D/FW area...bottom dweller alert!

[Fruitbat]

For those of you interested in 'bottom dwellers' of the more unusual varieties and who live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area....you might want to check in at The Fish Gallery just north of the intersection of Park Lane and Greenville Avenue. Besides a stunning array of 'plecos'...they've recently gotten in:

Polypterus senegalus albinos - Senegal Bichir....fairly young (about 4 inches)
Polypterus delhezi babies - Armored Bichir....gorgeous!!!
Chanallabes apus - African Eel Catfish (could be Gymnallables)...I haven't seen these available in years!
Corydoras sterbae - VERY nice!
Botia Dario- Queen Loach...relatively uncommon in local stores. Had 'ich' a couple of weeks ago but seem cleared up now
Chromobotia macracantha - Clown Loach....about 8 in the 4-6 inch range
Botia hymenophysa - Tiger Loach...in the 4 inch range (will get to 10 inches or more)
Mastacembelus plagiostoma - Tanganyikan Banded Eel...gorgeous and young
Characidium sp. - Darter Tetras....these little South American tetras look like our native North American darters. Cute!!!

Just a heads-up....and NO....I do NOT work for them but I do shop at the store a lot and recommend them highly!

These are a couple of the baby Polypterus delhezi that I just bought from them today. They were still in the bag acclimating when I took this picture.

 

[Lotus]

Congratulations on the new fish

I'm jealous The only reason I have a few less-common fish is from constantly visiting all the stores in the area in the hopes of finding something.

 

[kikuchiyo]

Ooh, Queen Loaches are Bou Maach. Neat-o. When ever I'm finished bouncing around the country for school, I'll setup up a south asian biotope with something like that.

 

[420Loach]

nice bichirs! i havent seen tiger loaches around here for a while...too bad i cant fly.j/k

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Are these not snakeheads?

 

[Fruitbat]

No...snakeheads are members of the genera Channa and Parachanna. Most of them are Asian. Bichirs are ancient fish found only in Africa and have the swim bladder modified into functional 'lungs', have armored 'ganoid' scales, multiple dorsal 'finlets' and lobe-type pectoral fins. All belong to the genus Polypterus except the 'Reed' (or 'Rope') fish which is in the genus Erpetoichthys.

 

[420Loach]

hehe they do look pretty ancient. spiny enough to make a dinosaur choke.

 

[ashleigh]

you have Darter tetras? I have been looking all over the internet for those I love those fish! I hope they pop up around here soon.

 

[Fruitbat]

ashleigh...

I don't have them but they are available at my favorite local fish store (the one that gets in most of the 'oddballs' that I buy). Unfortunately I don't have a tank to put them in right now or I would have bought them....they've got 6 or 7 of them. It is the first time I've seen the darter tetras in years!!

 

[ashleigh]

I hope they make a comeback- mine died when I was out of town for a week and I haven't seen any since. I loved those guys! they're like a puffer and a goby rolled into one fish- I was just jealous taht you had them in your town, - although I'm jealous of your bichirs too- hey- how do you pronounce bichir?

 

[Fruitbat]

Most people pronounce bichir like 'biker'. However, the correct way to pronounce it is PROBABLY 'be-cheer'.