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I have just been there and they have got some nice fish
Here are some of them and i would like to know what fish they are because the names they wrote on the tanks i think is wrong.If you know the real names please tell me.
1) Shovel nose lat fish?..couldn't find any info on that fish so the id must be wrong.
2) Moon fish?...didn't find any info on that fish either,these fish was around 5-8cm and little blue colored.
Maybe i will take some photos since it might be easier,but that i have to do later though.


Robby

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I know human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully.

Do you mean "Shovel nose Cat fish"? If so, it's one of several species of catfish characterized my a long, flattened upper "lip". They grow to be very, very large, and can be somewhat aggressive. An LFS has no business selling a future monster like that. *sigh* Indoor ponds are the only tanks I've seen that are big enough for them--we're talking over 1000 gallons for these behemoths, and tankmates need to be quite large to avoid being eaten.

As for the moon fish, I have no idea, but it sounds kindof interesting. Post pics if you can.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

"Shovel nose Cat fish"..well if it's that then i dont understand why they sell them because they get huge...thats why i thought asking if it might be wrong id of the fish!
I will try to get pics later.

Robby

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I know human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully.

Moon fish is a horribly general and common name for a whole range of fish, usually marine, and some of them are even in the fossil record. Was it freshwater or marine? did it look a bit like a cichlid, or a maybe surgeonfish?

Theres pelagic fish off america and australia that are commonly called moon fish , and ironically enough people use the name to describe giant sunfish as moonfish too.

Weird.

Sometimes, Monodactylus argenteus is mis-named the Moonfish. This is a fish that can live in fresh water (indeed it is euryhaline, and can live in water ranging from full fresh water to full marine) but is best kept in bracksh water of between 10% and 25% marine strength for long term health. However, some specimens will live a long time in a fully marine setup too. If kept in fresh water, the water should he hard and alkaline, with a good mineral content, like that used for Rift Lake Cichlids.

As for your Shovel Nosed Catfish, this could be one of several species. The SMALLEST one I know reaches over two feet in length with ease (the Lima Shovelnose, Sorubim lima) and the biggest is the Piraiba Catfish from the Amazon, Brachyplatystoma filamentosum, which reaches - are you ready for this? - a whopping NINE FEET in the wild. This is a fish that needs a fork lift truck to transfer it from one aquarium to another, and an aquarium big enough for this colossal catfish is a major civil engineering project, because I wouldn't put one in anything smaller than an Olympic sized swimming pool! For this fish to be happy, it needs MINIMUM tank dimensions of 30 x 10 x 5 - that's 30 FEET by 10 FEET by 5!!! How does having a 9,000 gallon aquarium in your living room sound?

Put it in perspective, my entire living room in my house, if you filled it completely with water, would hold just under 8,000 gallons. 9,000 gallons is around 40,000 litres, and that's 40 tons of water. You'll need one hell of a reinforced floor to carry that weight!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Platies are also called 'moons'. In the Freshwater Q&A column of TFH (April 2006) it was explained that the moon name probably came from the blue color and that there was an early variety that had a crescent moon-like shaped making near the tail.

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Ah, how remiss of me! The venerable Innes Book illustrates the 'Moon Platy' quite nicely on page 312 - look at the Blue platy, which has a definite crescent moon of light colour embedded within the dark caudal peduncle blotch.

However, 'moonfish' has in more recent times come to encompass a wide variety of aquarium species naming sins, of which Monodactylus argenteus is but one.

However, the term 'Moonfish' should, strictly speaking, now be restricted to members of the Genera Alectis, Vomer and Selene of the Family Carangidae (marine Jacks). These unusual fishes (also known as Lookdowns) have varying degrees of vertical elongation of the body, seen at its most extreme in Selene vomer, with a notable lozenge shape being visible in Alectis indicus, and Vomer setapinnis (variously known also as the Shiner, Bluntnose, Horsefish and Dollarfish - another reason why taxonomic names should be relied upon in preference to common names!) is more conventionally 'Jack shaped'. All of these fishes are fairly large marine fishes, ranging from 30 to 50 cm in length, and are therefore strictly public aquarium material.

Some images now follow:

Selene vomer

Alectis indicus (Scroll down the page past the other fishes until you see the VERY strange lozenge shaped fish with the enormous trailing dorsal and anal fin threads)

Vomer setapinnis

Enjoy!




Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Some amazing fish there, I love the one with the trailing fins. "Not to be housed with fin nippers" .lol.