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Some of Our Member's Favorite Fish
By Joe Anderson

OKAA members were recently asked what their favorite fish was/were. No one fish seemed to be a dominant favorite. In fact, most respondents choose multiple fish as their "favorites".

Newcomer to the hobby and well along the way to becoming a breeding champion and a certifiable "fishaholic", Kyle Osterholt noted that selecting just one species was a "tough order". He gave it his best though by choosing a group of fishes, the pike-like killies or panchax group - and lampeyes in particular.

A plus for Kyle was that most all of these fish are easy to keep and spawn and the fact that this group of killies is somewhat out of the "norm" for killie favorites. Kyle says that he is "a person who likes to follow (his) own path and not follow the crowd". He notes that the Panchax killies have a very unique disposition. Most are fairly laid back hunters watching the surface for anything that wasn't there before and pouncing on it, even drops of water get consumed when they hit the surface. There are tons of color variations and they range in sizes from about 1.5" up through over 4-5". While the lampeyes, he states "are just an awesome looking fish with their glowing eyes and irredescent colors." Prettymuch all of them would be good schooling fish which is not the norm for killies in the first place.

Breeder extraordinaire, Gerald-"can't be satisfied with just one"-Griffin, listed TEN "favorite fishes. I think he teaches Biology so you won't have to worry about him teaching your children any math or language skills. 1. Anableps anableps, 2. Betta macrostoma, 3. Betta unimaculata, 4. Betta taeniata 5. Neolamprologus multifasciatus, 6. Lamprologus ocelatus, 7. Ctenopoma ansorgii, 8. Cyprichromis leptisoma, 9. Hippocampus kuda, 10. Psuedotropheus acei. All very nice fish indeed!

Another newcomer and snail afficionado, Dawn Cook couldn't make up her mind either. But limited her choice to Heterandria formosa, the least killifish. Her choice is based on their interesting habits and peaceful demeanor. She says that they "are very peaceful and when they know you are about to feed them they look at you with that look of calm, mindless, innocent anticipation." Her second choice would be Betta splendens for the many colors and styles they are available in. And, thirdly she lists Nematobrycon lacortei, whom she describes as one of the most eleganty colored fish out there. Of course, she also notes that her choices, like most of ours, change with the seasons or likely with the occurrence of another really nice fish at one of our monthly BAP auctions!!

Mike Dennis, club comic, had to choose the convict cichlid and then quickly offer to supply anyone with an interest in them a dozen or more.

Betty Harris easily chose the fancy goldfish stating that "the diversity in coloration is amazing as is their finnage and personalities." She enjoys watching them grow from little babies into big beautiful interactive adults as they are easily hand fed and their life spans are quite long.

April Walters, another new recruit and snail monger, claims its hard to choose but quickly selects the Betta splendens as it was her very first fish and she's always loved them. They come in all shapes and colors and are stunningly beautiful, plus they have "sooooo much personality!" She is presently attempting to spawn them.

Cynthia Teague, long time hobbyist and catfish fan really likes Synodontis schoutedeni. She finds the Synodontis shape very appealing, especially in the chubby ones like schoutedeni. Another plus for her was that the reticulated pattern does not fade with age or size unlike most synodontis cats. They are also much less shy than other members of the genus, noting that "S. decorus is a beautiful fish but all you ever see of it is its freckled nose sticking out of a hiding place."

Another favorite for her is Synodontis eupterus though the speckled pattern fades as they age but the dorsal fin just gets prettier and prettier. She notes that most of the readily available synodontis are pretty easy to keep and will stand up for themselves in a cichlid tank, but they do need hiding places.

And, again Nematobrycon lacortei - which Cynthia and Dean have maintained for the last 6 years, gets another mention.

Cynthia concludes with a listing of ancistrus - "they are so cute, and the fathers are great parents, too," Thoricthys aureum (cousin to the firemouth cichlid) and Uaru (chocolate cichlid). She notes that for her the joy is often in watching the fish pair off and then spending time raising the fry together.

Sheryl Coley swings the selection to the salty side with her choice of Red Flame Hawkfish. She notes that Flame Hawkfish are "one of those fish you just have to name." They have incredible color and "crazy eyes and dynamite personality. In addition, hawkfish are resistant to disease and will eat almost any food. She kept one would sit in her hand to eat and when he saw her coming would swim awkwardly across the tank to be the first in the chow line.

Like freshwater gobies, hawkfish have no swim bladders so they sink when they are not swimming. Hawkfish have fins that work as feet for them to perch and they are ambush predators, swooping down to grab their prey - thus the common name "hawkfish." All hawkfish start out as female and transforms into male as needed. It is possible to keep a harem in captivity.

Sheryl notes that, "depending on the species, Hawkfish will either feed on a variety of small crustaceans, larger shrimp, crabs, and even fish. The mouth size is largely responsible for the prey a particular Hawkfish will eat. They are harem breeder with the male keeping up to 7 females in the territory he defends." She claims that these little guys will steal any fish lover's heart.

Bailin Shaw, our distant cousin in Connecticut, finds this question to be a delimna. Though he does fess up to being partial to smaller fish that don't take up too much space. He too breaks his choices down into groupings.

For anabantoids, he chooses Betta coccina and any licorice gourami, as well as the non-anabantoid Dario dario (scarlet badis). For characins, he choose Poecilocharax weitzmanni and Neolebias ansorgii. For his Cyprinid choice, Microrasbora erythomicron and Rasbora maculata -finally something most of us can recognize by name! And, Kyle thought he liked to walk the unbeaten path. Bailin also recognizes an interest in Rasbora uropthalma, Puntius pentazona, and Barbus jae - one of the tiniest and most attractive barbs you'll ever see.

Then, moving on to cichlids, he opts for everyone's favorite - this week, Mikrogeophagus ramirezi, and Apistogramma baenschi, along with the West African Nanochromis transvestitus. And, not satisfied with that - did I say Gerald was the man of many choices?, he outlines his favorite killifish with Nothobranchius rachovi, Aphysemium australe cf. chocolate, Fundulus chrysotus, and Rivulus xiphidius. Whoo! He ends by noting that these are "just a few of what (he'd) like in (his) tanks." Love to be a contractor in his city!

Patricia Owens, another new member, kept it simple and chose the Betta. The colors and personalities won her over, and the fact that this was the first fish she ever spawned made it special to her.

It is important for all of us in this hobby to recognize what it is we enjoy about the hobby, about the individual species we keep and to recognize the importance of our efforts to study and propogate them to sustaining the industry and the animals themselves in their natural habitats. Clubs like the OKAA and others with active Breeder's Award Programs and membership that promote the keeping and propogation of fish and other wildlife help to educate fishkeepers on this great hobby and their responsibilty to nature.

Copyright © 2006 OKAA. All rights reserved.