Catch of the day

[GaryE]

I'm going to try this based on @bgarthe inspiring me to look at old photos. On days when I have time, I'll post an old photo of a fish I once kept, and explain how I kept it. I invited others to contribute, with rare fish, common fish and well liked fish of all sorts. Just post a picture and give the info we would need to keep it as you did or do.

We can discuss the various offerings, and then another day, start again so the thread doesn't become too unwieldy. Why horde photos no one, including yourself, will look at?

I'll launch with a molly. It could be Poecilia salvatoris, but might also be Poecilia orri. I had them for several generations, and like a lot of the fish that will show up here, lost them in a strange disease wipeout that took out 15 large tanks of rare livebearers. I had them in 140ppm water, at 22 degrees c. They bred well, grew well, and constantly amazed me with their beauty.

I used large tanks, a necessity with mollies. These were in a 55, with heavy planting. They graze a lot. Males fight a bit, and it's best to raise enough you have more than three in the tank. I never removed gravid females. Young grew to adulthood in the tank if I kept it as a single species tank. If I added any other livebearers, they hunted each other's fry.

I was able to get several species of wild mollies, and I'll argue some of them were far more beautiful than the mass produced pet store hybrids. Wilds are mass produced too, but by Mother Earth.

 

[bgarthe34 52]

My “rarest” fish would probably be my current Phenacogrammus aurantiacus (Gold Blue Eyed Congo Tetra). My most unique fish from the past (old photos) would probably be my Koi. Some of them were incredible. Some got to be 10+ pounds, some lived for thirty years, and they really had personality. They would eat from my hand, swim right with me when I snorkeled in their 3800g rubber lined pond, and (now you’re really gonna know I’m nuts) would take pellets directly ftom my mouth like the Japanese do. This was SO weird bc when they did it, it made a loud “kissing” noise.

German Scale Koi my daughter got me for Father’s Day years ago.

My big Butterfly Koi from my wife for my Bday back some years.

This Utsiri Koi is SO cool. His scales are all metallic in that the black and white scales shine like crazy in the sun…..the pic doesn’t come close to showing this.

There were so many others through the decades.

 

[anewbie]

None of my fishes are unusual or rare but if i had to pick one and only one i would post this guy:

(apistogramma sp d39)

This shows a progression in colouring as he ages.

 

[bgarthe34 52]

Ok….I can’t resist. The title says “Catch of the day” and encourages old photos, so…..here is my catch of the day back a few years ago. This fish was 50.5” long and was in the upper 20s in pound weight.
One of many such magical moments in my quests for monster muskies…..mostly at night.

 

[GaryE]

The fish we post doesn't have to be rare. It just has to be a fish we'd hug if we could, as @bgarthe is hugging that little muskie.

Here's a Chromidotilapia guntheri collecting up his babies at the end of the day, into the safety of his mouth. I can't remember if the female was sending them over to him or if he was worried about me showing up and feeling defensive. Broodcaring mouthbrooders are the best fish to watch. They aren't rare, but are they ever a show.

 

[anewbie]

i have a video of geo collecting their babies. It is a wonderfully bad video; i really should have made it a bit longer esp at the end.





And i have these lovely little guys that swim a lot without going anywhere; you can contrast them to the morse code tetra next to them that stay stationary.