The Coelacanth

[TorPeteO]

Even though it would be ridiculous to think I'd be able to keep a coelacanth, let alone more than one, what kind of tank would you think they'd need? Apparently, they grow to about 168 cm in the wild, so they get pretty huge. What kind of gallonage, and dimensions, would an aquarium have to be to house three or four of these fish?

Side note; they're not territorial, nor are they aggressive to each other. So they wouldn't need to establish territories or fight over them.

As I said, no hobbyist would ever be able to keep them anyway, since they're critically endangered, but it would still be amazing.

Info from FishBase.

 

[SirMinion]

Well for a start, they're marine, and deepwater fish. They are very strictly nocturnal, hiding in groups in caves during the daylight hours.

There was a show on discovery channel about them last week. (dinosaurs of the deep) It seems that although they keep turning up in different parts of the world, no one is still entirely sure where the 'core population' is based.

 

[TorPeteO]

Yeah, I guess they live at depths of 150-700m, so that'd be a heck of an obstacle to setting up a tank. You could probably have them in a tank that's 5-10m deep, I'd say.

Yeah, the site I saw said their populations are all over the place. I wonder if any public or private aquariums have them on display. I guess, being nocturnal, they wouldn't be much of a crowd pleaser.

 

[bshockstubb]

They ahve tried and tried to keep Coelacanths in captivative but they die as soon as they come any where near the surface due to the low pressure. just to keep one alive you would have to go about 200- 700m under, catch one, put it ina pressure chamber and keep it in a tank that has the same pressure as 700m under...very hard and very very expensive

 

[ddm18]

This must surely be the most bizarre question ever asked on TFF? Shouldn't there be some kind of prize for TorPeteO?

Perhaps the prize could be a coelacanth + tank?

 

[TorPeteO]

That would be pretty amazing. I'd love to have them set up a super-deep tank in my house, but I think someone would have to offer to pay the electric bills for the first few months, as well.

I'm all for it, though!

 

[Dorkhedeos]

i thought coelacanths were territorial. some guy stuck his arm near one and it brought him down. or this might be another fish that looked like one

 

[mwm]

The guy would have to have been really deep in the ocean for one to grab his arm like someone said they dont come up to the surface

 

[DarkSide]

It would be that deep, i've seen photos, of dives swimming around ceolacanths, and not being bitten, but they have been known to bite.

 

[Opcn]

they have not lived for more than 7 hours on the surface, a combination of lhigh light high temps low preasure and high stress killes them. No one has seen them kept in an aquarium trust me. I'd say you would need atleast 10,000 gallons under high preasure (like build a box and compress air into the top) and a massive chiller system aswell. I say definatively this is not the fish for you, that is if I am correct in my assumption that you dont have atleast 20,000,000 USD to throw at the issue and a good smuggler friend to give you a hand.

 

[OohFeeshy]

He he... Imagine the outrage if you managed to get a baby one and kept it in a tiny tank... The scientists would go mad... Tell them, then why do it to goldfish... Although i think they're pretty ugly fish, they are quite cool.