Imported in Germany: Astroblepus

[kruseman]

Glaser apparently imported 2 species of Astroblepus:

http://www.aquariumglaser.de/de/news.php#368

[Jools]

Any idea of prices yet?

Jools

[kruseman]

No, I don't.
I do think the price will be considerable due to the exclusivity and the reputation of Glaser.

[The.Dark.One]

Over £100 each. Good luck keeping them alive!

[Jools]

Over £100 each. Good luck keeping them alive!

Or getting more than one!

Jools

[Sorry folks, in-joke between Steve and I]

[sidguppy]

shame, really

I understand these are probably very hard to catch and keep alive during transport and everything, boosting the price

but with such a tag, people will likely buy only one and these are likely social fish

and also: single fish cannot breed......

[The.Dark.One]

Over £100 each. Good luck keeping them alive!

Or getting more than one!

Jools

[Sorry folks, in-joke between Steve and I]

[kruseman]

shame, really

I understand these are probably very hard to catch and keep alive during transport and everything, boosting the price

but with such a tag, people will likely buy only one and these are likely social fish

and also: single fish cannot breed......

That is possible but not that understandable given the fact that there are herds of fishkeepers around willing to pay a lot more than 90 euros per fish. Koi, discus, aro's and the like.

Good luck keeping them alive!

Are these catfish hard to keep? Or is this phrase put here because of the pricetag?

[MatsP]

They need cool, well oxygenated water. Most of these fish are collected at quite high altitude (600-4000masl), and water temperatures (in dry season) range between 10-22'C (55-72'F) from the information that I got some time back from Nathan Lujan. Also, the water appear to be fairly high pH 7-7.5 - this is for fish in the Madre de Dios/Madeira locations - I don't know where these fish came from, but Peru and Madeira/Madre de Dios drainage is quite possible.

--
Mats

[Shane]

Are these catfish hard to keep? Or is this phrase put here because of the price tag?

The streams they inhabit also house (introduced) trout from Canada. That should give some idea of the care they will need.

That said, I saw several in exporter tanks in Colombia (different spp than the above) and they looked healthy in room temperature (about 57F in Bogota) tanks with good aeration. The 100 lb price tag is cheap if one considers that most aquarists would need to purchase a chiller as well (at over US $1,000) to keep them alive long term.

-Shane

[The.Dark.One]

The two specimens I have seen were kept for several weeks but then both turned over (different keepers and species)

As well as their environmental requirements being difficult to recreate I also seem to remember it not being easy to get them to feed, but I suppose this is to be expected bearing in mind how they will eat in the wild.

[Bas Pels]

Trying to get an interpretation of their habitat, I think they do live in very clear water, with only a little - if anything - dissolved organic matter.

This thin soup will not allow much bacterias, and therefore these fish might be very vulnerable towards bacteria in their tanks.

Many tanks - even with weekly 80 % waterchanges or more - contain far more dissolved organic matter, that is, a much richer soup and therefore much more bacteria. Perhaps too much bacteria for these vulnerable fish

were I to keep them, I would use UV light (permanently) in the filter in orde to keep bacterial growht on a minimum, and I would change a lot of water - water which I might use in other tanks.

These are just thoughts, but might steer the discussion towards how to keep them