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...something which I know Calillaseia will be interested to hear, even if no one else is.

There are about a half dozen of them. They're small (slightly smaller than Neons or Glowlights), timid (they cling to the bottom even though all the other fish in the tank are comparably small), quite expensive ($7.50 per fish), and quite attractive. They have narrow stripes of what I can only call a brightly glowing red-brown or tawny red, which sounds paradoxical until you consider that it seems to be produced by alternating very small scales of black and brightly reflective red. Ryan tells me that it's "very rare" to get a shipment of them, but they're pretty enough that I imagine there would be some demand for them if the cost went down a bit.

I myself, however, don't think they're quite attractive enough for me to shell out $7.50 a fish for them, although I'd be quite ready to buy them for $3 or $4 per fish. (By contrast, if I ever see another adult male Red Arc Pencilfish, I'll proably snap him up at this point -- even at $10. They are stunningly beautiful.)

I think I saw those on the fish lists a few times at the store where I used to work. Never ordered them though for some reason.

You're still in Sacramento, right Bruce? I'm like 20 minutes away now so I was thinking of checking out any good fish stores there (the ones here are crap). And maybe see if they'll have any jobs open later this year...

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

I'm still trying to find an accurate Web photo of them -- they're much more attractive than the bland "Fishbase" photo. Actually, the best indicator of their stripe color is the photo of Neolebias trewavasae at http://uinen.nrm.se/identification/specieslist.cfm?famcode=116&areacode= , but their stripes are much narrower.

I've also found one site that describes them as "timid -- likely to be stressed by a normal community tank". That I can easily believe, given the way the ones I've seen are acting.

Actually, I live about halfway between Sacramento and the Sierra foothills, in a town called Cameron Park. My two standard LFSs are Capitol Aquarium in Sacramento (a very big, well-stocked outfit), and Lee's Feed Store in our nearby little town of Shingle Springs (so help me God, that really is its name). Lee's is the place which -- despite its rural location -- has an amazingly good stock of unusual fish and skilled staff (even if one of them did give me that recent disastrous advice to use Nalidixic Acid against Neon Tetra Disease), and it's there that the Neolebias (as well as the Galaxy Rasboras) have recently turned up.

It seems to me that the total number of good fish stores in Sacramento itself, however, has significantly dropped over the last decade -- although it's possible that a few good new ones have popped up recently that I'm simply unaware of yet because I now limit my shopping to Capitol and Lee's.

You have found these at last???

Oh, DO please buy yourself some. And post pics. Pretty please ...

Oh yes, they're regarded as a fairly shy and retiring fish. Innes regarded them as a bit of a 'mystery fish' because when he saw them, he was lucky enough to see the first imports, but I gather they like heavily planted aquaria and quiet companions. A vastly underrated fish.

Males will display more vivid iridescent green on the sides with the approach of maturity. A fish of distinction even as a juvenile, and likely to be snapped up by a Characin collector 'in the know' if you don't move fast Bruce.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Unfortunately, I'm unlikely to buy them. (A) Too expensive; (B) too timid (judging from the way they're acting in a tank of other quite small fish, they'd be petrified by the moderately bigger ones in my library tank); and (C) given my disastrous past track record, I'd feel guilty as hell if I deprived somebody else of them and then promptly killed them off myself.

As for my photographic prowess -- even in non-aquarium areas -- the less said the better. I will, however, keep looking for an accurate Web picture of them.