Mini-trip out Sun 24th of Jan...

[MatsP]

So, I've got plans to do a "day out" tomorrow. No concrete plans, but I was thinking of going to MA Oxford (Wheatley).

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Mats

[Richard B]

I could be available in the afternoon but i have my moms birthday at midday

[MatsP]

What sort of time?

If you are going to be around 2-3pm, then I may find myself going to St Albans first...

--
Mats

[Richard B]

I suspect i'd be there 2.30 to 3pm

[MatsP]

Ok, if I can get up in time, I will try to make St. Albans for about 11.30-12, and then down to Oxford for 2-3pm.

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Mats

[Richard B]

As always, MA Wheatley didn't fail to have some great fish (not just cats) & I was particularly impressed with the prices of some - extremely good vfm.

Mats will no doubt be taking care of a few things before he posts but i am a little jealous - watch this space......

[Jools]

I'm watching...

Jools

[MatsP]

I bought a new net at St. Albans - they have an unprecedented dry-goods section. The fishes were relatively dull - a few nice L-number plecos. They did have some nice

Megalechis thoracata

.

Some very nice looking synos, but I'm 99% sure they are hybrid ones. True

Synodontis decora

.
Martin had asked me to look for wood-cats. They had not a single one that I could spot.

They still had some

Corydoras concolor

, which I like, but passed on for the third time - I will probably get them some time...

At Oxforod (Wheatley) they had a decent selection of plecos. I'm not going to count them all up, just the most memorable ones:

Leporacanthicus triactis

- medium, £55

Hemiancistrus sp(L128)

- small, £55

Leporacanthicus cf_galaxias(l240)

- large, £95

Ancistrus sp(L344)

- can't remember price.

Peckoltia sp(L288)

Sturisoma and rineloricaria species.

Synos:

Synodontis brichardi

£25

Synodontis flavitaeniata

£8.50, 2/ £16

Synodontis decora

£9.50, 2/ £18

Hybrids:
Synodontis sp. x decora? £10.50 (to which I commented that I'd rather get the twice as large real ones!)
Synodontis sp. x granulosa, £25

Others:

Entomocorus benjamini

, £5.50, 3/ £15

Auchenipterichthys coracoideus

, £12, 2/ £22

Liosomadoras morrowi

, £25, 2/ £47

Liosomadoras oncinus

, £65 - very nice size.

Anaspidoglanis macrostoma

, £7.50, 2/ £14 [only one left!]

Microglanis

sp, £3.50, 4/ £12 (labeled as poecilus, but perhaps not correct name...)

I'm sure I've missed a lot. Richard may have some comments.


I bought:
10 x Microglanis - Martin will have some of these (I think)
4 x

Synodontis alberti

- I was going to buy 3, but there was only one left at that point, so at £5.50, I couldn't leave it there on it's own.
2 x Anaspidoglanis macrostoma, to add to my single specimen.

[Edit: fix a few broken CLOG tags -- Mats]
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Mats

[Jools]

A lot of broken clog tags in there.

Jools

[MatsP]

Well, if anyone knows a trick for learning how to spell S. flavitaenata without checking, I'll take any hint. And how to remember which L-numbers have "extra bits" instead of just "sp(Lnnn)"...

Two fishes don't have any picture in the Cat-eLog. Could of course be caused by the fact that the fish aren't what the labels say - I have written what the label say...

--
Mats

[Birger]

I bought:
10 x Microglanis - Martin will have some of these (I think)
4 x Synodontis alberti - I was going to buy 3, but there was only one left at that point, so at £5.50, I couldn't leave it there on it's own.
2 x Anaspidoglanis macrostoma, to add to my single specimen.

Nice!

2 on the stores list that I am looking for, the L. morrowi and A. macrostoma.

[Richard B]

A tank full of fish labelled

Olyra longicaudata

but were actually Amblyceps sp of some sort

A teeny carapo knifefish, garra rufa, panda garra, 2 horn garra, empire gudgeon, double trunk elephants, some nice loaches & gobies.

Syno Pleurops (lg) 30 quid
I think there were 2 types of microglanis mixed together...

[MatsP]

A tank full of fish labelled

Olyra longicaudata

but were actually Amblyceps sp of some sort

Speaking of which, did your poorly one make it home?

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Mats

[MatsP]

2 on the stores list that I am looking for, the L. morrowi and A. macrostoma.

L. morrowi turns up from time to time. A. macrostoma I've only seen two lots of - the and I've bought two fish from each - there is one left on Wheatley, that was in a different tank.

As per usual with A. macrostoma, I couldn't really find them this morning.

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Mats

[Richard B]

A tank full of fish labelled

Olyra longicaudata

but were actually Amblyceps sp of some sort

Speaking of which, did your poorly one make it home?
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Mats

It was lively enough when i floated the bag & when released it shot off under the nearest bit of driftwood (probably never to be seen again). it was accutely emaciated so i'm feeding tetra delica, in the dark, as the most easily digestible food stuff & pehaps the pygmaeus feeding might stimulate it to feed. I'll give it a week before i see if i can find it & i dont wanna disturb it too soon - i don't hold much hope as it may well have been too far gone but can't look a gift horse in the mouth.

[Martin S]

A tank full of fish labelled

Olyra longicaudata

but were actually Amblyceps sp of some sort

Looks interesting...now had I known they had those, I would have been really interested (Mats - please see PM)
How much were they? I'm guessing yours was a freebie Richard - hope it survives
Martin

[Richard B]

£5.50 for the ambyceps - they were superb & mine was indeed a freebie BUT it was not the same as all the others - it was longer, thinner with a long caudal (even in it's poor physical state) & unlike the rest of the tank, it was huddled in a corner not under the bogwood

[Martin S]

£5.50 for the ambyceps - they were superb & mine was indeed a freebie BUT it was not the same as all the others - it was longer, thinner with a long caudal (even in it's poor physical state) & unlike the rest of the tank, it was huddled in a corner not under the bogwood

Thanks Richard - maybe they will still have some next time Mats (and maybe me) take a trip there.
Interesting - be great if it survives, and you get to confirm the ID. Fingers crossed
Martin

[MatsP]

Thanks Richard - maybe they will still have some next time Mats (and maybe me) take a trip there.
Interesting - be great if it survives, and you get to confirm the ID. Fingers crossed
Martin

Considering they still had the Microglanis and most of the Plecos since my previous visit some months ago, and these are much more obscure, they probably will have them next time... I'd like to go back with a camera and try to get some pictures of:
Hopliancistrus tricornis
Entomocrus benjamini
Ancistrus sp(L344)
as none of those are in the Cat-eLog.

Richard: If the one you have is

Amblyceps murraystuarti

, then it may be that the "wide head" and "skinny body" isn't so much of an issue... But I don't know this group at all.

--
Mats

[Richard B]

Thanks Richard - maybe they will still have some next time Mats (and maybe me) take a trip there.
Interesting - be great if it survives, and you get to confirm the ID. Fingers crossed
Martin

Considering they still had the Microglanis and most of the Plecos since my previous visit some months ago, and these are much more obscure, they probably will have them next time... I'd like to go back with a camera and try to get some pictures of:
Hopliancistrus tricornis
Entomocrus benjamini
Ancistrus sp(L344)
as none of those are in the Cat-eLog.

Richard: If the one you have is

Amblyceps murraystuarti

, then it may be that the "wide head" and "skinny body" isn't so much of an issue... But I don't know this group at all.
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Mats

I think the fish labelled E Benjamini were Gameroi based on the black stripe in the upper lobe of the caudal fin.

Not sure what my little runt is but when viewed from above the body is barely wider than a coupla sheets of paper so it is a problem i think & the caudal fin lobes are much more extended than the pic of A Murraystuarti - maybe 3 or 4 times longer

[Richard B]

looking at cat-e-log the odd one seems like it might be

Amblyceps protentum

but it still has a larger caudaln than the specimen depicted

[MatsP]

I'm sure HH would send you a copy of the paper if you ask nicely (remember to say "Please" ;) ) , and that may give you more detail on how to identify it.

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Mats

[Richard B]

If HH is out there i'm always grateful for any comment or info he might provide.

I'm thinking against

Amblyceps protentum

because of the distibution - ie if there were 2 species in the tank i would expect them to come from the same collecting location/source. It is clearly the best physical match though - let's hope the lil fella survives & settles in

[Carp37]

Wow- I don't have the tank space for any at the moment, but

Anaspidoglanis macrostoma

is top of my list of wanted fish. I've never seen them for sale, as yet- are they a seasonal import?

[MatsP]

Wow- I don't have the tank space for any at the moment, but

Anaspidoglanis macrostoma

is top of my list of wanted fish. I've never seen them for sale, as yet- are they a seasonal import?

I have no idea. They've had them for some time, and they came from a UK Wholesaler - my LFS got some in about a year ago from a wholesaler - it's quite possible that they came from the same wholesaler. I've not seen them anywhere other than these two shops... And I have been half looking ever since I lost the one of mine.

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Mats

[bamboosticks]

I went to World of Water Bicester (not far from Oxford) today...there were a few cats there.

L52s... 1 for 35 quid, 2 for 60, same with some L24s.
There were also two different species of Otocinclus, 1.99 each or 6 for a tenner.
There were quite a few plecos that looked like Parotocinclus, just with coloration not so different from Corydoras Paleatus.
Also some gold laser Cories for 12 quid (2 for 20), and some sterbais for the same price.
A pretty big Giraffe catfish for 40 quid...
Also, the first albino sturisoma I'd ever seen...but I wasn't sure it was for sale.

[Richard B]

I went to World of Water Bicester (not far from Oxford) today...there were a few cats there.

L52s... 1 for 35 quid, 2 for 60, same with some L24s.
There were also two different species of Otocinclus, 1.99 each or 6 for a tenner.
There were quite a few plecos that looked like Parotocinclus, just with coloration not so different from Corydoras Paleatus.
Also some gold laser Cories for 12 quid (2 for 20), and some sterbais for the same price.
A pretty big Giraffe catfish for 40 quid...
Also, the first albino sturisoma I'd ever seen...but I wasn't sure it was for sale.

Interesting - thanks for posting - i'll see if i can pop in over the weekend...

[bamboosticks]

I also forgot to mention the Channel Catfish, 12 quid each, 2 for 20.
Also, the Goldfish Bowl had some rather rare Plotosus catfish (you know, the striped marine ones) for around 9 quid.
Not to mention some small Pangasius, loads of ancistrus, cories, and some pretty decent sized Sturisoma (some males had odontodes) for 10 quid each.

[Richard B]

Wow- I don't have the tank space for any at the moment, but

Anaspidoglanis macrostoma

is top of my list of wanted fish. I've never seen them for sale, as yet- are they a seasonal import?

the goldfish bowl in oxford have about 40 of them at the moment between 1 and 2 inches

[Richard B]

hope it survives Martin

I saw it for half a second this evening, & then it was gone in a flash under a bit of bogwood - i can see it if i shine a torch in there but it is a 1/4" crack it has chosen.