Fresh water flat fish

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fish_freak

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 26, 2003
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Winsted CT
www.aquariacentral.com
Any one keep these here? There was an article a while back in aquarium fish magazine about them and Im considering trying to find a couple of the smaller ones for my 40 gallon breeder that I am going to set up. I cant seem to find to much about them on the web if any one has any good sites with info about them that would be great too. Also where to buy them? Ive never seen them in the LFS and the more commercial sites like liveaquaria and aquarium fish dont have them. Thanks for any info guys.
 
by "freshwater flat fish" do you mean..... flounder,sole,flathead,lizardfish,stingray etc?

A scientific name would help, When you get a scientific use the search function on here and see what comes up, Or try google.
 
If you're referring to flounders, Wes of rarefish is offering some from south america right now.

Keeping Your New Freshwater Flounder

Aqualand's inside info on Achirus lineatus

Flounder Factoids

Origin - USA

Temperature - 70-85F

Lighting - Needs no special lights

Attitude - Seemingly shy and retiring

Security - Blends into the substrate

Foods - Start on live worms or small fishes

Size - Six inch max -- long not across

Water - Prefers slightly brackish water

Breeding Comments - Prolific breeder in the wild

Common Name: Though often called freshwater flounders, these guys do better in brackish water. We've also heard them called puppy tongues down south. In some areas they call them hog chokers. Seems farmers feed these as trash fish to their hogs. Hogs have trouble swallowing them, thus the name. Actually, hogs have very little trouble swallowing anything.

Appeal: Like the other flounders, these weird little guys have both eyes on one side of their bodies. Their left eye migrates to the right side of their bodies. The left side becomes its whitish underbelly. They spend all their time lying on their underbellies.

Color: Freshwater flounders try to blend into whatever's on the bottom. They can control the size of their various pigment pores to change from dark to light in the greys and browns. Some develop spots to complete the camouflage.

Sort of a 'Sucker Fish.' Freshwater flounders frequently plaster their bodies to the glass sides of their aquaria. They suck on the sides so strongly you'll usually have difficulty netting them. Some you need to pry off the sides. Once in a plastic bag, you often need to slit the bag open to get them out. Flounders can really hold on to flat surfaces. But, unlike the plecostomids and other algae eaters, these guys ignore your algae. They want live meat.

Size: Few people grow freshwater flounders to any size because they keep them incorrectly. The largest we ever saw was three inches across. Flounders fare poorly in a regular community tank. Beginners give them the wrong kind of water and expect them to eat fish food. Most won?t eat flakes at first.

Habitat: Ten-gallon aquariums work fine as starter tanks. Flounders need more room as they grow. They also prefer a sand bottom. In the wild, flounders congregate on mud flats. Do not attempt this at home.

Brackish Water. Adult flounders spawn in the mouths of rivers (where rivers empty into the ocean). The extremely tiny fry migrate upstream. You usually find flounders on the market at the one to two-inch size ? well beyond the fry stage. They start wanting more salt in their water as they grow larger. Give them at least two teaspoons per gallon. Increase the amount of salt as your flounders increase in size.

Foods: If it's small and moves, freshwater flounders try to eat it. Live blackworms or small earthworms work well to start with. Add some feeder white clouds also. They'd probably also enjoy ghost shrimp as they grow. You can eventually convert them over to frozen brine shrimp and frozen bloodworms. Some eventually convert to eating flakes or sinking pellets. Most community fishes will eat all the flakes before the flounders start looking for them. Flounders have an eating advantage at night.

Provide Cover: If you keep flounders with bigger fishes, you may want to provide a cave or two. However, in a tank with small mosquitofish, the mosquitofish need the cover. Freshwater flounders can overpower the smaller fishes at night.

Tank Mates: Feel free to mix these guys with other medium-sized brackish water fishes African butterflies, dragon gobies, African ropefish (if your flounder's too big to swallow), mollies, and other livebearers (because they like salt also). Livebearers also provide additional live food periodically. Since bumblebee gobies and freshwater flounders share the same needs, feel free to mix them.

Last Words: You needn't worry too much about temp. Like other USA fishes, freshwater flounders adapt to a wide range of temps. Just keep it steady. Set your heater to take care of their tank mates. LA.

FWFlounder.jpg

FWFbig.jpg
 
There's a larger BW flounder that occurs on the left coast. The Sacramento Basin is home to the Starry Flounder (Platichthys stellatus). These flounders, however, can attain a slightly larger size than the Peruvian flounder. These can reach almost 3 feet. But, breeding adults are more commonly seen in the foot to foot and a half range.

starryflounder.jpg
 
My puffer killed my first hogchoker and my blue crab found my other one today and picked him clean like chicken wing. :( They are really cool to watch though and I miss mine.
 
Once upon a time I kept flounders, like 20+ years ago, Awesome to watch. My sister bought them for me because I had caught one once while fishing (I was like 7 or 8), it freaked me out.. then like 5-6 years later I started keeping fish & she got me 2.
 
If anyone in Florida scuba dives, they are in the St. Johns river but can only be found in the winter at the opening of springs. They don't get any bigger than three inches. I had a hard time keeping them alive. There are also fresh water shrimp that get about four inches and look like ghost shrimp (not sure if they are).
 
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