The BIG Reveal - Chitala lopis

[ILOVESHARKS]

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The blurred taxonomic distinctions is something interesting for sure. I just hope they don't lead to hybrids with non-endangered species when it comes to endangered fish that are breedable in captivity.

Indonesia already learned captivity of the giant featherback

 

[ILOVESHARKS]

th

this is the whole view of the aquarium from the internet, I had went to this place last year, but the ticket is too expensive, I wish I could collect more photos from this aquarium, there is also a display pool under the tank, the tank have more than 10 golden crossback arowana, Seven stripped barb and Sultan fish (L.Hoevenii)
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*the display pool is the one that keeps more than 10 golden crossback arowana, Seven stripped barb and Sultan fish (L.Hoevenii)

 

[SourAngelfish]

They aren't endangered or extinct fishes in Malaysia, Some places like the Kenyir lake and Perak river have many giant featherbacks, Most giant featherbacks from the Kedah river are larger than most Giant featherbacks found in Malaysia, because the river current of the Kedah river is too strong, even a 1kg giant snakehead had a strength of a 2kg giant snakehead

Correct, Malaysian featherback are actually Chitala hypselonotus, although I do have a paper detailing that Malaysian specimens may be an entirely other species. I’ve found this tank striking as the featherback in here do not look very similar to hypselonotus at all (far too dark, lack a distinct spot) but it is hard to tell without a closer look.

 

[SourAngelfish]

As for the genus as a whole, this does not shock me, there are likely several undescribed chitala species, they are seldom studied with the exception of C. ornata in aquaculture settings. I’m under the belief that there are likely several properly undescribed chitala species along with several notopterus species.

Notopterus especially, it’s highly unlikely that a single species extends from India all the way to Sumatra, especially with the loads of geographic separation.

 

[SourAngelfish]

This tank is running smooth as ever, I am planning to spawn the dawkinsia in here soon

 

[SourAngelfish]

Check out this ‘piebald chitala lopis’ posted to Instagram. Has anyone ever seen this before????? I need it

 

[kendragon]

Is it sick?

 

[SourAngelfish]

Is it sick?

I thought the same thing. Looks like patterning though? Wish the photo was higher quality. It’s definitely strange. Posted by @selene_nabieoffcial on instagram

 

[SourAngelfish]

This tank is doing great currently. Am considering removing the dawkinsia soon as they are far too active and make the tank appear extremely crowded. I wish I could find more pristolepis to stock with. Considering grabbing some sort of wild species of macropodus to provide some slow moving dither.

 

[SourAngelfish]

This fish is doing well and survived the stressful move I just went through. When moving the fish, I got a good gauge on size, and have realized that this fish grows abysmally slow. Regardless of true identity, this makes sense to me, as C. ornata is considered to be faster growing and often outcompetes these other indonesian species. For context, this fish appears to have grown around 2-3 inches at most. I do not feed this fish heavily and nitrate is consistently under 30ppm but typically between 5-20ppm