Tag Archives: siamensis

Macrognathus siamensis Red Tail

20. January 2021

At the moment we can once again offer very beautiful – i.e. strongly colored – offsprings of a dwarf spiny eel, which is not yet precisely identified. It is offered under the name Macrognathus aculeatus, but for various reasons it will probably not be this species. It shows the most similarity to Macrognathus siamensis, because like this species our redtail has strong pronounced, broad white bordered eye spots in the dorsal fin. 

In any case they are very pretty, sociable animals, which under normal circumstances are not to be expected to grow much bigger than about 15 cm. All spiny eels are inquisitive and adaptive fish, which can give you a lot of pleasure. However, community fish should not be too small, otherwise they will be eaten. Water temperatures can be between 22 and 30°C, with the middle range being the most favorable. Every frozen and live food that fits into the mouth is eaten, also water fleas catch these fish skillfully from the water column, whereby they take a position like a seahorse. But also granulated food is accepted. Water hardness and pH-value do not play a role for the care, every drinking water is suitable. 

There are two things to keep in mind when caring for spiny eels: absolutely escape-proof aquariums and sufficient hiding places in the form of caves. Since spiny eels also like to dig themselves in, the substrate should consist of sand at least in places.

For our customers: the animals have code 425208 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply the wholesale trade.

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer

Dermogenys siamensis (D. pusilla)

11. March 2019

The systematics of the widespread, small halfbeaks from South and Southeast Asia are complicated. A first revision of the genus by Mohr in 1936 summarized many previously described species under the synonymy of D. pusilla. This was followed by Brembach in 1991; the name D. pusilla was then used in the broadest sense. It was not until 2001 that Downing-Meisner revised the genus again and split it into several species. Four of them form the Dermogenys pusilla complex. They can certainly only be distinguished by microscopic examinations of the male’s mating organ, the so-called andropodium, but the species are geographically excluded, so that with knowledge of their origin it is also possible to determine them.

We have now received beautiful Dermogenys pusilla in the broadest, oldest sense. They come from the south of Thailand, from the province Petchaburi, district Ban Laem, thus belong to the species Dermogenys siamensis.

For our customers: the animals have code 414202 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply wholesalers.

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer

Toxotes siamensis

8. March 2019

We obtain some years already the very nice Toxotes sp. „Marble“ from Thailand, where it inhabits the Chao Phraya river. The up to 15-20 cm long species is a pure freshwater fish. It was very recently scientifically described as Toxotes siamensis now. During their research the authors found that only 2-3 of the currently 10 accepted species of archer fish are brackish water fish, the remaining species live exclusively in freshwater.

In the paper two additional species of Toxotes are described which were confused with T. microlepis before: Toxotes mekongensis from the Mekong (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam) and Toxotes sundaicus (Sumatra, Borneo, maybe Malaysia). Sadly we have not yet nice pictures from these fish, but as soon as they are available we close that gap.

For our customers: Toxotes siamensis has code 468542 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.

Literature

Kottelat, M. & H. H. Tan (2018): Three new species of archerfishes from the freshwaters of Southeast Asia (Teleostei: Toxotidae) and notes on Henri Mouhot’s fish collections. Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, publiziert am 2. Mai 2018. DOI: 10.23788/IEF-952

Catlocarpio siamensis

9. January 2019

The Giant Carp (Catlocarpio siamensis) is the biggest carp of Southeast-Asia with allegedly up to 3 m of length. However, such large animals have never been scientifically confirmed. The largest documented specimen was “only” about 150 cm long. In nature the Mekong giant carp is probably extinct or at least very, very rare. Fortunately, the species can be bred in aquaculture, so that at least complete extinction is not to be feared. The causes for the extinction in nature are, as usual, the destruction of the biotopes and habitats by humans, whereby the large migratory fish hardly ever get old enough to reproduce naturally. The massive fishing for food purposes certainly also has an influence on the stocks, but how strong it is, has not been scientifically researched yet.

Of course, the young of this strange fish, which we currently have in stock, come from aquaculture, so they are bred ones. They are peaceful, somewhat shy animals that are easy to feed with all common fish foods. 

For our customers: the animals have code 408172 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply wholesalers.

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer