Tag Archives: myersi

Thoracocharax stellatus, Gasteropelecus maculatus JUMBO, Carnegiella myersi, Carnegiella strigata

26. July 2019

The platinum hatchetfish, Thoracocharax stellatus, is regarded as biggest species of the hatchetfish. In the scientific literature, up to 6.8 cm of standard length (without tail fin) are indicated for the species. However, much smaller animals are always imported. The specimens that we currently offer as “large” have a standard length of about 3.5-4 cm.

Thoracocharax stellatus is mostly imported from Colombia. From there we have now received Gasteropelecus maculatus, which can compete in size with Thoracocharax. They have about 6 cm standard length, so with caudal fin almost 7 cm. G. maculatus is very similar to Thoracocharax, mainly because of the dark base of the dorsal fin and was placed at times in the genus Thoracocharax, indeed.

From Peru we have the smallest of all hatchet belly fish in stock, the glass or dwarf hatchet Carnegiella myersi. Large females of this species reach only 2.2 cm standard length, males are even smaller. 

If you read these numbers, the differences may not seem so big, but if you can see the animals together – wow! It’s especially funny when a tiny male Carnegiella is displaying in front of a specimen of G. maculatus, which must appear to him as a “super woman”…

For this post we have also made pictures of the probably most famous and popular of all hatchet fishes, the marble hatchet (Carnegiella strigata), together with the jumbo maculatus. The marble hatchets are already fully grown.

For our customers: T. stellatus “lg” has code 297003, G. maculatus “Jumbo” 254207, C. myersi 214102 , and C. strigata 214203 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply wholesalers.

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer

Pseudogastromyzon cheni

25. April 2017

Now the season for the charming hillstream loaches imported via Hongkong has started. There do exist several species and we also have several species in stock currently. There is a lot of confusion regarding the identity of two species of Pseudogastromyzon, namely P. cheni and P. myersi. Both species look almost identical. And both species show a high degree of variability in respect of coloration. There is only one (known) possibilty to tell them apart for sure: one has to take measurements. The first measurement is the distance between the origin of the pectoral fin and the origin of the ventral fin. The second measurement has to be done for the distance between the origin of the ventral fin and the anus. If both measurements are equal, then the fish is P. myersi. Is distance 1 larger than distance 2 the fish in question is P. cheni. This difference can be found in both sexes. We have shown the technique of the measurements in one of the pictures accompanying this post. All individuals depicted are P. cheni.

 

To be honest, until now we looked rather for (somewhat obscure) differences in coloration to tell the two species apart. Currently we have both (?) in stock. The pictures presented here are already elder, so we plan to investigate our fish in the fishhouse in the near future once more. We are very curious what this investigation will show up!

Anyway, both species are very nice and very entertaining aquarium inhabitants. They love a tank with a lot of current, a lot of stones, and a lot of light. Like all loaches the hillstream-loaches feed on small invertebrates, but the horny lips also allow them to scratch algae from the stones. In the aquarium they readily feed on any usual type of fish food. The water temperature in the tank for these hillstream loaches sholud not climb over 24°C for longer times.

For our customers: the fish have code 448524 (P. cheni) and 445802 (P. myersi) on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.

Text: Frank Schäfer, photos: Erwin Schraml