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| CYPRINIFORMES: CYPRINIDAE |
| We are common goldfish (Carrassius auratus), cyprinids, the family of carp and minnow like fish. Many of our close cousins have been long time occupants in humans aquariums. Read on and find out why everyone likes us so much! |
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| Can you see the family resemblance between us and this mud carp? Goldfish are actually domesticated descendents of the common carp, and introduced game species in most of North America. The Japanese have been raising carp extensively for many, many human generations, and goldfish and koi are the product of their work. |
| Cyprinids are common in the aquarium trade. Many species are inexpensive due to a considerable amount of captive breeding. Such species include the Tiger Barb, the Rosey Barb and the Cherry Barb. Barbs are also fairly hardy fish. We have evolved to make the most our of all resources, and spend much of our day rooting about in the gravel or sand searching for discarded food particles. |
| Perceriformes is a very important order- not only does it contain a huge amount of aquarium fish species, but it also includes many of the worlds best game fish species: Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides), Rock Bass (Ambloplites rupestris), and Pacific Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus orientalis). |
| Bala Shark (Balantiocheilos melanopterus) |
| Tiger Barb (Puntius pentazona) |
| Mud Carp (Cirrhinus chinensis) |
| Keeping cyprinids such as barbs and sharks in the aquarium often varies in difficulty according to the species kept. Some are agressive towards other species (Tiger Barbs), some only to their own (many of the "sharks"). Use the internet resource page to look up the cyprinid that has caught your attention. Always try to get the fishes scientific name to prevent any errors in common name descriptions. |
| FISH FACT: Of all the common and comet goldfish raised each year in the United States, 95% of them are used to feed larger fish! |
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| Red-breasted Sunfish: Order: Centrarchidae (Lepomis auritus) |
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