common fish, that are gone from the hobby today???

[Magnum Man]

in one of my other threads, this morning I mentioned my Helostoma temminckii... a standard pink one... a couple years ago, I was trying to buy a group of wild type green ones, and they appear to be gone from the hobby... mine appears to be a great fish for my tank, doesn't even bother the cherry shrimp, and cleans the plants, without destroying them... just curious of other once common fish, that are now gone from the hobby???

 

[GaryE]

"Gone"? Not completely, but there are a lot of fish that come in sometimes, maybe once every few years. If you look at one of the older books, it's surprising how many once popular livebearers, for example, are gone.

In my LFS travels, I used to see a number of vaterifloris, fire Rasbora. That one seems to have vanished. And there are quite a few where the natural fish has been replaced by a linebred form, as you saw with pink kissers replacing natural ones.

 

[Rusty_Shackleford]

I might be wrong on this, Holopristis ocellifer, the head and tail light Tetra. These were a staple when I was a kid and I haven't seen any in a LFS or online in years.

 

[GaryE]

Come to my fishroom! H ocellifer is in there. It was a favourite of my parents and I picked it up when I saw it last.

This is another interesting thing. There are regional fish - when I go to the States, I sometimes see unexpected old standards, and what's normal in many European countries is beyond exotic over here. There are different buying patterns and trends depending on where you are.

I talk a lot with a friend in northern England and what he considers bread and butter, common fish can sometimes be something I've seen once or twice in a lifetime of wandering through aquarium stores whenever I see one.

For a number of years, I couldn't find Pristella maxillaris unless it was a form messed up by breeders. Blushing ones, weirdly coloured, or GMOed glow ones, sure. But real ones? Couldn't get them. Now, suddenly, they've made a comeback and even my small city store has them. My daughter, who gardens, talks about fashions in garden plants, with older "grandma's garden" ones making a comeback. I guess it's the same for fish.

It's been a long time since I went into a store and saw marginatum pencils, pygmy hatchets, redline Rasbora, unmodified Apistogramma or orange australe killies. I know they're out there in the trade, but...

 

[emeraldking]

Both Helostoma temminckii and Holopristis ocellifer are still available overhere. Maybe it's a local thing why you haven't seen them hardly or even anymore.

 

[Innesfan]

Both Helostoma temminckii and Holopristis ocellifer are still available overhere. Maybe it's a local thing why you haven't seen them hardly or even anymore.

Same here in NYC.

As for your want list @GaryE , between Wetspot and Aquatic Clarity alone, all are available currently except the dwarf hatchets and red lines. And Wetspot as recently as a few weeks ago had red lines and all 3 of the smallest hatchets on their list--C. myersi, C. marthae and C. schereri. AC has two populations of N. marginatus currently, one being a Rio Negro blackwater morph with a bold red dash on its flanks. Is there no way to get a transhipper involved?

 

[GaryE]

Before the Umm, elephant in the room, I could have had them shipped to Maine. But in the current context, there's no way. It's just as well - if I could get those fish I'd have to heat tanks.