patience ??? definitely not instant gratification, but maybe better???

[Magnum Man]

so I have tried to insert a really unique fish into my Hillstream tank, several times, unsuccessfully... saddle back lizard hillstream loaches... I was "lucky" enough to get a couple large ones since I've had this tank running, but they have not survived, for some reason or another, but quite a while ago, ( almost 2 years ago ) I had the chance to get a couple rare red saddle back "toothpicks"... tiny little skinny things, I had little hope of them surviving... but, one is flourishing, and is 4-5 times bigger than when it arrived... it's a little shy, but I catch a glimpse of it nearly everyday... no idea if it will get as big as the large saddle backs, or if this is as smaller variety??? but it's quite rare, and seems to be thriving in my tank... and it's maybe a little better, than just buying a large one, actually growing one...

I have several fish, that I was initially disappointed in, at the small size, that they arrived, but am now proud, of being able to grow them...

Do you guys have a special fish, that you've grown, that is extra special to you, because it's grown up in your tank???

sorry, not very good pictures, because the fish is shy.... the fish on the front glass in the top picture, with the pale tan under belly... and amongst a root tangle in the bottom picture

 

[GaryE]

I don't have any such fish now, but for a long time I had a mixer tetra that delighted me. It had come in a bag of rummy noses imported by a local store, directly from South America. They wouldn't say from where on that vast continent.

It was a technically plain fish, about the size and shape of a black neon tetra. Its flanks were silver and it had a thin fluorescent green line along its side. That stripe was a fantastic thing. The fish lived a tetra life, somewhere between 6 and 8 years, and I enjoyed looking at the poor lonely guy the whole time.

This was before digital photography, unfortunately. It was also before I did some fish unpacking on a regular basis, at an importer. I later unpacked tens of thousands of tetras right off the plane, and looked for the species every time in every bag. There were lots of silvery mixers, but not that one. The hobby picks its species based on what will sell, and there are a great number of tetras we never see. They may have a limited distribution in nature, be a less common species in the wild, or, more likely, just be judged as not colourful to sell well enough by the fishermen. They get thrown back.

I've hit the books, searched the internet, talked with experts, and drawn a blank. I've never seen the fish again, and figure I probably never will. But I got to wonder how nice a shoal of the those little, low key tetras would be. That was a treat in itself. There are things out there in the world we would like to see...

 

[Magnum Man]

green is a pretty rare color in nature... I have had both red, and green line tetras on my watch list, for several years, as I wanted to add them to a tank, green lines were listed as

Iguanodectes spilurus​

a nice picture, and some basic info here...

Iguanodectes spilurus (tenuis) - Aqualog.de

www.aqualog.de

Du hast nach Iguanodectes spilurus gesucht - Aquarium Glaser GmbH

however I've not seen them available in the last couple years anywhere... no idea if that is @GaryE 's fish but sounds similar from the description

red lines , that are also on my list, are listed as

Iguanodectes geisleri​

Iguanodectes geisleri - Aquarium Glaser GmbH

The lizard tetras of the genus Iguanodectes are in general very rare aquarium fish. Currently 8 species are accepted. The very slender fish attain a maximum length of about 7 cm and are peaceful schooling fish. We could import the very pretty Iguanodectes geisleri from Venezuela. This blackwater...

www.aquariumglaser.de

 

[GaryE]

Hah! I ordered some Iguanodectes this morning, before I saw this. Great minds think alike and all. I used to keep I. geisleri and haven't seen them offered in many years. I asked for them and 2 other old favourites I rarely see up here - H. loretoensis and marble hatchets. One of the tanks I made 2 weeks ago is higher up, and they would fit well with what I'm doing in there. I don't expect I'd ever be able to breed hatchets, but the other 2 might be maybes. Loreto tetras should be popular as micro-fish.

But "the one that got away" was a shorter bodied, squat tetra.