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 And there are quite a few where the natural fish has been replaced by a linebred form, as you saw with pink kissers replacing natural ones.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.

 

[Back in the fold]

Here’s an old one you never see anymore . The Port Cichlid .

 

[Magnum Man]

same shape, but quite different than the pink variety

 

[Back in the fold]

Here’s another thing you don’t see much anymore either . Shops with HUGE display tanks with fish that are abundantly full grown . Those Kissing Gourami’s can get huge and a really big one is an ugly sight .

 

[Rusty_Shackleford]

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?

Thank you. I've been looking for hatchets and have been keeping my eyes on several online retailers hoping some would come in.

I think this is all kind of cyclical and applies to all animal hobbies. A species, be it fish, reptile, tarantula, is imported for years and years and it becomes so plentiful and so common that people stop keeping them, it just falls out of favor. People always want something new and rare.
The importer/wholesaler looks at the numbers. Look we sold 10k a year for 15 years, now we're only selling 3k per year. Let's bring in something that makes us money.
Eventually someone brings in a new shipment, locale, variant, and the whole cycle starts over again.
The lesson we should learn from this is not to take anything for granted and people should still be working with the most basic and common species as we never know when the supply will dry up (no pun intended)

As an example in the 80's you could buy an imported adult Chilean Rose Hair (Grammostola rosea) tarantula at just about any pet store for $30. They were probably the most abundant tarantula on the market. Then Argentina stopped the exportation on them. Now they are somewhat rare and you'll spend upwards of $100 on a 1/4" CB spiderling.

 

[Magnum Man]

I find most of the "ugly old fish" are road maps of battles won, over the years... and you know kissers, are actually not loving, they are fighting... Cabela's has big tanks of game fish, often pretty grizzly, from battling each other, and parasites... if they aren't exposed to either, they can be beautiful... my old Pacu, 30 years ago, was close to 24 inches long, and looked perfect, my silver arowana, was 18" and also perfect... many fish can look awesome, if they live a sheltered life... the kisser in the picture above, is about 2.5 years old

 

[Innesfan]

Here’s an old one you never see anymore . The Port Cichlid .

If it weren't for the question of what to do with all the baby Ports that will be produced, I'd make room for Cichlasoma portalegrense in a heartbeat. And yes, you just don't see them much, if at all. Even when shops and suppliers thought they had them, they didn't. They had C. bimaculatum, the Port's dull cousin. But a true Port is a handsome creature.

 

[Back in the fold]

I find most of the "ugly old fish" are road maps of battles won, over the years... and you know kissers, are actually not loving, they are fighting... Cabela's has big tanks of game fish, often pretty grizzly, from battling each other, and parasites... if they aren't exposed to either, they can be beautiful... my old Pacu, 30 years ago, was close to 24 inches long, and looked perfect, my silver arowana, was 18" and also perfect... many fish can look awesome, if they live a sheltered life... the kisser in the picture above, is about 2.5 years old

There’s another one you never see anymore is Arowana’s . I know , I know so before everybody gangs up on me I know why it’s good and I agree but they are a sight to behold . Great big huge Pacu’s are something too and those big Red Tail Catfish and a really big full grown Clown Loach or Red Tailed Black Shark are awesome too . I like small fish but I like to see the King Kong’s of the aquarium world too .

 

[Back in the fold]

If it weren't for the question of what to do with all the baby Ports that will be produced, I'd make room for Cichlasoma portalegrense in a heartbeat. And yes, you just don't see them much, if at all. Even when shops and suppliers thought they had them, they didn't. They had C. bimaculatum, the Port's dull cousin. But a true Port is a handsome creature.

View attachment 366953

Of all the cichlids that are or were ever in the hobby I love the Port Cichlid . I haven’t seen them in my town since the 1970’s . I refer you to pages 425 - 427 of The Innes Book to see just how many eggs they do lay . The species description on page 453 gives some interesting information and what is most interesting to me is the small size aquarium that Dr. Innes claims to have had this fish spawn in . This is not a particularly large cichlid and should be more popular than it is . If I ever see them again I will snap them up in a heartbeat .