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| Subject: | | Re: OK. Who boinked a carp? |
| From: | |
Almas
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posted
Tue, May 31 2005, 11:48pm
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The eel like one's Lepidosiren paradoxa, the South American lungfish, one of my favorite fish... and perhaps responsible for some SA cryptid sightings. :-D The other one does look VERY much like an axolotl, but it's actually Polypterus endlicheri, the endlicheri bichir. It's a young one (and also selectivley bred I believe), the older ones lose their axolotl-like gills (normally around 3" this happens, but the one in the pic I would say is about 5", and has very large gills even compared to a very small individual... my guess would be due to selective breeding). Both fish "breathe" air, and are very interestin fish. If you have a large aquarium, they're great fish to keep. :-) |
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| Subject: | | Re: OK. Who boinked a carp? |
| From: | |
Gondwana
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posted
Wed, Jun 1 2005, 5:47am
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Hi Almas,
Thanks for the information. Lungfish are really fascinating animals, I agree. At the Berlin Aquarium, they (used to?) have a huge Australian lungfish (Neoceratodes forsteri). I always had the feeling that this thing was looking at you from a different time, way back. But I don't have the capacity to keep such large fish at home, I'm afraid. I've had a Erpetoichthys calabaricus (reedfish) which is a relative of the bichirs once, but it died before it reached 40 cm, don't know why..
Gondwana |
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| Subject: | | Re: OK. Who boinked a carp? |
| From: | |
Almas
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posted
Thu, Jun 2 2005, 12:58am
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Ah yes, I have a friend in Frankfurt that told me about the lungfish at the Berlin aquarium... but I'm also not sure if they still have it (N. forsteri is probably my favorite lungfish species, as well as the rarest... and most expensive). Reedfish are another one of my favorites, and it's not uncommon for them to die at that size... supposedly they reach over a meter in the wild, but I havn't heard of one over 45 or 50 cm in captivity (they are Polypterids too, just in a different genus). Anyway, if you're interested in finding another ropefish or a smaller bichir, I beleive that my friend special orders his fish in Berlin and drives there, so maybe I can help you out (if they are hard to find there that is... I'm not sure about bichirs, but he said that his lungfish was very difficult to find). :-) |
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| Subject: | | Re: OK. Who boinked a carp? |
| From: | |
Gondwana
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posted
Fri, Jun 3 2005, 1:59pm
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Hi Almas,
I'll check it out - time to take the kids to the Aquarium again :-)
I doubt whether you can legally get any N. forsteri out of Australia, they are - quite rightly - strictly protected.
Thanks for the offer, however I have my sources for interesting fish in Berlin, being one of those sources myself ;-). Polypterids are relatively easy to find, though, as well as Channidae, and other biting animals of that kind. But that's not so much my cup of tea..
Cheers,
Gondwana |
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| Subject: | | Re: OK. Who boinked a carp? |
| From: | |
Almas
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posted
Sat, Jun 4 2005, 3:24am
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They can be legally obtained (with CITES appendix II permits), but are very rare and expensive... the last one that I saw for sale was $700 USD. |
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