The wonderful, large halfbeaks of the
genus Zenarchopterus are only very rarely offered, because the animals
are very shy during the acclimatisation. When they panic they often hurt
themselves seriously. So we are very proud that we were able to import
successfully a small group of fully grown specimens of the species
Zenarchopterus dunckeri from Taiwan. The fish are currently about 15 cm
long. The group is formed of two males and three females. Despite the
very long gonopodium that clearly indicates an internal fertilization
the fish are – to the best of our knowledge – egg layers.
These fish need spacious aquaria, very
clean, bactertia-poor, hard water. The pH must be over 8. It is possible
to keep these fish, which are completely euryhalin, also in brackish or
pure seawater, but an addition of salt is not absolutely essential. The
fish prefer flake foods, but also accept other food items as long as
they are floating on the water surface. Once the food is sunken to the
bottom it becomes ignored. One should choose only absolutely peaceful
tankmates for cleaning the tank from sunken food – for example Corys –
because even harmless, but curious fish can literally (!) frighten the
halfbeaks witless! Once Zenarchopterus have settled they can live
happily many years in aquaria.
For our customers: the fish have code 479305 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
