Mystery halfbeaks identified

nmonks · Aug 24, 2005

They're Nomorhamphus ebrardtii known variously as the orange-finned halfbeak and the Sulawesi halfbeak.

According to FishBase they are about the same size (9 cm) as Celebes halfbeaks but found in both neutral-alkaline fresh and brackish water.

Thanks to Jan Wiren, at alt.aquaria, for identifying these fish for me.

Cheers,

Neale

Annastasia · Aug 24, 2005

You want a drumroll....okies, I aim to please....

*druuuuuumroollll* :hyper:

Glad to hear you got them identified though! I'd been following the other thread. I have to ask though, where did you find halfbeaks? I'm on the search for some of the less common Livebearers, but can never find them!

xander_chookeypud · Aug 25, 2005

Ever since the first post about halfbeaks Ive wanted a one lol. I asked my lfs about whether they have ever had them in, they said they have had them in before and will get them in when they are available

Not sure when that is exactly...

afireinside · Aug 25, 2005

Yes! Where did you find those! I'm on a hunt of rare fish, I'm still looking for Four Eyes (Anableps anableps)

Annastasia · Aug 25, 2005

oppositearmor said:
Yes! Where did you find those! I'm on a hunt of rare fish, I'm still looking for Four Eyes (Anableps anableps)

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I saw a bunch at the Denver Zoo when I went...maybe they wouldn't notice if a couple disappeared.... :shifty:

Though they really are awesome looking. Don't seem to be very active, and the ones I saw were pretty BIG! I hope you have a big tank ready.

They are very interesting though.

afireinside · Aug 26, 2005

wait, they have what at the denver zoo and were? i'm going there soon. where! I wanna see em!

Annastasia · Aug 26, 2005

Four-eyed fish. In the fish house. It's like a jungle, and then they have a room with big tanks about leg level, and massive fish....as you go along, they have mudskippers, and across from them, on the wall, is a long tank of four-eyed fish. This is near the snake room, if that helps.

nmonks · Aug 26, 2005

Hello,

I got my halfbeaks from two places. It's actually mentioned on my web page describing my aquarium, if you want to see some more pictures. There's some on that page, and some nice ones on the page about the plants I used. There's a larger picture on my fish photography page as well.

Watching halfbeaks swim over a stand of vallis is really cool, and you can easily imagine you're snorkelling across a seagrass meadow in some tropical lagoon.

But to cut a long story short, I got the first batch from Maidenhead aquatics in Wembley and the second batch (which are the ones that are Nomorhamphus ebrardtii, from Hertfordshire Fisheries in How Wood, not far from St. Albans. This latter place was out of them when I stopped by about 3 weeks ago.

If you live in the UK, a very useful resource is Tropical Fish Finder. You can search for specific fish, and then find out which stores have it in stock. It only includes stores that are working with the site, so there's a lot of stores that are missing (for example the whole Maidenhead Aquatics chain) but it does include some of the really good places like Wildwoods and Wholesale Tropicals. Both of these, apparently, have Nomorhamphus liemi liemi in stock.

I'm really impressed by halfbeaks, and highly recommend them... they aren't your grandmother's livebearers! They're seriously cool fish.

Cheers,

Neale

Annastasia · Aug 26, 2005

If only I lived in the UK. Dang!

One thing is for sure...if I ever see these guys, I'm snatching them right up! :nod:

You take very nice pictures, by the way...I love the Loach one called "I don't want my picture taken..." Too cute. :wub:

Elisabeth83 · Aug 26, 2005

nmonks - I'm so glad you were able to identify them

I'm very glad I got my Nomorhamphus liemi liemi. They are awesome to watch. I believe my male is very young though as he doesn't have the little beard thing yet?

Another thing I am wondering about is that my male seems to be the bigger bellied of the two. He's got a more square look to him. Seems with almost every species I've read about the females are always the "wider" ones lol :lol:

Not sure what's going on there but I am certain she is a female Nomorhamphus liemi liemi and sure that she gets plenty of food.

I was looking in the newspaper today and saw an ad for a 138 litre custom built tank with the dimensions of 115x30x40. It would be so perfect to house my rams, halfbeaks, dwarf neon rainbows and peacocks (when I get them). I can then fit 2 more female halfbeaks in without a problem. I contacted the guy..I just hope it's still for sale

You don't see many long tanks avaliable very often.

nmonks · Aug 26, 2005

I've noticed the same thing. One male has a very deep chest, so that in profile his belly has kind of a s-shaped curve, deep by the pectoral fins and narrowing towards the tail. But another male is more or less torpedo-shaped, the same sort of thickness all the way. I guess they're variable, like people.

Someone on a livebearer group told me that these halfbeaks aren't bred but collected. Local people just catch whatever turns up in the streams and pools around their villages. So each batch of halfbeaks can include more than one species, and the retailer certainly won't know what he has in stock. Could cause problems at breeding time, if you have the wrong males for the females...

Cheers,

Neale

Elisabeth83 said:
Another thing I am wondering about is that my male seems to be the bigger bellied of the two. He's got a more square look to him. Seems with almost every species I've read about the females are always the "wider" ones lol Not sure what's going on there but I am certain she is a female Nomorhamphus liemi liemi and sure that she gets plenty of food.

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