More Brackish At Wildwoods (uk)

[nmonks]

Keith at Wildwoods passed me a list of brackish water stuff that he has in stock right now. Some of the more unusual stuff includes:

Omobranchus zebra (zebra blenny)
Rhinomugil corsula (false anableps)
Chlamydogobius eremius (desert goby)
Gymnothorax polyuranodon (moray eel) [edit: thanks andywg]
Zenarchopterus sp – came in from Indonesia as "new river halfbeak"

Rhinomugil corsula is a lovely mullet from India. It gets to 40 cm in the wild but aquarium fish stay *much* smaller, around 15 cm seems normal. It is a freshwater fish that is sometimes found in brackish, and can be kept in either perfectly well. It looks and behaves a lot like the four-eyed fish but is much hardier and easier to keep. Its eyes are not quite as weird, but it certainly swims about with its head sticking out the water. I kept one years ago until I made the mistake of putting it in a marine tank where a triggerfish promptly bit its head off!

Zenarchopterus is a big halfbeak. The stuff at Wildwoods is about 7-8 cm long now, but expect at least twice that when mature. These are normally brackish water species, though there are some true freshwater species (e.g., Zenarchopterus alleni). My guess is that these are one of the two Indonesian (rather than Papua New Guinean) species, Zenarchopterus caudovittatus or Zenarchopterus dux.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[Darkstar]

cool, I must remember next time I go to make it past the plec tanks as it sounds like they have some very nice fish in stock.

 

[andywg]

I can't find any information on Glyptothorax polyuranodon

If it is Gymnothorax polyuranodon then it is the one known true freshwater moray eel which is believed to be able to live its entire life in FW (or at least appears to do so in the wild and is mentioned as such on both Fishbase and in Michael Scott's Reef Fishes Volume I.

 

[Fella]

I would bend over backwards for an anableps type fish that doesn't grow to the same size as the true anableps.

 

[nmonks]

Well, that's R. corsula. It's a really nice fish. A bit neurotic, like most mullets when kept in tanks, but not in the least difficult to care for. Again, like mullets, it is tolerant of a range of water chemistry values and eats anything.

Cheers, Neale

I would bend over backwards for an anableps type fish that doesn't grow to the same size as the true anableps.

 

[kjharve]

I might have to pay that place a visit one day - it looks awesome. There are not many good aquatic stores where I live.

 

[nmonks]

It is a good store. Consistently gets into the top ten as far as freshwater fish go. One nice thing is that they regularly update their stock lists online, so you can see what they have before making the trip. It's always worth phoning beforehand, though.

http/www.tropicalfishfinder.co.uk/shops_detail.asp?id=54

Don't visit it as often as I'd like because it takes so long to get to from where I live. But because it's on a street with at least four other aquarium shops (of which one other, Home Marine, is also very good) it's possible to make quite a nice day out there.

Cheers,

Neale