They are pretty cool looking, if I had an extra tank I think I might try and keep one. I've never seen one anywhere in the NW.
What is this fish?
- Thread starter Gummy Walrus
- Start date
They live in enormous groups in the wild, and all specimens in captivity are caught from the wild as they are not commercially bred. They can however be bred in the aquarium, this paper ( http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070620110858.htm) does it in a 55 for each pair, they are kept in much larger aquaria. They are stimulated to spawn by the rainy season, so R/O water was used in this study. They also migrate upstream during this time.
As they are wild caught, I would not reccomend keeping one alone, as it would probably be afriad and just pine away. They are PAINFULLY smart, so captivity kind of messes with them. Also, many different species are sold as this fish, as they intermingle in the wild and the time is not usually taken to identify them properly. The true "baby whale" is Pollimyrus isidori. The different species can range from these and the Petrocephalus even to bulldog fish which get considerably larger. They are however for the most part peaceful. I'm just saying this so you don't restrict your searches to Petrocephalus bovei bovei. I wouldn't reccomend keeping one in a 40 gallon though, I was considering them for my 200 waterfall system, but decided against it because they wouldn't have much space to form social groups (its basically a 60 connected to a 50 and so on down to a 30). They catch these things in rapids in the wild, which is where thy need their electricity and speed. They appear to live in whitewater rapids in large groups eating the food that travels downstream. If I am not mistaken they migrate upstream to temporarially full floodplains wherein the males construct intricate nests (like sticklebacks i believe) and try to impress the females, much like sunfish. They do this, however, by making 3 or 4 different grunting or hooting noises and conducting an intricate "electric duet" with the female, which is what the aforementioned article is about.
You won't find much about them by looking for aquarium resources on the internet, other than "look at my moms cute baby whale" etc (I actually found this several times looking for info), but "baby whales" as a group are very popular in the scientific world for research concerning electroreception because of their small size and social nature. All of the information I have relayed to you here I learned by reading scientific papers I found on google scholar, which is a great place to start. They are fascinating fish, but sadly, because they're so cute, are often taken care of poorly. If I was you I would wait to get one until you have at the very least a 75 you're willing to devote to only baby whales, and then get a large group (make sure to keep them away from tvs and radio signals, microwaves, etc, as all of these can bother them). I would love to do this but I'm waiting for at least a 150 to be available.
If you have any more questions PM me, I've been doing a lot of research on electric fish for a book i'm planning, fittingly titled "isidori".
Hope this helps
As they are wild caught, I would not reccomend keeping one alone, as it would probably be afriad and just pine away. They are PAINFULLY smart, so captivity kind of messes with them. Also, many different species are sold as this fish, as they intermingle in the wild and the time is not usually taken to identify them properly. The true "baby whale" is Pollimyrus isidori. The different species can range from these and the Petrocephalus even to bulldog fish which get considerably larger. They are however for the most part peaceful. I'm just saying this so you don't restrict your searches to Petrocephalus bovei bovei. I wouldn't reccomend keeping one in a 40 gallon though, I was considering them for my 200 waterfall system, but decided against it because they wouldn't have much space to form social groups (its basically a 60 connected to a 50 and so on down to a 30). They catch these things in rapids in the wild, which is where thy need their electricity and speed. They appear to live in whitewater rapids in large groups eating the food that travels downstream. If I am not mistaken they migrate upstream to temporarially full floodplains wherein the males construct intricate nests (like sticklebacks i believe) and try to impress the females, much like sunfish. They do this, however, by making 3 or 4 different grunting or hooting noises and conducting an intricate "electric duet" with the female, which is what the aforementioned article is about.
You won't find much about them by looking for aquarium resources on the internet, other than "look at my moms cute baby whale" etc (I actually found this several times looking for info), but "baby whales" as a group are very popular in the scientific world for research concerning electroreception because of their small size and social nature. All of the information I have relayed to you here I learned by reading scientific papers I found on google scholar, which is a great place to start. They are fascinating fish, but sadly, because they're so cute, are often taken care of poorly. If I was you I would wait to get one until you have at the very least a 75 you're willing to devote to only baby whales, and then get a large group (make sure to keep them away from tvs and radio signals, microwaves, etc, as all of these can bother them). I would love to do this but I'm waiting for at least a 150 to be available.
If you have any more questions PM me, I've been doing a lot of research on electric fish for a book i'm planning, fittingly titled "isidori".
Hope this helps
