Fish you wish you had again

[aquaticclarity]

Just for fun...hopefully! What fish that you have kept before but don't have now do you wish you had again? And why don't you have them now?


My "short" list

True Altume angels-They got big and nasty and started to kill each other as a pauir formed. I'll get them again once I have a tank big enough (the 210 was WAY to small!)

Wild caught Apistogramma borellii-I moved on to other fish and at the time could easily get more borellii. Now Brazil doesn't let a lot of Apistos out and getting more has proven to be tough.

Wild Apistogramma uaupesi-Died of old age. It's another Brazilian Apisto that used to come mixed in with another species. Over priced and not great looking ones are available from Asia for HUGE money in terms of Apistos.

Pelvicachromis humilus-Died of old age. I've had several locations of the fish and they are all pretty. Limited exports/collections from were they are found keep me buying them everytime I can but it's been a few years since I've seen them available in the US.

Stomotepia mongo-Lost the last female to aggresion from the male and then gave the male to Anton Lamboj because he had a female. Thought to be extinct a few years ago...then I got 4 of them!!! VERY limited exports of the fish-normally only 1 or 2 fish every few years at best.

Chromidotilapia nigrodorsalis Ndonga-After a few trial run spawns they stopped and I nver got past the egg stage. The fish died of old age. Not a lot of fish get collected from the Ndonga region in Cameroon. When they are I try to jump oi them! Beyond limited amounts of fish in small trickles of water or very fast water with limited fish (Ted can correct me on this) I don't know of any good reason that we don't see fish exported from the region.

 

[slimbolen99]

Mine was Nanochromis teguelsi, until a certain someone... ^^^ came through for me in a big way in August of this year.

Before then, I had gotten a trio from "Dr. Steve" as he's locally known. Not knowing much about them, through them in a 20 gallon high and had several spawns from them. Then I decided in the summer I'd put them outside in a tub and see what they would do out there. Only thing that happened was they became bird or possum food. Had I known how difficult they were to find (I would guess I emailed 25+ individuals who had posted on the internet that they had them), I would have taken better care of them. No more rare cichlids outside for me.

The newly acquired fish have a 75 gallon all to themself, save about 20 Neolebias philippei as dithers.

 

[sasikan]

i would like to have half black angels (the ones with a half black body but also with black bars) i have been searching the internet for about one year now but have not seen them . 2 years ago i had six big and beautiful half black they were just about ready to start and pair up well i guess i had a cheap heater in the tank it overheated, the tank fried all the angels and one couple of anscitrus died. no more walmart heaters for me!

 

[tjudy]

THe issue with Ndonga is that the area has a lot of human impact, being so close to the capital city, and it is a relatively small area. Not many fish, so not worth the effort to try to find enough fish for commercial export. You will just have to do get them yourself!

I would like to have wild-caught P. taeniatus from Nigeria. I would also like to have Pel. subocellatus again.

 

[Mike Wise]

My list is a bit long:
"A. wickleri" - a BIG (> 4"/10 cm) domestic strain of A. steindachneri. Almost entirely blue and very mellow.
A. cf. eunotus (Shahuayo) - the Pink Apisto of the late 70s-early 80s. This is probably a population of the true, holotype form of A. eunotus and really was pink!
A. cf. caetei (Rotwangen/Red-cheeks) - Easy to breed and nicely colored.
A. wapisana - perfect nanno-tank cichlid. Plain but interesting behavior (reverse sex behavior and size) and not hard to breed, just hard to raise tiny fry.
A. sp. Blauspiegel/Blue-shine - it broke my heart when my last male died.
A. sp. Miuá - I never seemed to find one of each sex. It's commercially available - at least in Europe - every year or so, so there is hope!

 

[Richgrenfell]

Believe it or not.....Firemouths. Back in the 90's I worked at a wholesaler, and they'd get boxes and boxes of the most beautiful wild firemouths I have ever seen since. Now when I look all I can find is sickly non- colored looking fish.

 

[Bilbo]

A. bitaeniata. My favorite fish ever. I believe I was the last to breed them in NZ but I never got any females and couldnt breed them again so they died out.
A. panduro. I had some of the last fry and my mate had the last pair but they all died.
A. borellii. The rumor is that an importer tried to bring them in again 2 years ago but none made it through quarintine.
A. baenschi.

 

[animalmgc]

well I haven't been addicted as long as some of yous but the fish I miss most would be A.Rositae
the female is spectacular in brood dress so I actually find them more inviting then A baenschi

 

[Nebraska_cichlids]

I wish i could get back the two pairs of Pelvicachromis humilis Dinkaya that I got from Tony Orso a few years ago. I could not control their aggression, not even in a 75G tank.

 

[gerald]

My old-timers that I miss:

Pelvic. humilis (dont recall strain)
Nano. transvestitus
Apisto trifasciata
chocolate cichlids
chocolate gouramis
Dicrossus mac Santarem
dwarf Crenicichla sp. (BOTH sexes had dorsal spots!)
Malpulutta kretseri
Corynopoma riisei (havent seen since 70's)
Characidium & relatives
"Port" cichlid - lovely blue-green variety from the 80s

 

[Mike Wise]

I forgot one: A. cf. eunotus (Shishita) that TomC and I collected in the middle Río Shishita in 2008. A very blue apisto similar in color to the most blue Morado. Easy to breed, too, but not collected commercially.

 

[Ttw]

I wish I still had:
Apisto guttata, beautiful fish that I collected in an idyllic location
A. abacaxis, another great fish I produced in quantity until I got lazy and they died out.
A. hoignei and A. inornata because I don't know when I will be able to collect again in Venezuela.

 

[Mike Wise]

I wish I still had:
Apisto guttata, beautiful fish that I collected in an idyllic location
A. abacaxis, another great fish I produced in quantity until I got lazy and they died out.
A. hoignei and A. inornata because I don't know when I will be able to collect again in Venezuela.

That makes 2 of us Tom. That was many years ago before I appreciated the real need to keep some species going. Heck, I'd even like to get some of the Nannacara quadrispinna, which you brought back for me, again.

 

[Ttw]

Mike, I know where those Nannacara are and if Venezuela opens up again, those fish are on my list.

 

[Jonathan Aquari]

A. Agassizi.. my personal breed of guppies i lost

 

[Hudson Ensz]

I have a lot of fish I would love to have back including Crenicichla regani, Crenicichla reticulata (one of my fav fish ever) A. paucisquamis, A. pertensis, A, menezi, and some unidentified, lovely blue apistogrammas that never made it home. There is hope though, by august I hope to have all of them in my tanks again.

 

[Mike Wise]

The advantages of living in Manaus & collecting your own!