Golden Shark?

[Gummy Walrus]

When I was at a lfs in Georgia when i was visiting relatives, i spotted a fish in his 150g SA tank. It was in there with JD's Convicts, and a baby Pacu some one bought at petsmart and he trying to sell it for him. it was silver, long about 1', got a beat up nose like oscars and Pacu's get. I can't find a "Golden Shark" any where. Is It Rare? Is it wrong name? or illegal?

 

[Lupin]

Leptobarbus hoevenii? Very common in Asian aquarium trade.

 

[SimonL]

It is "rare-ish", but only because it grows into a huge, gray monster lol. We have a tank full of 'em at work that don't sell because I can't bring myself to lie to people about what they turn into. Good if you want a dither for a huge tank. Arapaimag has a school in his big tank. Also they tend to get mutated mouths for some reason in captivity.

 

[Lupin]

So is it definitely the L. hoevenii that you're referring to, Simon? Hmmm... I had an impression while it seems commonly around in Asia, it seems oddly less common in the Western areas?

 

[SimonL]

Yep, that's what I mean. They can be found around the Greater Toronto Area, there are quite a lot of Asian LFS around, which I'm sure helps, but they show up everywhere. We've got about 50 little ones right now.