My Lovely Little Myxo'

This is the fish that everyone who sees my aquarium is intrigued by...and I know very little about it apart from what I've read on the internet...but such a lovely little fella.

you do know this fish grows over 3ft..... its a chinese hi fin banded shark

what size tank is he in?

Also illegal in the UK A batch were imported in the last month and I believe most of them are being rounded up and destroyed at shops and importers

Wills

Wills said:

Also illegal in the UK A batch were imported in the last month and I believe most of them are being rounded up and destroyed at shops and importers

Wills

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Why are they illegal?

http/theaquariumwiki.com/Myxocyprinus_asiaticus

They are illegal because they are temperate fish that if released into the wild could populate in English waters and at 3 foot in size they would be a threat to local wild life.

Elaborating on the "crime" in keeping these - it can result in a £3,000 fine as well as the fish being destroyed..... its really unfortunate that its like this.

Also hoping the original poster sees this as its not a nice situation to be in when you have a monster fish on your hands let alone a monster fish with serious consequences for both parts.

Wills

Just to clarify, i am a regular fish keeper, not a trader or anything like that, just a normal guy who buys fish at his LFS like most people do...at no point was i aware that this fish was illegal!! I am shocked to hear this and I will be contacting the store I got it from and I will let them know that I am not happy they sold me an illegal fish!! I don't know what the protocol is with regards to contacting a relevant authority but I am not prepared to get into any form of trouble over this fish, which I will say I had seen before about 18 years ago when I had a saturday job in a fish store as a teenager and not since then had I seen one which is why I bought it. This is all news to me and I am not happy!!

Also a coldwater fish! Rams need high temps of 28*C upwards, so certainly shouldn't be mixed with these guys . You have a pretty bad lfs, but that's not unusual .

Unfortunately you may be in a little bit of a dilemma, as if you contact the authorities, they may want to euthanise the fish (not totally sure, but this is what happens when people accidentally buy illegal crayfish from lfs').

I'm not sure how to obtain a license for them, but it is possible . Maybe email DEFRA saying your interested in keeping them, and want get a license before importing. Then the next task would just be finding an indoor or heated outdoor pond/very large aquarium within the next few years, and asking the owners if they would like a free large rare fish .

Just do the best for the poor fish as you can, it's the victim of an irresponsible lfs .

Darr3ll said:

Just to clarify, i am a regular fish keeper, not a trader or anything like that, just a normal guy who buys fish at his LFS like most people do...at no point was i aware that this fish was illegal!! I am shocked to hear this and I will be contacting the store I got it from and I will let them know that I am not happy they sold me an illegal fish!! I don't know what the protocol is with regards to contacting a relevant authority but I am not prepared to get into any form of trouble over this fish, which I will say I had seen before about 18 years ago when I had a saturday job in a fish store as a teenager and not since then had I seen one which is why I bought it. This is all news to me and I am not happy!!

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Hi yeah totally agree here - I think we can all see that this is a genuine accident on your part and possibly on the stores part to be fair, the ban has only been in place the past few years maybe 3 or 4? I would possibly look to contact Practical Fish Keeping I know on their facebook page they had a post on it a few weeks ago when they were first spotted and they were asking some people to get in touch if they had bought them. Unfortunately for the fish it will probably end up being destroyed

The guy that runs the PFK facebook posts his email quite often so I hope he does not mind if I post it here but just as a direct point of help for you might be worth getting in touch - [email protected]

Wills

Kesgrave Tropicals on eBay were selling these guys recently, found here

And they sold the 2 for sale on ebay as well. Darr3ll have you spoken to the lfs yet? And if so what did they have to say?