The Most Oddball Fish

[Why me]

What’s the most oddball fish you guys have

 

[KinsKicks]

Hmm...I’d have to say my SW filefish; he is quite the funny looking guy

https://i.imgur.com/K3MUo8U.jpg

 

[Aqua Hands]

I don't have these but, Freshwater Flounder, Dolphin Fish, and Freshwater Frogfish

 

[Why me]

The most oddball I have is either my rope fish silver gar or my one finned dinosaur eel

Supposedly the fun will grow back though

 

[Platylover]

Probably my ansorgiis, not ultra common to see and they have unique personalities.

 

[2211Nighthawk]

My ropefish Sobek and my dojo loaches California and Sandy.

Oh yeah! Forgot about Rosie! She’s my brand new crab. Does that count?

 

[Why me]

What kind of crab?

 

[aussieJJDude]

The crab is a red claw...

Currently my most oddball is my wrestling halfbeaks.

 

[Why me]

Wrestling?

 

[scarface]

My Clown Pleco, Panaque maccus. It's a true wood-eating pleco.

 

[Platylover]

Halfbeaks, I’ve always liked those. What’s their personality like if you don’t mind me asking? Just seem like interesting little fellows.

Wrestling?

These are what they’re talking about-

 

[2211Nighthawk]

What kind of crab?

Yep! Red claw. @aussieJJDude ’s been teaching me.

 

[aussieJJDude]

Halfbeaks, I’ve always liked those. What’s their personality like if you don’t mind me asking? Just seem like interesting little fellows.

These are what they’re talking about-

Most likely its that species, but they so under-described so who knows - a few internet articles suggest they not D. Pusilla....

Anyway, irrelevant sidetrack. What they like? Well, I've only had them for about a week, so I can't say a whole lot but rather just what I've learnt....
So far, they doing fine in freshwater and don't require brackish water like many sources claim they do. According to the store I got them from, they assured me that they are fw - but wouldn't tell me if they were bred or just found in the fw in their native habitat... they didn't know, but I assume the latter. They seem fine in my water conditions, and seem to handle a large range of ph - mine sits close to the 6.5 mark last time I checked..... - low kH - have baking soda for that - but relatively high gH - cuttlefish bone for shrimp and snails in water, which would increase gH over time.... but will honestly need to keep for a longer duration to make sure.

They ignore most of my other inhabitants- ember tetras, b.maculatus, C. Habrosus, shrimp and large snails - but will sometimes go after a floating baby MTS until it realises its not food. So, they pretty good on nano communities tanks IMO, since mine are pretty small currently- one is an inch other is around 2.... I think I may have a male and female, but there's little diagrams available for sexing these guys - words arent really helpful IMO..... But I am expecting them to get bigger, so it may change.

I actually had a whole mass of crypts floating around in there tank at first - since I've read they like floating vegetation. So far, I've found the opposite and they actually enjoy just being out in the open away from vegetation... as a result, I moved out the majority of the mass, but provided 2 smaller places of refuge on opposite ends if they need to hide - sometimes the smaller one does hide, especially during feeding.

A lot of sources claimed that they are hard to wean onto dead foods, but thats been the opposite for me. They accept flake - they can take down a large peice of food just fine - and extremely small granules (<1mm). The important thing is that it must be floating - as soon as its not floating, they rarely will accept it - and they seem more likely to eat if theres a slight current at the surface to promote movement... Feeding them is similar to a betta or guppy in terms of difficulty for me, maybe I just got lucky or maybe I may of been wrong and they were actually captive bred.... Dunno, but they eat prepared. One day, I want to try and stimulate their diet with some live foods, but since drosophila is illega to keepl in Vic... im stuck on ideas.

They spend over 90% of their time at the water surface, so deep tanks are a waste on them . Id suggest a min of a 20g long or a tank with a 2ft x 1ft surface area min. Larger is better as well!

 

[ParrotCichlid]

Used to have a red tailed catfish

 

[75g Discus Tank]

Probably a bluegill. But my own strain.

The ones that I have in my pond are 5th generation from the wild(I caught them all).

The new strain that I have are a lot shorter, a bit more streamlined, and have gigantic mouths.

Like the 4th generation babies that I had at 2 inches had mouths bigger than one of the gigantic 6 inch bluegills that I caught from the wild.

 

[Why me]

How big do they grow

 

[75g Discus Tank]

How big do they grow

In the wild, around a foot.

My biggest RN are F1 and around 8-9 inches.

 

[Platylover]

Most likely its that species, but they so under-described so who knows - a few internet articles suggest they not D. Pusilla....

Anyway, irrelevant sidetrack. What they like? Well, I've only had them for about a week, so I can't say a whole lot but rather just what I've learnt....
So far, they doing fine in freshwater and don't require brackish water like many sources claim they do. According to the store I got them from, they assured me that they are fw - but wouldn't tell me if they were bred or just found in the fw in their native habitat... they didn't know, but I assume the latter. They seem fine in my water conditions, and seem to handle a large range of ph - mine sits close to the 6.5 mark last time I checked..... - low kH - have baking soda for that - but relatively high gH - cuttlefish bone for shrimp and snails in water, which would increase gH over time.... but will honestly need to keep for a longer duration to make sure.

They ignore most of my other inhabitants- ember tetras, b.maculatus, C. Habrosus, shrimp and large snails - but will sometimes go after a floating baby MTS until it realises its not food. So, they pretty good on nano communities tanks IMO, since mine are pretty small currently- one is an inch other is around 2.... I think I may have a male and female, but there's little diagrams available for sexing these guys - words arent really helpful IMO..... But I am expecting them to get bigger, so it may change.

I actually had a whole mass of crypts floating around in there tank at first - since I've read they like floating vegetation. So far, I've found the opposite and they actually enjoy just being out in the open away from vegetation... as a result, I moved out the majority of the mass, but provided 2 smaller places of refuge on opposite ends if they need to hide - sometimes the smaller one does hide, especially during feeding.

A lot of sources claimed that they are hard to wean onto dead foods, but thats been the opposite for me. They accept flake - they can take down a large peice of food just fine - and extremely small granules (<1mm). The important thing is that it must be floating - as soon as its not floating, they rarely will accept it - and they seem more likely to eat if theres a slight current at the surface to promote movement... Feeding them is similar to a betta or guppy in terms of difficulty for me, maybe I just got lucky or maybe I may of been wrong and they were actually captive bred.... Dunno, but they eat prepared. One day, I want to try and stimulate their diet with some live foods, but since drosophila is illega to keepl in Vic... im stuck on ideas.

They spend over 90% of their time at the water surface, so deep tanks are a waste on them . Id suggest a min of a 20g long or a tank with a 2ft x 1ft surface area min. Larger is better as well!

Interesting that you’ve found so many differences than what was said at other sources. I’d love to be able to get a pair if I ever have enough room for them. I hope they continue to do well in your tank! Thanks for all the info!

 

[GuppyGuy007]

Mines probably my celestial pearl Danios. But I don' have the space to accommdate stingrays, eels, cars, etc. Wish I did though

 

[aussieJJDude]

Interesting that you’ve found so many differences than what was said at other sources. I’d love to be able to get a pair if I ever have enough room for them. I hope they continue to do well in your tank! Thanks for all the info!

The problem is that a lot of the sources tend to have completely different info. By far, the vest resource I've seen are seriously fish and Wet Web Media (WWM)...