South african tropical fish?

Everyone always has south American tropical fish or asian. i would like to start a tank with just south African (southern african fish. Can you guys ive me any names of such fish? My species knowledge is lacking

 

Pseudocrenilabrus philander I Know is one, apparently occurs in the Orange river. Also, you could try Tilapia, might get quite big though. I Don't think we have a great deal of fish that are suited to "tropical" Aquariums. Of yes, we've also got some monster Catfish.

 

there's lots of little fish in the barb or danio species in the local waters... I cant say for sure - last time I collected local fish and crabs was when I was in primary school down in natal and then I wasnt into ID'ing fish, so...

a few good local books available at exclusive or cna and some interesting websites on local sa fish if you do some googling...

 

http://home.intekom.com/ecotravel/south-african/wildlife-guides/fishes-list.htm
Might help you.

 

also note it is illegal to keep local fish without permits

 

Tygerberg zoo has a dam full of them

fishbase.org

Select country
Select freshwater

away you go

 

You find all the 'better' species up along our Northern borders, where there are sme slightly larger and more interesting species. All in all, most 'South African' fish are just barbs and some small catfish. A Southern African themed tank could be a whole lot more interesting, but it'd mean you may have to do some travelling to collect the fish.

Otherwise a good way to stay to local species is to try the estuarine (brackish) fish we have along our coast. This is a lot easier if you live near the coast though...

Maybe just try a Tilapia tank like said above, like a breeding setup or similar. But just try keep quiet about it :blink1:

 

Hi franna
A very interesting fish and hardy is our Sandelina capensis, its a macropodae. Can take temps from 15-26 so you don't need heating. But it is illigal to catch wildlive without a permit. I know the fish was bread in captivity. Than we have quite a few Kilies within our borders but all in the north.

 

Guido - its not just illegal to catch it but you also need a transport permit as well as a holding permit

 

Hi Henk
Yes I know just thought somebody already mentioned that! thanks again for bringing it up:bigsmile:

 

Up here in the nonoti river we have some lampeyes,kzn n.coast.in the umgeni river there are some goby type of fish(collected many years ago).a few years ago i tried to get some guys together to go on a fishing expedition in our rivers(didnt know about the permit issue at that time)but it seems like we were all busy at the wrong time to get together for the weekend.my idea was to campout and catch speciemens at diff. Rivers.hold them at places allong the way and pik em up on our way back home,even enquired about an electric device that stuns fish(snorkeling with nets first and when tired then use the device)it never happened but thanks for refreshing the idea,will have to look into permit issues first and take it from there

 

thanks for all the replies . Sucks that its such a hassle to have such a tank. but i can understand this as well. I would not want to be part of a problem where fish species gets extinct coz of over fishing etc. or at least that's what i guess the whole permit thing is for!