Calling all VATF and TATF keepers
- Thread starter Chicxulub
- Start date
that fish is unbelievable bro
sunnysjourney
. Great job!
Excellent! That is an example of exactly what I was hoping to see.
fugupuff
this is a prime example of what I was telling you about earlier: something that looks exactly like a vatf but the scale counts are wrong. Thoughts?Alan this is probably the most flattering post anyone's made about me in the past eight years. Thank you my friend, I am legitimately speechless right now
I'll be in touch about the preservation of the love specimens for when the time comes. I'm honestly not sure how to properly preserve a fish that's been frozen, so I'll need to ask around on that. I don't plan to cut up that first one if I can avoid it anyway, I want him to be the holotype. I'll cut up the paratypes though lol
Oh boy, rob, you're making me feel like a kid in a candy store!
If my guy ain't a VATF I really want to know what he / she is?!!
that fish is unbelievable bro
Haha thanks bro, you've seen my guys since I've had him on ig
. Thanks bro.
Oh boy, rob, you're making me feel like a kid in a candy store!
That's what I'm trying to figure out lol. I suspect your fish is an undescribed subspecies of Hydrocynus vittatus, so it'd be something new. The normal vatf under this scheme would be Hydrocynus vittatus vittatus, yours would be Hydrocynus vittatus somethingelse; if my idea proofs out I'm going to give it a "cf. name", like we did with the two undescribed goonches.
There's one more type of Congo ATF in the hobby that I suspect is an entirely new species that's currently undescribed... or at least a subspecies.
We shall see.
Alan this is probably the most flattering post anyone's made about me in the past eight years. Thank you my friend, I am legitimately speechless right now
I'll be in touch about the preservation of the love specimens for when the time comes. I'm honestly not sure how to properly preserve a fish that's been frozen, so I'll need to ask around on that. I don't plan to cut up that first one if I can avoid it anyway, I want him to be the holotype. I'll cut up the paratypes though lol
You deserve to be recognized for the work you do. I've been around on this site for a while. Seen many very smart people come and go. I can honestly say you have done more for us on this site in terms of tackling one of if not THE hardest aspects of our hobby - IDing rare fish - then ANYONE else has (in my time anyways). You level of dedication to the hobby is second to NONE. Even with everything else going on in your life you still contribute here which is hard for me to even imagine. I can't even imagine being able to achieve some of the stuff you have in the short amount of time you have. I'm actually honored to be able to help you in any way I can, if ANYONE deserves recognition for thier hard work in a field that NO ONE has been able to even make guesses at (ATF ID) its you.
Its easy for me to see how much you contribute but I don't know if everyone else understands. There NEEDS to be an award given to YOU for contribution to this site, cause you have single handedly elevated the level of information one can take away from this site. Groups of us haven't contributed as much as you have and thart NEEDS to be recognized is a special way. This site owes you a HUGE thank you.
In regards to the preservation of the fish I currently have - I know the frozen one my be compromised, but what I need to know is how I go about preserving the 2 that are still alive when thier time comes..... I don't want to just huck them in the freezer if that ruins them. The university that does my ray necropsies has told us to start using vodka or everclear instead of Formalin - guessing this may be due to the aalcohol being cheaper and easier to obtain? I'm assuming this would be the better route to go VS freezing?
Once again, thank you so much Alan. I really appreciate the kind words. If you really wanted to, there is the award section and the rules allow for upgrades to contributor medals lol. I don't think I deserve it, especially with how much time I've missed over the last few years, but if the community feels otherwise I won't argue.
I've typically used regular rubbing alcohol when I want to preserve a specimen. Everclear would certainly work as well. Freezing destroys tissue, so unless you're wanting to articulate a skeleton, it doesn't really help with preserving soft tissues. I suspect the main reason they want you to use alcohol is because formalin is, well, really dangerous stuff. Alcohol can give more or less the same result but doesn't run the risk of harming you.
