The Most Oddball Fish

What’s the most oddball fish you guys have

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

My ropefish Sobek and my dojo loaches California and Sandy.

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

 

What kind of crab?

 

The crab is a red claw...

Currently my most oddball is my wrestling halfbeaks.

 

Wrestling?

 

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

 

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-

 

What kind of crab?

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

 

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 aren't 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 that's 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 there's 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... I'm 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 20 gallon long or a tank with a 2ft x 1ft surface area min. Larger is better as well!

 

Used to have a red tailed catfish

 

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.

 

How big do they grow

 

How big do they grow

In the wild, around a foot.

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

 

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 aren't 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 that's 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 there's 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... I'm 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 20 gallon 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!

 

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

 

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)...