Qualities To Oddballs?

[pattyplaty]

Hi,

Many people would consider Killifish and Rainbow fish as oddballs? I used to disagree, but I've ran into too many people who think so. Here was my first thought about "qualifications" to oddballs: fish that are reclusive from other families or fish so cannot be sorted into any of the categories (such as characins, cyprinids, etc). Eeels and Puffers are completely different fish but are both considered oddballs. People also consider pencilfish and gars, but don't they belong in characin family? and plecos, are they not catfish? This has got me totally confused.. What makes an oddball?

 

[nano]

killfish can be considered as oddball, but i doubt rainbowfish should.
Tbh oddball is an odd fish lol.

Think of it as the 'other' or 'misc'

rays ... aro's ... knife fish ... dats ... bichir ... these are all common oddballs, and there are many more.
Thing which dont fit anywhere else.

maybe someone else can be more specific lol.

 

[pattyplaty]

YEAA thats what i thought!!! ...until things started confusing me.. what are Tbh? lol i dont know abbs.
anyways, thanks for the idea!!

 

[nano]

tbh = to be honest
np

 

[odettebottier]

Hello there!

Like what nano said, I think of oddballs as "miscellaneous" fish. There are several main family groups fish belong to, such as, as you mentioned, characins, cyprinids, catfish, cichlids, etc. I guess since the rainbows and killifish have very limited number of fish that belong to their group, they could be considered oddballs, but for me, when it comes to oddballs, I think bichirs, puffers, eels, etc. straight up. Plecos are pretty strange looking, but they are considered a suckermouth catfish in catfish family. Though many people like to keep plecos in larger oddball tank because they have somewhat similar characteristics and make somewhere alright tankmates. AND they are a bit weird looking :] I guess some people may consider pencilfish as oddballs, but I disagree. Since they belong in Characin family, they are closer to tetras than oddballs.

If it was me, I will give Killifish and rainbows different sections, but if I'm dividing only the major-biggy family, I may put Killi with the oddballs. who knows? Oddballs aren't official, they're just misc!

anyways, happy fish keeping!

Odette

 

[Fruitbat]

I generally think of 'oddballs' as being fish that aren't commonly kept. Granted, a lot of people keep the more common Characins but how many folks keep African Pike Characins (Phago, Ichthyborus) or South American Dorados (Salminus)? Lots of people keep Cichlids but how many keep some of the weirder ones like the scale-eating Genyochromis mento? I don't think anybody would deny that Chaca species or Wallago species or even Bunocephalus species are 'oddballs' even though they are catfish. Even the livebearers have some real 'oddballs'.....Belonesox belizanus comes to mind immediately

The 'miscellaneous' fish definition is good, I guess, but I don't think we can rule fish out of that category just because they are in commonly-kept families.

-Joe

 

[Lhutch]

there odd looking?