Ever wondered where the colourful little Clown Loach that is so popular in aquaria hails from? The origin of the clownloach, Chromobotia macracanthus, is the two largest Indonesia islands, Sumatra and Borneo. Hailing from fast moving waters the clown loach prefers aquariums with a lot of current.
Indonesia is located on both sides of the equator in South Eastern Asia and Oceania. It is comprised of over 17,500 islands of which roughly 6,000 are inhabited by man. You probably recognize the names of the five largest islands: Java, Sumatra, Borneo, New Guinea and Sulawesi. Kalimantan is the name of the Indonesian part of Borneo, an island Indonesia share with Brunei and Malaysia. Indonesia share New Guinea with Papau New Guinea.
Indonesia has two distinct monsoonal wet and dry seasons, with the mountains receiving the largest amounts of rainfall. The avarge temperature varies from area to area both is usually between 26-30C/79-86F during the day.
Indonesia is home to a lot of fish, plants and animals (not just the clown loach) and has the second highest biodiversity in the worls after Brazil. The biodiversity is in part due to the fact that the Asian and the Australian Faune meet in Indonesia. 40% of all mammals in Indonesia are endemic to the area and so are a lot of plant, fish, bird and insect species.
Indonesia is located where the tectonic plates of Australia, Euroasia and the Pacific meets, which make it prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. There is roughly 150 active volcanoes in the country, including the famous Krakatoa and Tambora whose devastating eruptions became world news during the 19th century. There is a positive side the the vulcanos however and that is that it is nutrient rich vulcanic ash from the vulcanos that allow the rich plant life in the region.
A part of Indonesia is called Sundaland by zoologists and this area is similar to the naearby Asian mainland. The lakes, rivers and swamps of this region are home to roughly 1,000 scientifically described species of fish of which nearly 200 were discovered during the last decade.
The part of Indonesia known as Wallacea represents the biogeographical transitional zone between Sundaland to the west and the Australasian zone to the east, and includes islands such as Sulawesi and the Maluku archipelago. Some of the Nusa Tenggara islands are also considered parts of Wallacea. Over 300 species of fish has been described from the Wallacean waters out of which nearly 25% are endemic. Examples of endemic fish species include goby and halfbeak species found in South Sulawesi. The Maluku archipelago and Nusa Tenggara are expected to still contain a lot of undescribed endemic species just waiting to be discovered.
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