The BIG Reveal - Chitala lopis
- Thread starter SourAngelfish
- Start date
All doing good, I have been quite busy lately and have had to set this aside temporarily. Am hoping to get back started with genetic work next week though.
the tank is about the same, no aggression issues. Am upgrading it to a 200 in two months or so. Have added a wild caught C. blanci, a few spiny eels, and an O.septemfasciatus to the mix.
I’ve also recently acquired Notopterus synurus as well which is pretty exciting
Wow! That’s awesome! I was kind of asking selfishly to see if you had bred them yet lol!!!
you have an incredible collection, do you import direct or you know some people who import for you? My interest is always piqued by rarer aquarium fish that aren’t as desirable (ie, albino/xanthic) but have yet to find any reliable sources besides Wes
Unfortunately no breeding yet, hoping this can be accomplished in a larger tank though. The knifes were imported direct, everything else I’ve bought are from a variety of sellers including Wes. The ‘undesireables’ are my favorites
Lots of changes recently, moved everything into a tall 180 a few weeks ago and all is well. I’ll have to take some good photos of the tank soon.
got an RODI hose running to the tank so I’ve been able to slowly drop the hardness during this period. Low and behold, the female has dropped her egg tube again and seems like she may be courting with one of the smaller fish. I am honestly expecting eggs to pop up anytime at this point.
for those curious, here’s a stock list for the tank:
juvenile O. septemfasciatus
Mastacembelus pantherinus
Mastacembelus notopthalmus
x2 Poropuntius laoensis
Hampala macrolepidota
Auchenoglanis biscutatus
3x Notopterus synurus
Horabagrus brachysoma
2x Chitala blanci
5x Chitala lopis
other than the eels I plan to move most of these into some ponds I’ve got running (when they get some size) and focus primarily on the lopis. The tank would be perfect if I could acquire some puntioplites falcifer
got an RODI hose running to the tank so I’ve been able to slowly drop the hardness during this period. Low and behold, the female has dropped her egg tube again and seems like she may be courting with one of the smaller fish. I am honestly expecting eggs to pop up anytime at this point.
for those curious, here’s a stock list for the tank:
juvenile O. septemfasciatus
Mastacembelus pantherinus
Mastacembelus notopthalmus
x2 Poropuntius laoensis
Hampala macrolepidota
Auchenoglanis biscutatus
3x Notopterus synurus
Horabagrus brachysoma
2x Chitala blanci
5x Chitala lopis
other than the eels I plan to move most of these into some ponds I’ve got running (when they get some size) and focus primarily on the lopis. The tank would be perfect if I could acquire some puntioplites falcifer
Enjoyed that thread but I got confused towards the end. You got the original Lopsis which you thought was extinct but then got 4 more? where did you get those from?
Would love to see a video of them all out I bet they look well impressive
Would love to see a video of them all out I bet they look well impressive
Sorry the thread is a bit all over the place at this point.
Chitala lopis was documented as extinct by the IUCN in 2019, a bit after this I received one from a friend of mine. I coincidentally came across 4 more of these fish in the trade and was able to have them imported.
it was once believed this species was endemic to the island of Java, we now know that it is quite widespread within Indonesia and is in need of revision. They also appear to be in Thailand (where the other 4 are from) which could possibly be an additional species.
hopefully that helps clarify some of this
to add to this, the fish was essentially just assessed very poorly. While it is likely threatened, it seems to be nowhere near extinction as the recent surveying yielded pretty good results. There is already a small group of people overseas starting to spawn and rear this fish, hopefully I can do the same with the group of 4 from a definitive locality
