New Fish--Halfbeaks!

[madasafish]

I've got HALFBEAKS!! Dermogenys pusillus: http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?ID=11298&genusname=Dermogenys&speciesname=pusilla

Wow! I saw them in one NYC store several months ago, but didn't have any space or time for them. Now I have a new tank, I've got lots of space for them!

So, these guys are really hard to find. I've never seen them in any other fish store. The coolest things about them...

1) They look like (cooler than) needle-nose gars, but stay small, only 2". The ones I have are only about .75" right now.
2) They are viviparous!! Livebearers!! How neat is that?
3) They are a unique fish, but they accept flake food (HQ)
4) They have a really cool morphology. As the name suggests, they have a long lower jaw and a shortened upper jaw (to facilitate surface eating). See images below...
5) When they get more sexually mature, the males show off a brilliant red anal fin. Right now, they all have lightly colored anal and adipose (or dorsal, I can't tell) fins.

Anyhoo, just had to tell somebody. I'd be interested in hearing a) whether anybody else has heard of these guys (I've wanted them for so long) and b) if anybody else has ever seen them in their LFSs.

 

[madasafish]

Last 2 pics

 

[madasafish]

Oh, and btw. They are in no way related to gars, even though they look a lot like them.

 

[Allivymar]

Poor lil buggers look like they are in desperate need of orthodontry LOL

Very cool Jon; looking forward to meeting em!

 

[webmoose]

madasafish congrats on these guys and the plecos! keep us posted on their progress!

 

[madasafish]

Yeah... a horrible underbite!

 

[Fruitbat]

I kept some Dermogenys pusillus many years ago and found them to be fascinating little buggers! I haven't seen them available in years so you've made a good find! Glad to hear yours are eating flake right at the start....I remember having to fight with mine to get them to eat anything but live brine shrimp and live daphnia.

I did see another really cool fish at one of my local shops on my last visit. They had a tank full of 'four-eyed' fish, Anableps, which I also haven't seen in many years. Too bad they get fairly large or I would have picked up a couple!

 

[Menagerie]

Very interesting fish!

 

[cdawson]

Madasafish, you know they're brackish fish right?

 

[madasafish]

That really depends on where you get your info, dawson. fishbase says they're FW, brackish and occasionally fully marine: http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?ID=11298&genusname=Dermogenys&speciesname=pusilla

And it says that they inhabit streams, estuaries and mangroves. So, brackish and FW--mainly the Chao Praya River and Mekong river/delta.

I think in a lot of these cases, these fish can be kept in either FW or brackish environments. Though I might try reducing or increasing salinity to stimulate breeding. I think the young are often found in mangrove swamps, so perhaps they swim to more saline waters to breed.

 

[madasafish]

Oh, and fruitbat, I thought you might have kept halfbeaks at some point in your career! They really are neat. And I've seen Anableps anableps a couple of times in stores near me. Another "miscallaneous" species like the halfbeak, and really cool.

Did you get them to breed?

 

[webmoose]

How are they doing?

 

[madasafish]

Doin' well! 1 or 2 are looking skinny, possibly parasite-related? But the males are getting a fantastic red sheen, and are getting sorta territorial. Eventually, there might be some breeding action, I hope!!

 

[webmoose]

How are they now????

 

[madasafish]

Not sure if I mentioned that I lost one after a couple of days... but all the others are still alive! They're in a tank with my Queen Arabesque (L-260) and Imperial King Tiger (L-333) Loricariids, and I'm feeding them mostly earthworm flake and Marineland bio-blend. I feed them black worms when I have time...

They've grown a little. Some more than others. I can certainly see a hierarchy based on size and aggression forming within the ranks. The males now have quite a nice red color to their anal and adipose (modified dorsal?) fins, and even have secondary colors on the same fins of white and black. Almost flag-like! I'll get a picture in at some point in my gallery. I know the first pictures weren't very good...

Thanks for encouraging me to update, Moose!

 

[webmoose]

are they eating out of you hand yet? (pathetic bump to hear how they are doing)

 

[madasafish]

Actually, they are! But the most interesting is to feed them live black worms from an eye-dropper. The worms hang half out of the dropper and the halfbeaks all attack brilliantly, grabbing the worms and fighting over them. I haven't seen them "wrestle" yet (i.e. lock beaks), but I certainly see the tussles.

Some of them have grown to twice their original size, but others don't manage to get enough food (tough competing with the bigger halfbeaks), and look a little emaciated. I'm trying to direct food their way so they don't go hungry... The larger halfbeaks have gained color in their fins and have taken on a great red shine on their bodies that you'll see in the second picture.

I forgot how hard it is to take pictures of these guys, esp. since they stay at the surface, where light is most diffuse and difficult to capture. But here are the 3 best pictures I could take.

Halfbeaks 2.5 months later...

 

[webmoose]

Thanks so much for posting those pics and giving an update. I am glad to hear you still have them.

 

[krap101]

i usually see halfbeaks at my lfs (or was it the gars or whatever) [but im pretty sure its halfbeaks] ive never seen them have the reddish yours have or just maybe i never looked

 

[krap101]

yeah i saw the half beaks today. forgot to look at the fins today but they were 1/2 beaks. the beak length wasnt as drastic as yours but i could tell. oh it was labeled celebshalf beak. if that helps