Fish Id Please

[khenghock]

Hi,

Just got two fishes of which is labelled as 'bat angel' by several lfs in my area. I googled as well as searched this forums for fish info, but to no avail.

Anybody know what fish this is?

Sorry for the sad looking tank as it is only a temporary/quarantine/misc tank. Will rehouse them once i find out their proper requirements.


P.S. posted in this section as i am assuming that they are at least cichilids (from the bat angel name).

 

[helterskelter]

Their a type of mono, not sure what type but not seen them befor.

Most mono's are brackish though. Their not releated to the amazon cichlid "Angel fish".

I'll goggle mono's to see what i can find

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


May be Monodactylus sebae

Google resualts

 

[khenghock]

thanks!

Guess I'll have to set up a new tank as I do not have any brackish tanks.
And, from what I can read so far, a 50 gal tank. It's going to burn a big hole in my pocket
But then again, I can have a new tank!

I'll give it some consideration, worse comes to worse, I'll try to trade it for some other fish at my lfs

 

[helterskelter]

Well it's again the LFS that wins....

It's always best to research a fish befor buying unless u know what your getting

 

[khenghock]

sorry

I did try to research, but all my searches drew blank lol.
And all the lfs in my area did not display their scientific names, hence I could only search for 'bat angel'.
My hands got itchy, and decided to buy first, then post a picture and ask.

Shall be more responsible in the future.
But then, I kind of like these guys. Might keep them after all.

Thanks again

 

[helterskelter]

They get quite deep, some sites saying 18" high!!!!!

I know the feeling and i keep getting things i should not, but getting better after 20 years....

 

[LisaLQ]

They're lovely looking fish

Good excuse for a new tank.

 

[thefirethief]

I was at the london aquarium not long ago and recognised one of these guys. Really really nice fish, but all I could think was..... thats rather big. Also saw a huge huge display with loads of full sized Giant Gourami, Arowana and Pacu. Now that was impressive.

 

[ac106]

they are Mono Sebae


http/homepage.mac.com/nmonks/aquaria/bra...#monodactylidae


please see the link from the Brackish FAQ

 

[nmonks]

Those are indeed Monodactylus sebae. They are lovely fish. Known in the UK more usually as "West African monos" because they do indeed come only from West Africa (i.e., the tropical Atlantic) as opposed to the Indo-Pacific (as is the case with the other species of mono).

http/filaman.ifm-geomar.de/Summary/Speci...ary.php?id=9915
http/filaman.ifm-geomar.de/Photos/Thumbn...ary.php?ID=9915

Be sure and look at the photos. These fish get big in the wild! In captivity, expect a fish about 15 cm long and 20-25 cm deep. As with all monos, you can't give these fish too much space, and any aquarium will be too small. That said, I'd be looking at a tank _at least_ 120 cm long and 60 cm deep and broad. They will get to full size within about two years, and then any growth after that will be minimal. Hardy, long lived, and easy to care for. Will eat anything, but floating cichlid pellets work well as a staple.

They are lovely fish. Get along well with scats, monos, shark catfish, sailfin mollies, green chromides, and other large but non-aggressive brackish water fish. Completely incompatible with angelfish, spiny eels, and freshwater shrimps. Can also be kept in a marine aquarium. In brackish, an SG of 1.010 is about right, though slightly less is acceptable. What is more important is that the pH and hardness are high: ideally around pH 8.0, and "hard" to "very hard" on your water chemistry test kit.

They are not widely sold, so you have a good find there. Well worth making an effort for.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[khenghock]

Hi all,

Many thanks for the info

Decided for now to keep them, am assuming they won't need a bigger tank until a month or two later
Am probably going to run into trouble with my gf and mum (I'm still a student ) though.. a 120 cm long tank would be like, 4 feet?

Also, how many of them should I keep? Are they shoaling fish?

They are not widely sold, so you have a good find there. Well worth making an effort for.

They are sold here rather widely; two of the major lfs around here will almost certainly have them in stock at any given time, and at a rather reasonable price too, at RM 3.50 (USD 0.90?) per fish. Only bad thing is the lack of lfs staff knowledge and fish segmentation. They do not label brackish water fishes as brackish.

 

[ferco]

nice looking fish- just a thought; i noticed in your tank you have some kind of lobster/crayfish thing...? now there is also a pretty small fish in there next to one- is he dinner or is he one of your actual fish coz if so i would keep an eye on him lol- won't the lobster/crayfish things attack them?

 

[khenghock]

Yup.. they are crayfish. Australian Red Claw Crayfish to be exact.. The small fishes are platys. All of them were caught in a local stream; the crayfish and platys. Had them for a few monhts now.. so far no death of fishes caused by the crayfish.