What’s a fish you wish existed?

[gwand]

I wish I could buy a real CatFish. There is no other fish as cute as this one

Now that is gross!

 

[WhistlingBadger]

The ideal fish would clean the glass, move the waste and detritus to an easy to clean out location of the tank, carefully prune the plants, perform and look pretty and talk to you to let you know if you are not meeting it's needs. Maybe the last point is not so good as we might not like what they say.

Nobody likes a whiny fish...

 

[ClownLurch]

A 25mm hard water and low temp loving red n white striped fish that the retailers weren’t keeping the females from the market.
Or a 25mm hard water and low temp loving fish that came in a monobloc colouring of red or white or black.

It’s a football thing.

 

[JackGulley]

I just had a dream about a really nice fish— it was tiny, like Pygmy Cory size, square in proportion like an angelfish or a discus, with a gourami antenna-fin-thing sticking down, and it was electric blue with accents of white and pink. It was supposed to be the perfect tank mate for Pygmy Cories.

 

[JackGulley]

I would love to see a fish that’s truly a social creature— like a small nano fish where they either built some sort of hive/nest, or occupied some dense vegetation as their den, and would all pop in and out of it and bring back resources back to the babies inside.

 

[GaryE]

I would love to see a fish that’s truly a social creature— like a small nano fish where they either built some sort of hive/nest, or occupied some dense vegetation as their den, and would all pop in and out of it and bring back resources back to the babies inside.

Apistogramma borellii is that. They lead the babies to food, and herd them about, which seems close enough.

The ultimate I've seen are brichardi group Cichlids from Lake Tanganyika. As the pair has broods in its system of constructed caves, each brood takes on tasks. One spawning, as it ages, does perimeter defence. Another will train diggers. Some will move sand, grain by grain if it rolls back to the nest. The whole social structure can involve dozens of fish of different ages, if your hardwater tank is large enough. My favourite in the group is Neolamprologus maranguensis - a beautiful fish. They're colony spawners who create a fish village.

 

[JackGulley]

Apistogramma borellii is that. They lead the babies to food, and herd them about, which seems close enough.

That sort of behavior is one of the things that I live about cichlids, and one of the main reasons I wanted to keep them in the first place! Which makes it a little sad that I’ve determined I’m better NOT breeding apistos considering my current infrastructure (getting a single male instead).

I forgot to specify, but in my post I was specifically imagining a fish species that makes a “colony” of lots of individuals, not just a nest occupied by a breeding pair. Like a beehive, but for fish!

 

[GaryE]

As I wrote, Neolamprologus are colony spawners, and are like a beehive. I enjoyed mine for years, but sold the group when I moved to softwater world. They are around 3 inches.

 

[JackGulley]

As I wrote, Neolamprologus are colony spawners, and are like a beehive. I enjoyed mine for years, but sold the group when I moved to softwater world. They are around 3 inches.

Interesting… I had heard that name before but I didn’t know that about them!

 

[JackGulley]

OHH WAIT that’s shellies! I know them but I didn’t realize their social structure was that complex. I recognized the name Neolamprologus as a tanganyikan cichlid but I thought it was one of the larger ones.

 

[GaryE]

Not shellies at all.

Neolamprologus marunguensis — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

 

[JackGulley]

Those are in the same genus as the shelly Neolamprologus? That’s weird

 

[JackGulley]

Those pictures are messing with my brain, I can’t for the life of me visualize it as a 3-inch fish. They look like large cichlids!

 

[Ichthys]

I wonder if someone, possibly in the far East, is working on a fish that changes colour with pH ... red in acidic, green in neutral, blue in alkaline.. or a fish that changes colour if there's ammonia, or nitrite, or gets redder as the nitrates rise... maybe the tattooists will develop a fish that displays "water change due" on its sides. All 'perfect' for beginners, of course.

Designer fish. Nature is wondrous enough. It doesn't need meddling with.

Fish I want? Foot long tetras, killies, and guppies. Megapiranha. Intelligent fish that aren't aggressive.

 

[Magnum Man]

if the fish get too intelligent, they'll see that we are the weakest link, & start devising ways to kill us off...