Which Auchenipterids are being kept by PC members?

[Marc van Arc]

A head on shot of Tetranematichthys. Note the cranal/neck area.

[MatsP]

Mark, you need to stop wearing a zipped coat when taking photos of your fish. Great shot otherwise...

--
Mats

[Jools]

Mark, you need to stop wearing a zipped coat when taking photos of your fish. Great shot otherwise...

I think that's actually a grey/silver camera strap - which needs to be black or removed!

Jools

[MatsP]

Mark, you need to stop wearing a zipped coat when taking photos of your fish. Great shot otherwise...

I think that's actually a grey/silver camera strap - which needs to be black or removed!

Jools

I think you are right, on a second look [knowing what I'm looking for...]

--
Mats

[Marc van Arc]

Alright, different (black) shirt, different pic

[Marc van Arc]

Came home today after a few days in the Belgian Ardennes to find that my new South-American assets from Germany had arrived in Rotterdam. Too tired (and maybe too late as well) to pick them up, so I'll have to wait one week before I can meet, greet and obtain 5

Auchenipterus nigripinnis

. To be honest, in this state I can wait

[sojapat]

Ardennes , MMM Real tanks not fish tanks .. I love the Panzers .This is not meant to offend anyone
I like all things WW2 ..
When are you travelling to the UK again Marc ? We havent got the Pretty Ardennes region though .
The West Highlands is nice and you would have to drive past our place to get there ..

[Marc van Arc]

When are you travelling to the UK again Marc ? We havent got the Pretty Ardennes region though .
The West Highlands is nice and you would have to drive past our place to get there ..

May take a while, Neil. We've already booked a summer holiday in my all time favourite spot (Vitrac, Dordogne region) where we'll enjoy the river and the environment.

View from the sandy bank

Need wood?

Fish foot

Sorry for the off topic.

[Marc van Arc]

Today I firstly picked up Alex and together we went to the Poortugaal shop for 6 Auchenipterus nigripinnis. I ordered 5, he got in 7, 1 died and according to Alex I had no other choice then take the future single specimen also. So I took all 6, we went home and everything was alright. Not quite.
The quality of the fish was disappointing. They looked damaged/infected and for some time we've been discussing whether or not to take them with us at all. In the end we made up a plan so we would be able to take them with us without jeopardizing the other inhabitants of the tank they were going to go into* (which is a different tank than intended for besides the poor shape they are also too small atm).
All six were packed separately and after getting Alex home they were very slowly introduced to their new environment. I also had to get rid of the filter coal, change the tank layout and add some preventive medication.
After that I hand caught them and at the moment I can see 3 specimens swimming in the current.
To be honest, they look worse. Some eyes are thickened and mouths are injured. I don't think this species travels very well. Nervous species with a tendency to bang into anything - even with barbels.
I will feed shortly and let you know how things are. And maybe make a few pictures. And cross my fingers....

(* Yes I know - no QT. If this goes wrong you may mock me)

[Marc van Arc]

Not very good, yet the best I could make atm. Very skittish fish. Hope they stay calm tonight.....
Saw 5 and most of them actually ate (a little).

[Jools]

Just wanted to mention that in amongst a few shipments of jag cats from Peru of late there have been otorongo woodcats too.

Jools

[Martin S]

Not very good, yet the best I could make atm. Very skittish fish. Hope they stay calm tonight.....
Saw 5 and most of them actually ate (a little).

Fingers crossed Marc for a happy outcome
Martin

[Marc van Arc]

Just wanted to mention that in amongst a few shipments of jag cats from Peru of late there have been otorongo woodcats too.

I'd recommend you'd get some; I know you like them (and if you get bored of them I'll pick them up one day )

[Marc van Arc]

Fingers crossed Marc for a happy outcome

Thanks Martin. About to feed them and have a good look. For some reason they are less restless today, which also means that they are less visible. This is good and bad at the same time. You know what I mean.

[kruseman]

Nice asset, Marc. Hopefully you'll have them for a while.

Does the Poortugaal-shop import directly from SA?
I've read some good stuff about the shop lately so it may well be worth a visit one day.

[The.Dark.One]

Just wanted to mention that in amongst a few shipments of jag cats from Peru of late there have been otorongo woodcats too.

Jools

Hi Jools

Where have you seen these? Any left?

Thanks

[Marc van Arc]

Nice asset, Marc. Hopefully you'll have them for a while.

Does the Poortugaal-shop import directly from SA?
I've read some good stuff about the shop lately so it may well be worth a visit one day.

No they don't. These came from a German importer.
It's a nice, rather small shop with helpful people that specializes in oddballs. Too bad that their limited space doesn't allow them to stock many specimens per species - unless you order of course.
Their ads are on Marktplaats: Dieren - Aquariumvissen - Poortugaal

I do hope too they'll recover. Tonight with lights out I saw at least 5 on the move and they seemed interested in the bloodworms. Couldn't see if they actually ate - I didn't want to disturb them with the flash light. They are not very skinny anyway. Damaged fins, barbels and body parts are the problems atm. However, I don't get the impression that things got worse when compared to yesterday. Still, fingers crossed.

[Jools]

Where have you seen these? Any left?

Out of Peru. Shipments into Japan, USA and Germany all had these in there. The adults can look a LOT like jags, just longer.

Jools

[nvcichlids]

are these what your talking about ?

http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/ ... 1268084404

[Jools]

are these what your talking about ?

http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/ ... 1268084404

Yes, and for The Dark One, I've not seen any physically in the UK but I have seen a lot of them on lists.

Jools

[sidguppy]

I hope Marc's newest arrivals will pull through and even more important: won't introduce a whole host of nasty germs in his hobby

the fish were in bad shape, really.
1 male has no flesh left on a pectoral fin; the bleach bone of the spine ticking out. luckily no fungus.
i've had a Tracheleiichthys flexilis like that, long ago, and he lost his entire fin after a while; after that the fish lived for quite a wehile as the One Armed bandit, sort of.

3 others were in a tank together with a doradid (acanthodoras) wich sported a large white patch of skinless flank wich i strongly suspect infected with the kind of bacteria we really don't want laying around.

many tanks of the LFs were messy, polluted. the guy who does all the rarities in there got a kid recently and the fact that he couldn't be there showed

my first advice to Marc was NOT to buy any fish since Marc hasn't got a quarantaine tank.
that didn't went down well for obvious reasons

it's understandable; after wanting this fish for such a long time and going home empty handed would have been hard.

then we constructed a scenario in wich Marc would take my antibiotics home for use and would remove the carbon from his filter and also ould create more swimming space.

hopefully it'll work
keeping fingers crossed!

[Jools]

are these what your talking about ?

http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/ ... 1268084404

Yes, and for The Dark One, I've not seen any physically in the UK but I have seen a lot of them on lists.

[Marc van Arc]

What a great fish. Wouldn't mind getting that bag
Seems my estimation of 6" TL is insufficient?

[Marc van Arc]

then we constructed a scenario in wich Marc would take my antibiotics home for use and would remove the carbon from his filter and also ould create more swimming space.
hopefully it'll work. keeping fingers crossed!

They are improving.
Fins are starting to heal, they eat, they swim and - rather important imo - some are showing their barbels while swimming. At least that'll prevent them from banging into objects and thus getting extra injuries.
The antibiotics are doing a nice job sofar and none of the other fishes seem to mind. I'm happy with that too, for I deliberately took a risk which many probably would not have taken. Sense has never been my thing in these matters.....
Still fingers crossed, yet my hope is rising.

[nvcichlids]

what is the scientific name for these guys? I am debating on ordering some and would like to gather some more info first.

are these the

Trachelyopterus sp(2)

?

[Jools]

are these the

Trachelyopterus sp(2)

?

Yes, no scientific name, they can be found on lists as Otorongo woodcats or Novia Otorongo.

Jools

[nvcichlids]

what are we guessing as a maximum size? My newly worked on fish room (still at parents house) only has 33 xl tanks (48"x12"x12") currently no larger tanks in there. Would a group be able to live in this environment?

[sojapat]

Hi Guys just my 2 peneth I dont think the 2 fish here are the same species ?
I am not 100% on this
The Sp2 is the otorongo ..I would agree .It has only spots .I have seen pictures of this fish @ 4" it is only spotted.
The larger fish has a different patern more camo than spots .
I had the otorongo ordered but they did a no show
Do you think they change so dramatically in pattern with maturity?

[nvcichlids]

I would think its very possible.. as with different fish, I think it would depend on their habitat. If the fish while young spends much of its time in a sand flat with some wood/plants to hide in, it would be much closer in color to the juvie in the pictures. When adults, they may move into a more heavily wooded area causing the camo color to blend in (not saying they actually do that, but its seen in many species of fish.)

[Jools]

Do you think they change so dramatically in pattern with maturity?

Maybe, maybe not, but then different pattern doesn't always mean different species. We'd need to find out where they are from, look at that data versus a side by side comparision and look at some of the characterisitics that define other species in the genus too.

Jools