what kind of fish???

[jennymit21]

i recently moved to a new area and checked out the LFS. Saw this really pretty fish about 5 1/2 inches long. He almost looks like a little shark b/c he has a stub nose with a receding lower jaw and bead little eyes up front. He is a silvery blue on top and white on his underside. What is really weird is that he swims with his lower body kinda lowered!! and he swims in circles. The guy at the fish store had no idea what he was and said he's had him for 3 weeks and he was told they were really rare. All i know is that he was pretty but EXPENSIVE!! and i really would like to know how to take care of him. Nobody seems to know what he is. Right now he's in my freshwater community 55 gal and he isn't being aggressive.

Can anyone help identify???

 

[aridiar]

Umm, is this it?
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=21&pCatId=932

 

[jennymit21]

nope not a lima shovel nosed cat unfortunately. he has a snub nose and no antennae to speak of. on his underside he has the regular 2 fins then 2 smaller ones behind that and then one more on his underside. Thanks for giving it a shot though

 

[Allivymar]

Can you get us a pic jenny? It would really help with IDing your new fish.

I'm surprised the lfs folks didn't know what it was; how the heck do they determine price if they don't even know what the fish is?

 

[jennymit21]

he claimed he was told by someone else it was a dolphin catfish, but it doesn't look like any that i've looked up I Tried to send a pic but having issues with the camera interface ..... hopefully he'll stop swimming in circles so i can get a better snapshot of him LOL...as soon as we reinstall xp on the comp we can prob get the camera working and i'll send a pic.

 

[jennymit21]

still working on getting that pic.....have to get a decent shot, edit it on the BF's comp (he has photo editor) b/c the file's too big, and then ship it to my comp so i can send it. if it helps he (the fish not the boyfriend) has a long tubular body (hotdog??) and he has those little antenna like nubs?? but they are really small...kinda similar to what catfish have i think but i am still new to this fish thing the top of the fish is approx this color but with a silvery sheen and his underside is white. Also he looks like he might be scaleless. Don't know if that will help any until i can get that pic to ya but i figured it's a try.

 

[Menagerie]

he claimed he was told by someone else it was a dolphin catfish

And he based the price on that!?!?!?

Sounds like a catfish, but that probably doesn't help

[center:5e08ba7e62] Welcome to AA, jennymit21! [/center:5e08ba7e62]

 

[jennymit21]

yeah i know....kinda shady like i said, it was a first time visit and i usually don't buy impulsively but well.......he was so different looking! hopefully he doesn't turn out to be 3 feet long LOL he's in my community tank (55 gal) which is the only one i have up and working. my 10 and 20 are down for the count right now and he'd be too big anyway. i'll keep checking out the catfish to see if i can spot what he is.

 

[Menagerie]

Have you tried planetcatfish.com?

 

[jennymit21]

I FOUND HIM!! he's a whale catfish (cetopsis coecutiens) now.....if anyone has more info on him that would be fantastic!! we have spent the past couple of hours trying to find feeding habits and all that jazz...and well so far nada!

Thank you so much for the link....it was starting at planetcatfish.com that i was able to locate him eventually. BTW....i did find out that they have small swim bladders and that is why they swim funny