'Interesting' fish showing up in chain pet stores

[Fruitbat]

Just visited one of my local PetCo stores (thankfully without buying anything) and saw an 'old friend' of mine in their tanks. They're selling South American Leaf Fish, Monocirrus polyacanthus, which I haven't seen available in years!! These are really neat fish....they look so much like a leaf that it is almost unbelievable. Their shape and coloration (which is chameleon-like) are nearly perfect and they even have a little fleshy projection from their snout to mimic the stem of a leaf.

For those of you who see these fish and want to buy them...a caution! They only eat live fish and will generally starve to death before they accept any substitutes. Don't be fooled by the size of their mouth because it is extensible and unfolds into a remarkably large, trumpet-shaped thing. They can eat fish 3/4 of their own size!! Do NOT buy any of these unless you're prepared to supply them with living food!!!

 

[Christmasfish]

Yeah those are the guys I looked at before deciding to use the polypterus as a culler. They are supposed to be water finicky, need live food and be kinda aggressive. I was looking for "gulp" monsters and night hunters.
IMO they should not be sold as common pets no more than those vampire tetras, clown knives and oscars. You'll see a whole bunch of "oh no -heelp!" posts in 3-4 weeks..jus watch! :?
They are claimed to be messy eaters part of the time too >shudder< which is why they and the pike gourami were crossed off my list and obviously pirahhna (though I actually know how to care for those)....
Baby betta extras disappear over night is one thing.....baby bettas being made into sausage as you watch is another.... 8O

I've noticed many strange fish at "pet stores" lately. many are things better left alone or neeeding a city aquarium for care. Shovel nose cats are allover at my Petsmart. And so are some rare barely able to research stuff. I see bad trend

 

[madasafish]

Yeah, saw some Gnathonemus petersii (I think that's the right name), Elephantnoses last week in the local Petsmart (IMO worse than Petco). I wanted to save them... but I just can't house them ATM, and they'd get harassed by my Kribs in the big tank. And they're too finicky dietarily (dietetically?).

Shoot! I really wanted them!

 

[patryuji]

A LFS just 1 mile up the road from me usually has the leaf fish in one tank. They just float near the top looking exactly like an old brown leaf. This LFS also sells "stone fish". Try as you might you can't get the stone fish to react unless it is snapping up prey that wanders too closely. Looks very much like a piece of dirty rock.

I just checked a LFS in Tacoma to see what they have (my tanks are full but I wanted to see if anything interesting is out there). They had a 40 gallon cube tank with about 12 clown knife fish. They also had around 10 channel cats in another tank...I would have thought carrying only one or two of each of these overly large fish would be enough but I guess not. (all of them were deceptively small at around 4-5 inches total length).

 

[Christmasfish]

The Petsmart in Oly/Lacey is carrying an insane amount of BKG and clowns. I cannot belive there are over 20 people who could care for just one. they are selling them as sets like a clown and knife. Knives like clown loaches..in threees. It is just baaaad! They also have very misleading size labels. Pet"no" can't keep em alive long enough in Oly.

They must be the new "it" fish around here...

 

[patryuji]

It also seems that the rams carried by petco (petsmart doesn't carry rams from what I have seen) are more androgynous than the rams carried by any of the LFS around here. I can never tell for sure what they are at petco and these are full grown 2" long fish. At any of the lfs I can usually determine what sex they are even when they are only 3/4 of an inch.

 

[Christmasfish]

Lacey Petsmart had three rams in the dempsy tank about 3 weeks ago, cute.big eyes.large finned..? I am sure they were rams. They were snapped up in about 3 days...or died.

 

[AdamsZoological]

The fish stores around here are getting some neat oddball freshwater stuff in now too. They've been getting in leaf fish for a while, and seen one closeby that is carrying Endlers now, used to be a vert hard fish to find, but, what I've seen retail so far havent been the greatest looking. Now, if they'd just get rid of some of the massive fish that almost no one can accomidate, red tail cats, blue channels, peacock bass, etc...wishful thinking

 

[patryuji]

It is funny how one of the "dirtiest" lfs around here has all of the most exotic fish. They have endler's livebearers at the same place as the leaf fish as well.

At this same place they had a tank with a few 4 inch puffers, purple spotted gobies (around 5" long), a cichlid (can't remember the type), and some pangasius cats together...all of the fish in that tank have torn up fins and some have the bacterial "fungus" forming on the damaged fins.

 

[orca7]

Hate to say this, but all of our fish were "interesting" and "exotic" at one time and we've all contributed to the trade. :? Best thing we can do as fish lovers is politely educate the LFS via our purchasing habits and subtle conversations w/LFS employees. Or we can be blunt and demand proper living conditions for these potential adoptees.

 

[TankGirl]

There is one LFS here that will often have a leaf fish, but there is a "false" leaf fish that is confused with it sometimes. They are just the coolest thing to watch. They are just sitting there still as anything, and a tiny fish swims by, and WHAM! Their mouths open up amazingly wide. Fascinating, but I too was warned that they are finicky and will often starve from lack of a live diet.

PetsMart had some Endler's (I really want to get some) once in the neon tank, but there were so few that the girl just could not catch them, and I finally told her to stop. They were the only Endler's I have seen in this town, and we have tons of shops here. They will sometimes get mixed in with a shipment of feeder guppies, too, but they will breed with guppies, from what I understand, so the strains get tainted that way.

 

[Menagerie]

Best thing we can do as fish lovers is politely educate the LFS via our purchasing habits and subtle conversations w/LFS employees. Or we can be blunt and demand proper living conditions for these potential adoptees.

I have been blunt with many in my LFS about some ill fish (then I vented in the Lounge under emoticons). It's all about the money--who cares if ill fish are sold? Most people will think they killed them. Who cares if the fish out grows the tank? Most people will kill them off before that ever happens. Who cares if the fish you take home beats up/eats everyone else in the tank? Who cares if fish are sold the same day the people pick up a new tank? Who cares if there are dead fish in the display tanks--the other fish will eat them....

Whew, I guess I wasn't done venting from Tuesday :x .