this is a species article
• Striped Raphael catfish, this is a species article
• Panaque, this is a genus article

• Here are some examples of articles with a formatting problem:

• Fire eel (as of 29 November 2006)
• Kribensis (as of 3 October 2006)

• A note about aquarium care sections: It is important to avoid violating WP:No original research when writing this kind of content; be sure to provide sources (see Aquarium care references, below). These sections often attract concern from other editors due to WP:NOTHOWTO. One way to avoid that problem is to avoid language that sounds like advice about aquarium care. Instead, use language describing common aquarium practice, according to source material. Thus: "Most aquarium hobbyists take care of this fish by..." is preferable to "The way to take care of this fish is to...".

Family vs. genus vs. species vs. breed vs. group[edit]

• Family articles tend to have very broad contents. Aquarium care shouldn't go much in details here. Usually, it's good enough to have a medium-sized section that mentions members of the family that are popular aquarium fishes and some brief generalization of the fishes in aquarium.

• Example: Cichlids (as of 7 December 2006)

• Genus articles are usually short and should have generalized aquarium care of the fishes in that genus. Sometimes it can go in much details, and in situations that the genus has only one or very few similar species, the genus article may replace species articles completely. In such cases, aquarium care section should have as much details as possible as if it's a species article. Also mention the differences/similarities among species and if the hybridization across species is possible.

• Example: Discus (fish) (as of 11 December 2006)

• Species articles are usually the prime source of aquarium care information. Go into the most details here. Pictures are important and should have more than one.

• Example: Convict cichlid (as of 13 June 2007)

Ranchu
Country of origin
Japan
Type
Fantailed
Breed standards
BAS

• Breed articles, at the present, exist only for goldfish. Most other fish breeds are not really qualified as seperate articles. The "gold severum" can be easily included in the severum article, just as the serpae tetra article can mention the long-finned strain. Breed articles use the breedbox instead of the taxobox. On the left is an example of the breedbox.

• Example: Ranchu (as of 13 June 2007)

Goldfish breed articles should include this ((Goldfish breeds)) template.

• Informal group articles. Sometimes, aquarists group fishes differently from taxonomists do. This results in "informal group" articles. They are very varied and tend to be unorganized. As an attempt to organize them, the informal group articles are listed here along with some hybrid articles (if you know other articles, please add them here):

• Mbuna
• Dwarf cichlid
• Haplochromine
• Shell dwellers
• Killifish
• L-numbered loricariids
• Tetra
• Danionin
• Rasbora
• Live-bearing aquarium fish
• Plecostomus
• Headstander
• Flowerhorn cichlid
• Blood parrot cichlid

Common name or scientific name[edit]

Article titles should be determined using the guidelines at WP:FISH (naming guidelines). If you are unsure which name to use, you can discuss it with other members in the discussion section.

• Common names are not capitalized unless it's named after a person or a place.

Examples:

• "fantail orange filefish"
• "black-spotted porcupinefish"
• "Jack Dempsey cichlid" (Jack Dempsey is a person)
• "Buenos Aires tetra" (Buenos Aires is a city name)
• "White Cloud Mountain minnow" (White Cloud Mountain is name of a place in China)

• Scientific names. Genus and species names should always be italicized, but only the genus name (the first part of the name) needs to be capitalised.

Examples:

• "The bluering angelfish Pomacanthus annularis is an angelfish of the family Pomacanthidae"
• "The two species of the genus Symphysodon have different geographic distributions. S. aequifasciatus occurs in the Rio Solimões, Rio Amazonas and the Río Putumayo-Içá in Brazil, Columbia and Peru. In contrast the distribution of S. discus appears to be limited to the lower reaches of Rio Negro and Trombetas rivers."

• Family names (and other higher taxa). Formal family names (e.g., Cichlidae), order names (e.g., Perciformes), and other higher taxa (e.g., Sarcopterygii) are capitalised but not italicised. Note that common names take from family names (e.g., loricariids) or higher taxon names (e.g., teleosts) are not captialised.

Examples:

• "The Cichlidae are commonly known as cichlids among aquarists"
• "Coral reefs are home to many species of pomacentrids such as damselfish and clownfish".
• "The danionins are popular community fish, particularly Danio and Devario spp."
• "The order Siluriformes contains over a dozen families, the biggest of which is the Loricariidae".

References is one of the major weaknesses of many aquarium fish articles. Wikipedia is obsessive with references and citations. Articles will never receive Good Article or Featured Article status if they don't have a lot of good references. There are two kinds of references we should know:

Taxonomy references[edit]

• Fishbase is THE source for fish taxonomy in Wikipedia. Please use and cite it religiously. The following templates are developed by WikiProject Fishes and are easy to place in references section of the article.

For a FishBase entry on an order, use:

((FishBase order | order = Bariformes | year = YYYY | month = Month))

For a FishBase entry on a family, use:

((FishBase family | family = Baridae | year = YYYY | month = Month))

For a FishBase entry on a genus, use:

((FishBase genus | genus = Barus | year = YYYY | month = Month))

For most FishBase entries on species, use:

((FishBase species | genus = Barus | species = foous | year = YYYY | month = Month))

For most FishBase entries on subspecies, use:

((FishBase subspecies | genus = Barus | species = foous | subspecies = subfoous | year = YYYY | month = Month))

For FishBase entries that are problematic for the above templates, get the numeric ID from their URL and use:

((FishBase species alt | ID = ???? | taxon = Barus foous foous | year = YYYY | month = Month))

For all FishBase templates, year and month refer to the FishBase revision consulted, not the date on which you consulted FishBase; the revision can be found from the FishBase home page.

• ITIS (the Integrated Taxonomic Information System) is another source for taxonomy. In the references section, use this WikiProject Fishes template:

((ITIS | ID = ????? | taxon = Barus foous | year = YYYY | date = DD Month))

For the ITIS template, year and date refer to the date on which ITIS was consulted. Date can be in either U.S. or international format, as it will be wikified.

• Mikko's Phylogeny Archive
• Joseph S. Nelson, Fishes of the World (5th ed.) - this is a book

Aquarium care references[edit]

So far we haven't had an utimate source for aquarium care. There are books and magazine articles that can be cited as well as other online sources. References of aquarium online sources are particularly prone to spamming and the project encourages all editors to be very careful in adding those sources. Our guidelines are:

• Avoid commercial websites. Online versions of magazines and news media (Practical Fishkeeping, etc.) are exception.
• The source must be in an article or database format or some form of academic writing (no forum post, personal blog, online diary, anecdotal story and such)
• When applicable, it must have an author's real name, not a user name or screen name.
• Choose websites that have authors with published works (books, journals, magazines), over non-published individuals.
• Use inline references whenever possible. This is considered by many editors more professional and it will reduce the chance of your references getting removed by other editors.
• External links are typically discouraged. See Wikipedia:External links. Try to use the Open Directory Project instead. To do this, put ((Dmoz)).
• Do not spam your websites. It is highly inappropriate and will be deleted immediately. Your future edits will lack credibility if you have a history of spamming.

If you know any excellent and citable non-commercial source in accordance with our guildlines, you may add it in the following list so that we all can use it as references. If you find that any website listed here is commercial or not citable or a spam, please remove it from the list.

General

• Practical Fishkeeping - this is an online version of a U.K. aquarium magazine.
• National Geographic - every once in a while you will find some good fish-related articles here.
• Australia's Fish Hobbyists
• Aquarticles.com - "An international collection of articles about fish and aquariums, available for free use in aquarium club newsletters and non- commercial web sites."
• Ornamental Fish Association - Trade organisation for the ornamental fish industry
• Wet Web Media - Large web site covering different aspects of fishkeeping.
• Australia & New Guinea Fishes Association - Aquarium fish from Australia and New Guinea
• Brackish Water Aquarium FAQ - Brackish water fish and aquaria
• hardcoreaquatics.com - Hardocre Aquatics is a World Wide Community dedicated to the Aquatic Industry where quality information about the Freshwater, Marine and Reef Aquarium hobby can be exchanged among all levels of hobbyist.
• Age of Aquariums Archived 2016-04-09 at the Wayback Machine Promotes responsible fishkeeping internationally since 1997.
• The Aquarium Gazette Bi Monthly fishkeeping publication, written by fishkeepers for fishkeepers

General – marine

• AquariumDomain Complete Resource for the Marine Aquarium Hobbyist.
• Marine Aquarist Association of South Texas (MAAST) Forums dedicated to keeping marine aquariums.
• Reefs.org - Reefs.org is the oldest internet communitity solely dedicated to the hobby of reef aquarium. Reefs.org hosts an active online bulletin board, monthly magazine (www.advancedaquarist.com), college-style courses related to reef husbandry (www.aquaristcourses.org), a library of reefkeeping reference material, and the oldest, most active reef internet live chat (#reefs).
• Reef Central - Reef Central is dedicated to the marine reef aquarium hobby. Learn about reef aquarium setup and maintenance, and view coral and marine fish photos.
• The Marine Reef The complete community, for every aquarist. The Marine Reef offers live chat, forums, and a friendly online community.
• Aquarium Pros - AP is dedicated to the Canadian reefkeeping community, but contains a wealth of information for any interested.
• Advanced Aquarist's Online Magazine - An online marine aquarist magazine covering all topics relating to marine aquarium husbandry. Established in 2002.
• Coral Reef Tanks and Aquariums - Resource for starting and maintaining coral reef tanks and aquariums.
• Reef Aquarium Index - Saltwater & reef aquarium reference guide contains links to over 1500 articles on set-up, maintenance, and care of fish & coral species.
• Reef aquarium care articles and coral identification guide with reef tank hobby community forum.

Bichirs

• Polypterus.info - Polypterus in aquaria

Catfishes

• Planet Catfish - Catfish in aquaria
• ScotCat - Catfish in aquaria

Cichlids

• The Cichlid Room Companion - this is a website of a cichlid enthusiast. There's also an online subscribable magazine here.
• The Cichlid Fishes of Lake Malawi, Africa by Dr. Michael Oliver.
• The Cichlids of the Lake Malawi and the Lake Tanyanyika

Danionins (Danios and Devarios)

• Peter Cottles Danios and Devarios Website

Gobies

• Richard's Mudskipper & Goby Web Site - Mudskippers and gobies in aquaria

Goldfish

• Bristol Aquarists' Society

Labyrinth fishes

• International Betta Congress (IBC) Species Maintenance Program
• Nippyfish.net - although the website uses the word "betta", it is referring only to Siamese fighting fish, not all betta.
• Betty Splendens - another website about Siamese fighting fish

Livebearers

• American Livebearer Association
• British Livebearer Association
• Keeping and Breeding Halfbeaks - includes growth rate chart and pictures of newborn fish.
• Viviparous - the UK's larges online club with forums and photo albums

Loaches

• International Loach Association Loach care and discussion
• Loaches Online - Loaches in aquaria

Pufferfishes

• Pufferpedia Archived 2009-05-23 at the Wayback Machine Pufferfish in aquaria
• PufferList Pufferfish Comprehensive "bible" of pufferfish and their aquaria requirements

Rainbowfishes

• Home Of The Rainbowfish Archived 2022-03-13 at the Wayback Machine - a comprehensive website covering the Families Melanotaeniidae and Pseudomugilidae, with many illustrations including some of rare species, and comprehensive biological notes for many species in addition
• Bowheads! - This is not a commercial site. Home base for many North American and Australian rainbowfish breeders and keepers. Many members also keep other types of Australian and New Guinea fishes. Information on keeping and breeding any species of bow can be gotten here, as well as photos. Check the gallery and ask the author for usage.

Snakeheads

• Snakeheads.org

• When refer to several different species, use "fishes." When refer to several individuals of the same species, use "fish."
• This Aquarium Fishes WikiProject is not the absolute authority. It provides "guidelines" rather than "rules." However, if you have doubts about anything, you should discuss first before making any crucial changes.

Articles for creation

• 27 Dec 2023 – Draft:Glen Echo Park Aquarium (talk · edit · hist) submitted for AfC by Mint0ri (t · c) was moved to Glen Echo Park Aquarium (talk · edit · hist) by The Herald (t · c) on 06 Feb 2024

Here are some tasks you can do, as organized by the WikiProject Aquarium Fishes, if you are interested, please sign up on the project page. You are welcome to also add new tasks or remove the old ones. De-Orphan: Copyedit: Tetra, Lionchu, Blackline penguinfish, Flowerhorn, Pterophyllum, Chinese hillstream loach (Beaufortia kweichowensis), Violet line piranha Expand: Yellow-tailed Damselfish, Gold Spot Pleco, List of aquarium diseases, Headstander, Brachygobius, Red-tailed black shark, Osphronemus, Freshwater aquarium, Thick-Lipped Gourami, Pseudochromis diadema, Striped Raphael catfish, Platydoras, Twospot turkeyfish, Agamyxis, Red eye tetra, Saddleback clownfish,Hemigrammus pulcher, Emperor tetra (Nematobrycon palmeri), Flying Fox (fish) (Epalzeorhynchos kalopterus), Rainbow shark (Epalzeorhynchos frenatum), Myxocyprinus asiaticusMacrognathus siamensis, Badis badis, Black Phantom Tetra Add taxobox: Develop featured article: Aquarium, Cichlid Peer review: Arius berneyi Berney's shark catfish Article request: We're trying to clean up the species list bit by bit. We're currently on Catfish. Australian shark catfish Arius graeffei, Two spot glass catfish Ompok bimaculatus, Spotted pimelodus Picture request: Clown knifefish, Peters' elephantnose fish, Buenos Aires tetra, Croaking gourami, Pygmy gourami, Fire eel, Zebra pleco, Hypancistrus, Sorubim, Brachyplatystoma, Xenomystus nigri, Peckoltia, Hemiancistrus,Snakeskin gourami, Farlowella acus (current images are copyrighted), Farlowella (current image is copyrighted), Brachygobius xanthozona, Brachygobius, Columbian Tetra, Tire track eel, Agamyxis, Pseudomystus, Bagrichthys, Leiarius, Dekeyseria, Leporacanthicus, Pseudacanthicus, Acanthicus, Hoplosternum littorale, Callichthys callichthys, Scleromystax (Upload any non-copyrighted fish images to the appropriate section of Wikimedia Commons) Identify species in the picture: (Identify and move the images to the appropriate section of Wikimedia Commons) Collaboration: Fishkeeping Other: See the Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Aquarium Fishes/to do page If you have any question, comment or suggestion, please discuss here.

Here is the list of some notable articles within the scope of WikiProject Aquarium Fishes as of April 7, 2007.

Image	Represents
	Featured article
	former featured article candidate
	Former featured article
	Good article
	former Good article

• Aquarium
• Asian arowana
• Cichlid
• Fish
• Goldfish
• Convict cichlid
• Halfbeak
• Pacu
• Oscar (fish)
• Pelvicachromis pulcher
• Tetraodontidae

Did you knows (DYKs)[edit]

Entries from these articles appeared on the main page Did you know? section.

• Filter (aquarium) - 6 April, 2007
• Hypancistrus - 11 April, 2007
• Sorubim - 11 April, 2007
• Brachyplatystoma - 21 April, 2007
• Copadichromis borleyi - 29 April, 2007
• Hemiancistrus - 10 May, 2007
• Horabagrus - 23 May, 2007
• Snakeskin gourami - 25 May, 2007
• Bagrichthys - 14 June, 2007
• Wimple piranha - 13 July, 2007
• Dekeyseria - 22 July, 2007
• Leporacanthicus - 28 July, 2007
• Elacatinus - 28 September, 2007
• Redtail Splitfin - 16 August, 2008
• Least Killifish - 17 August, 2008
• Violet Goby - 3 May, 2009

Purpose

• To recognize WikiProject Aquarium Fishes members who greatly contribute to fishkeeping and aquarium fishes on Wikipedia.
• To encourage WikiProject Aquarium Fishes members to produce more good quality works especially the featured articles.

Types of Awards

The Golden Guppy Award is given to any member who makes an outstanding contribution to fishkeeping and aquarium fishes on wikipedia. For example, an editor who has single-handedly produced a featured article is qualified for this award.

The Golden Discus Award is given to any member who makes an exceptional contribution to fishkeeping and aquarium fishes on wikipedia. For example, an editor who has single-handedly produced FIVE featured articles is qualified for this award.

Procedure

1. To nominate a member for an award, please post your proposal on the Wikiproject talk page with a short description of the nominee's contribution to fishkeeping and aquarium fishes on Wikipedia. Specify the type of award you are proposing and why you think the nominee should be awarded.

2. All other project members are invited to express their opinions whether they "support", "oppose", or are "neutral" with the nomination.

3. There must be at least 10 members responding to the nomination. If more than 75% of all responding members "support" the nomination, the nominee is given the award. The award will be posted on the recipient talk page. If wished the recipient can place the award to display in his/her user page.

4. The nomination expires in 15 days after the date of proposal. If the nomination expired without gaining enough votes, the candidate is not disqualified for future nominations. He/she can be re-nominated after a reasonable period of time.