Hump Head Glass Fish

[rabidric]

Anybody got one of these? Saw one and had to have it but it's not in any of our books so we know nothing about it. Have found a couple of references on the web but wouldn't mind hearing from someone with first hand knowledge.

 

[Straydum]

they appear to be quite new in trade. i've seen them only once before, early this month i think. quite interesting to watch though.

 

[rabidric]

I've had my eye on this one for a while waiting for the tank to be ready. Certainly I've only seen them in one shop and a couple of bits on line. He seems quite happy and has some gorgeous colours down the side, a bit like the emerald cory does in a shifting light. Starting to sound artistic there, must put a stop to that!!

 

[OohFeeshy]

From a post by nmonks-

If you can get a copy of next month's Practical Fishkeeping, I've got a fairly detailed article on these and other glassfish kept in aquaria. Glassfish have generally not been kept well.

In a nutshell, you should be aware of these issues:

1. They're not brackish water. Need soft to moderately hard, slightly acidic or neutral water, lots of oxygen, low nitrates. Repeat: these are not brackish water fish.

2. They're schooling fish but are also rather aggressive towards one another when kept in too small a group. Ideally keep at least six, but if you can only afford three or four, then only keep a single male. Males have bigger humps.

3. They're piscivorous. All the larger glassfish will eat smaller fish. Don't believe they are eating flake until you've seen them do it: I have yet to see any glassfish eat flake foods. My Indian glassfish don't even like frozen bloodworms! While you should be able to wean humpheads to frozen foods eventually, don't bank on it.

4. They don't tolerate sudden changes in water chemistry. This goes for all glassfish actually, but with humphead glassfish, you don't want to take any chances. Get decent pH and hardness test kits -- and use them! Definitely don't keep them in a 'young' tank that doesn't have a mature filter.

 

[Straydum]

i found it its name, Humphead perchlet, Parambassis pulcinella. try googling it.

 

[rabidric]

Well he eats frozen bloodworm with any problem and unless he can manage a whole silver shark that's what have to make do with. I'll definitely ggogle the latin name so thanks for that.

If anyone's interested I'll let you know how he gets on.

Cheers