Fish with no eyes

[pnyklr3]

I was looking through my lps for geckos when I stopped to check out the fish. To my surprise, they are carrying puffers now, but that's not what floored me. I saw a fish with no eyes. A genetic defect. It didn't really look like they were plucked out (I could be wrong though, they looked like they were healed if that is the case). The poor little fish swan almost like a torpedo, spiralling about haphazardly. I really can't see how this fish can compete for food! It kept bumpng into the glass, gravel, and decorations. I brought this to the worker's attention, but he didn't care. He said "It's big enough, so it must be able to get food". Believe me, the fish does not have a good quality of life.

 

[kevin007]

is it white? is it a blind cave fish?

 

[pnyklr3]

It did look similar, but I can't be certain. There was no ID for the fish on the tank. It also seemed VERY disoriented, and it never swam "correctly," just sort of tummbled/sprialled around, and then would stop for breathers.

Do you keep them?

 

[BettaUK]

Hi, Definatly sounds like a Blind Cave fish and thats a pics of one..

They are odd fish, but interesting..

Lawrence

 

[mwm]

It did look similar, but I can't be certain. There was no ID for the fish on the tank. It also seemed VERY disoriented, and it never swam "correctly," just sort of tummbled/sprialled around, and then would stop for breathers.

Do you keep them?

my good LFS is ONLY fish and the guy has a his own personal tank there and it has one of those blind fish in it its pretty cool looking but creepy

 

[fufanu360]

is it supposed to have no eyes?

 

[pnyklr3]

This was at PetCo. The puffers seemed to be stressed (along with the standard 1-3 dead that you find at an lps ). From the quick reading I did, it seems that the blind cave fish are normal other than they have no eyes. Just odd that if it was, the clerk had no idea that it was SUPPOSED to be that way. Regardless, it didn't seem to be in good health; but now I'm curious about these buggers. It also seems as if PetCo is branching out with their fish stock. I haven't seen the puffers there before, and they also were carrying Gold Rams and Blue Rams.

Yes, that is a pic of the blind cave fish that I pulled from the internet.

 

[Ben]

is it supposed to have no eyes?

yes

there fish found in dark dark caves where there is no need for eyes. they have electric feilds(kinda like a black ghost knife fish) that comes out of them and when it hits something they can feel it.(but it wont harm the fish) i read an article in a fish magazine (ill scan later) and its about a guy who found all these catfish and mollys with no eyes because he found them in a underwater cave near an island.

HTH

DD

 

[DeadlyAlliance]

Poor thing. I wouldn't want to stress that poor fish since he has no eyes. I wonder how would someone care for them?

 

[Ben]

Poor thing. I wouldn't want to stress that poor fish since he has no eyes. I wonder how would someone care for them?

these fish are like any other fish, just really fast and hyper, doesnt stress them at all. good in big communitys

DD

 

[mwm]

Yah they know no other way they arnt used to being able to see so its no big deal i guess they have a really good sense of smell. they are weird it looks like they used to have eyes but the eyes fell out or something

 

[The-Wolf]

I had some of them, I can tell you they
are very, very nippy to other fish.

great fun to watch but not really ideal for fish with long fins.

 

[Synirr]

Yeah... they're a really cool fish, but like wolf said, very nippy. I've had a couple in the past

 

[Supersalmon]

I think blind cave fish are born with functioning eyes but they gradually close over as the fish matures at an early age. They can grow to a reasonable size and navigate by the elecric pulse. It is perfectly normal for them to have no eyes as they inhabit caves with no light eyes would be useless anyway. They are widely available here and come very cheap. For something a little different you should try some. They are said to be shoaling fish and as such should be kept in shoals of 6 or more, however I never see them shoaling in the lfs like other tetras and rasboras do so am not sure about this.

 

[ferrikins]

I think blind cave fish are born with functioning eyes but they gradually close over as the fish matures at an early age. They can grow to a reasonable size and navigate by the elecric pulse. It is perfectly normal for them to have no eyes as they inhabit caves with no light eyes would be useless anyway. They are widely available here and come very cheap. For something a little different you should try some. They are said to be shoaling fish and as such should be kept in shoals of 6 or more, however I never see them shoaling in the lfs like other tetras and rasboras do so am not sure about this.

thats right.

I also read about them, if you keep them in normal lighing, there eyes won't close over.

cool fish, very freaky looking though.