THE ORIGINAL CRYPTO KID LEO CARNEY, WRITES:

This is a bit late but on 4th January I dived with sharks at the Blue Planet Aquarium. It was lot's of fun and I really enjoyed it. I loved watching the sharks and the random fish that kept coming closer and closer to me. I got salt-water in my mouth, which was really disgusting.

There were reef sharks, guitar fish, unicorn fish and a puffer fish. My favourite, though, was the black-tipped reef shark.

In order to be allowed to dive I had to learn kind of sign language to be able to talk to the diving instructor whilst we were underwater. I learned signs for different kinds of creatures and also for when I needed a break from the water, or to say I was OK.

Here are some pictures from the trip:

CRYPTOLINK: California oarfish

A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting (sometimes for the wrong reasons), usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me. This post, however, is particularly interesting and the author should be congratulated....

http://fox8.com/2013/10/15/giant-sea-serpent-found-by-snorkelers/

THIS IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT - With Snakeheads!

We received this email this morning from those jolly nice people at Wildwoods. And there are species here I have never seen before...

FISH HOUSE NEWS - It’s Snakehead Time!

Our latest Indian shipment is now out of quarantine and we can now offer many rare and sought after species and colour variants of snakehead. Add these to our other Asian and African species and you will find the greatest collection of snakehead species ever offered for sale in the UK (if not Europe!)Only found from India, we have for only the 2nd time ever, Channa diplogramma
This rarely traded snakehead is very similar in appearance to the giant or red snakehead and will also grow to a large size. We currently have a group of five living happily together.

A full listing of all Wildwoods snakeheads can be found in our TF2YD webshop
After a three year wait, we have managed to import a small quantity of L260 Queen Arabesque plecs - looking fantastic at the moment! Also from Brazil we have a fabulous group of Geophagus altifrons and some stunning large Sunshine plecs - L14 Scobinancistrus aureatus

Also worth a mention is a cracking Merodontotus tigrinus of around 25cm - hand feeding too!

Looking Especially Good This Week
Corydoras robinae
Melanochromis lepidiadaptes
Hyphessobrycon simulans
Pseudomugil furcatus
Hypsibarbus wetmori
Tetraodon suvatti
Girardinus metallicus
Danio meghalayensis
Megalamphodus megalopterus
Geophagus steindachneri
Pelvicachromis rubrolabiatus
Pygopristis denticulatus

And why did Jon choose that headline?

LIZ CLANCY: Garra Rufa treatment may be fishy

The first I heard of this recent craze was on a celebrity edition of Come Dine With Me, which saw ex-Coronation-Street actors dipping their toes in fish tanks before dinner at the house of the chap who used to play Des Barnes.

Since then shops have been opening up all over the place and existing beauty salons have been investing in bowls of feet-eating fish. However, health professionals are concerned and having the dead skin nibbled off one's tootsies by Garra Rufa is now illegal in several US states and over here the RSPCA have voiced their misgivings.

The Health Protection Agency conducted an investigation into the use of so-called doctor fish for beauty therapy and published updated advice in October.

In a nutshell: if you're fit and healthy, and the spa you choose have high standards when it comes to hygiene, the risk of catching anything from fish, tank or water is low.

However, if you suffer from health conditions that weaken the immune system (diabetes, for example) you're advised to give fish spas a wide berth and if you wax your legs, fish pedicures should wait a minimum of twenty-four hours.

A REAL-LIFE BLINKY

http://io9.com/5854402/three+eyed-fish-discovered-near-argentinian-nuclear-facility

For those of you who do not get the pop-culture reference:

Cowabunga dudes! Read all about it

STRANGE FISH BEHAVIOUR (Courtesy of Rick from ParanormalBuffalo)

Strange Fish Behavior

Masses of fish inexplicably crowded the coast of Acapulco on Friday, packed together so tightly they looked like a living oil slick from above. Some have attributed the mysterious event to changes in currents caused by the tsunami that followed the massive Japan quake. More photos and info at Mail Online.

DAVID MARSHALL: THE FOUR PONDS AT BURTON AGNES HALL

The quiet East Yorkshire village of Burton Agnes lies only a few miles to the west of the well-known seaside resort of Bridlington. As the guide tells her visitors 'Burton Agnes Hall is unique among stately homes as it encompasses so many fads, construction designs and beautiful craftsmanship from so many eras of British history.' Although delving into the supernatural holds no interest for Sue and me, the Hall also has the reputation as the 'most haunted residence in Yorkshire.'

The impressive gatehouse and path that leads to the Hall.

When you add together the beauty of the grounds surrounding the hall, its walled gardens, plants sales area, craft shop, outdoor games area, woodland retreat and quality cafeteria (don't request a large salad as this is a 'vegetable garden on a plate') you have the makings of an excellent day out.

Sue in the outdoor games area.

But what is there here of interest to the aquarist? The answer comes in the form of four outdoor ponds.

The first pond.

The first of these is situated to the west of the hall. A small number of Lemon and Wild type goldfish enjoy the luxury of a pond that is teeming with Elodea plants. To add a quaint touch, the brass fountain feeding this pond comes in the form of a smiling fish.

The second pond with a beautiful view of the Hall in the background.

A view of the fountain in the main pond.

The second and largest pond is situated amid a lawn to the east of the main building. This pond was built on three levels. The first level, which is also the deepest, is raised and home to several deeply coloured goldfish. The second and longest level currently houses an Israeli tri-coloured Koi who shares her home with a young Mirror Carp and fully-grown Ghost Koi. The third level is best seen during the month of July as it is has a large planting of water lilies.

Carp in the main pond.

As the filtration system for all three levels is only run on a minimal basis there are times when the water appears a little silted, as you will notice from the photographs, so you do have to command a little patience in order to view all of the various fish species. The heron featured on the photograph of this pond is not the real thing but a plastic deterrent aimed at keeping members of the local heron population away from indulging in a fish breakfast.

Although this is only a presumption none of the levels of this pond would appear to be of a depth to allow for the successful over-wintering of the fish species they hold so I assume that these fish must be removed and placed elsewhere during the colder months of the year.

The walled garden.

The third pond is situated within the beautiful walled garden area and is home to a small number of Wild type goldfish. This is the pond that Sue would like to have at home.

The third pond.

Finally comes a wonderful nature pond complete with wooden structures and platforms ideal for frogs and toads. If I had one complaint it is that the amount of water filtered through the model elephant's trunk is actually running too fast to encourage the presence of amphibians.

The fourth pond.

For visitors wishing to view the interior of the hall an entrance fee is charged. The craftsmanship on display is stunning with an art collection dating from the Middle Ages through to modern times. Entrance into the gardens and other areas mentioned earlier also commands a charge (£4 as of November 2010). To find the hall follow the A614 from Bridlington or the A166 from the York by-pass to join the A614 at Driffield. Sue asks me to note that the entrance lane is situated on a rather blind corner.

Burton Agnes Hall may not immediately spring to mind as a place of aquatic interest but is well worth a visit.

NEW ARRIVALS AT THE CFZ

Regular readers will have been following the saga of the CFZ knife livebearers Alfaro cultratus: how all but two females were killed in an equipment failure in late november, and how - much to our suprise - babies appeared a couple of weeks after Christmas. Well, now we have approximately ten of them, and for the first time they are big enough to film.

THE CULTRATUS SAGA CONTINUES

Back in June Max, Dave B-P and I went to the Livebearer auctions in Redditch, where, amongst other things, we bought some knife livebearers (Alfaro cultratus). We managed to breed them in October but sadly a power failure killed everything in their tank on my desktop, except for two male guppies and two large female cultratus.


Since then, one of the cultratus has disappeared, and I was beginning to despair until this morning when I noticed five tiny grey babies.


Calling to Oll to remove the two guppies immediately, we are feeding the babies with brine-shrimp eggs and are hoping that the one remaining adult cultratus doesn't decide to go in for infanticide. Oh, the dramas that take place on my desktop.

NB: Bizarrely, the missing cultratus turned up about half an hour after I wrote the above, and at time of writing there are still at least five tiny babies; the smallest livebearer fry that I have ever seen, since I was a child and bred Gambusia affinis in Hong Kong.

OLL LEWIS: The pitfalls of fish-breeding

If you regularly follow the blog you'll know that we have quite a few species of livebearing fish at the CFZ. Most of these species have successfully bred successfully reared to adulthood. However, breeding is not without its pitfalls.

This summer after Jon and Max went to a livebearer auction we had several new additions to our fish collection, including 2 pairs of Scolichthys greenwayi. Early signs were very encouraging when they released a cloud of tiny babies only about a fortnight after they had been introduced to their tank. Several more small birthing events followed over the course of the summer and the fish took to hiding amongst the weeds.

However, I began to become concerned that there did not appear to be many juveniles venturing outside of the weeds and various caves and tunnels. The answer to why this may be became apparent when, upon my removing some of the weed, a juvenile swam out. It was rather deformed. This juvenile and another had a hideous amount of twisting to their spines, taking the appearance of an 's' shape. There was certainly nothing untoward with the appearance of the adult fish (and indeed no signs of fungal infections or other health problems among the adults) but it seemed that the very few surviving juveniles all had this condition.

Each week I test the water chemistry of all the tanks at the CFZ for chlorine, potassium hardness, general hardness, and nitrites, and all have been normal and well within the conditions favoured by the fish. Just to be on the safe side we recently bought an ammonia testing kit as well. The tests showed 0ppm of ammonia in the water, which is to be expected considering the tank is long established, has a pH of 6.8 and I have always played close attention to keeping the nitrites and nitrates around the 0 mark too.

The twisted spines are likely of a genetic cause, genetic problems being all too common in the fish-breeding trade. The problem stems from too much inbreeding leading to a small gene pool, which means genetic problems can become magnified within the population. Small fish are often prolific breeders and will produce lots of young, which is fine when they live in a large river and it is likely that there will be lots of other fish with different genetic lineages just down the river to breed with, but in captivity often closely related fish will breed with each other, meaning the available genes are reduced. Often fish that look outwardly fine are selected for further breeding or sale and the 'rejects' euthanased, but a fish can easily be carrying the genes that could contribute to deformities in their offspring even if the appear to be fine. Other things exacerbate the problem and can speed up the shrinking of gene pools such as selling fish to other collectors with a much larger number of one sex than the other.

For example, if you were to attempt to breed using one male and six females you're going to reduce your gene pool very quickly indeed. I have actually seen evidence of a few scolichthys greenwayi being sold in similar ratios online so it is easy to see how the captive genetic stock can be reduced quickly. In order to counter this many of the more responsible breeders will buy in adults from other breeders but often, unless you know the full lineage of the fish, you might be just adding inbred stock.

Zoos and conservationists have been aware of the problems inbreeding causes in a population for a long time and accurate stud books are kept for most animals to ensure that when breeding genetic diversity is maintained. Some fish breeders will keep stud books but often hobbyists and some commercial breeders will not and because of this it often becomes near impossible to keep a studbook only a few generations after a particular species has been introduced to the pet trade.

MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: A "DRAGON-FISH" IN HONG KONG - HONG KONG`S SECOND GIANT SALAMANDER?

Dear friends,

Today`s blog concerns the Dragon Fish, a semi-legendary Chinese fish, which seems to have similarities with a giant salamander or giant newt, were such an animal to really exist. Today`s case is from The Hong Kong Telegraph of March 7th 1925 (1) There has only ever been one possible sighting of a giant salamander in Hong Kong, the controversial Sligo`s Salamander found at the Hong Kong Mid-Levels after a heavy rainstorm in the Botanical Gardens, the exact provenance of which is as far as I am aware unknown although it is now thought not to be a new species. (Jon?)


JON: Boulenger, EG: The Zoo and Aquarium Book (Duckworth, London: 1932). It is now thought to be a small and dark specimen of The Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus)

There is no such giant newt in Hong Kong. There is the Hong Kong newt (2) but it is no giant. However, read on:

“DRAGON FISH”

STRANGE YAUMATI
STORY

According to the vernacular papers, which make much of “scoops” and sometimes embellish them, a strange fish has just been discovered by an inhabitant of Portland Street, Yaumati.

This is nothing less than the “dragon” fish, which derives its name from its elongated form and from the quality popularly attributed to it of sprouting legs along the line of its long body after life is extinct. The “sprouting” process is brought about by giving the fish a tap on its head”, and those of the superstitious Chinese who believe in this think they have in the strange fish one of the direct descendants of the dragon. Altogether a very fishy story, but the concluding paragraph in the report states that the man who brought it home to his house at No. 34 Portland Street has sent the fish to the Government Bacteriologist for examination. (3)

Portland St still exists, but is now a few miles inland from Yaumati or Yau Ma Ti. Perhaps in 1925 it was nearer the coast of west Kowloon where Yau Ma Ti is located and therefore this “dragon fish” was a juvenile crocodile? What fascinates me most is this “ tap on its head” business. How I would love to find someone who can translate the “vernacular press”. I`m working on it. I hope the next time Jon or Lizzy or Richard or someone taps me on the head and says “ho ho what a good Fortean you are” I don`t sprout legs; two is quite enough thank you!!

The once well known American author Pearl S. Buck wrote a book called The Dragon Fish in which she says (1944 edition?) : “It was shaped like a tiny dragon. It had four little feet on four short legs, instead of fins, and its tail was long and curling.” (4)

Buck wrote a number of books about pre-Communist China (i.e <>The Hong Kong Telegraph March 7th 1925 p.1
2 The maximum length is 11-15cm. Wikipedia.
3 Hong Kong Telegraph op cit p.1
4 P.S. Buck The Dragon Fish. The John Day Company 1944 p.16 Google Books http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=u1VaAAAAMAAJ&q=dragon-fish&dq=dragon-fish&hl=en&ei=ZZ20TLDwMY-TswbnxMyyCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA


BILLY BRAGG FROM A VAUXHALL VELOX

She said “Do these seats fold down?”
I said “if you pull that handle”
All the time she`d been waiting for
Something with a little more
And all her mates on the new estates
Were walking out in confetti and sunshine

Her mother read her mail
And her Dad was a policeman
Which I must say worried me
But some things have just got to be
So we passed very fast like ships in the night
Or cars on a contraflow system…..

GARRA RUFA SPA

Max found this advert online and I have to admit that I initially thought that it was just him being stupid. He sent me an advert for a foot spa, and I thought it was just him exhibiting typically wacky student humour. But it wasn't.


Most Forteans will have heard of Turkish doctor fish but I did not know that they were commercially available in the UK....

British Livebearer Association Convention

British Livebearer Association Convention
Convention, Auction and International Guppy Show
15-17th October 2010
Nottingham Gateway Hotel.
Nuthall Road,
Nottingham
NG8 6AZ.

The convention will soon be upon us. The weekend of October 15th & 16th. However the work begins long before that date. It is a great weekend and a great team effort. The work starts at the venue at 9.00am on the Thursday before the weekend when we set up the display and receive the show fish. Friday is a ‘rest’ day for most - the judging of the Guppies takes place. Saturday will have the full day filled with a series of Lectures and Talks that includes one by Clause Osche that promises to be a highlight of the weekend. The show fish will be open to the public for viewing. Saturday will conclude with a Gala Meal that everyone attends. This year as well as the prize giving, there will be an after dinner speech by Peter Burgess. Sunday will host the auction of Wild Livebearers and also the auction of the show guppies (which will be split into several sessions during the main auction). The show guppies will remain on display until about 12 noon when we shall start to prepare the fishes for collection and dismantle the displays. The event should end at about 5.30pm.

BOOKINGS FOR ROOMS/SATURDAY DINNER CAN BE MADE BY EMAIL:
david.macallister1@ntlworld.com
OR TEL/FAX: 01536 726568 DAVE MACALLISTER

SAMUEL MANASEH: Bob the friendly fish

Hello there; I think your biologists will find the following video from Brazil quite interesting:

CARL PORTMAN WRITES...

Jon,

Before I met Sue, I used to sport a rather marvellous 'lip weasel' but alas, she is not a fan. What terrific news then to find that such creations are attractive to the fairer sex, as demonstrated by this rather marvellous fish.

I consider this important enough to share with the wider CFZ fraternity so that next year everyone - excluding the ladies - can sport something for the Weird Weekend. (Link below) I feel good today - not least because of the support of people like you....

Carl

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8767000/8767973.stm

RYEDALE A.S TWINNING DAY 2010

Text by David Marshall
Presentation photographs by Richard Hebden
All other photographs by David Marshall

On Sunday 15th August the majestic Whistler Room at Pickering Memorial Hall played host to a special Twinning Day involving the members and friends of the Ryedale Aquarist Society and STAMPS. The day began with a special presentation on the subject of Pencilfish that was given by Miss Amy and Mrs Wendy Charters.

Special guest for the event was Mr Steve Dent of the Yorkshire Cichlid Group who presented two talks based around his favourite cichlids of South and Central America.

Steve Dent

The people present enjoyed taking part in a food and drink quiz that was devised by Miss Sue Marshall.

Y.A.A.S. ‘A’ Class Judge Mr. Trevor Douglas judged the 9-class mini-show in which a total of 44 fish were entered. The quality of fish was excellent and included Corydoras pantanalensis, Chinese Roundtail Guppy, Schubert’s Golden Barb and C6.

Trevor busy judging

A sales table was also held with various cichlids, livebearers and fish foods causing much interest.

Bede Kerrigan looking after the sales table.

The Aquarium Gazette CD magazine was also present with an information stand.

Finally, Twinning Day would not be Twinning Day without our traditional ‘pot luck lunch.’ A big thanks to all who brought along such a wonderful selection of sweet and savoury items!

A big thank you to all the people present for all the work that was done on this very special day and for friendship.

This very special photograph, featuring Bede Kerrigan and Frank Tolomeo, sums up what Twinning Day is all about.

Due to circumstances beyond our control we have had to move our 2011 Open Show back to Sunday 11th September.

Looking forward, the Ryedale A.S. Open Show 2011 will be held on Sunday 24th April at Old Malton Memorial Hall, North Yorkshire.

RICHARD FREEMAN: NEW DAM MAY PUT AN END TO THE MEKONG'S GIANT FISH

The Three Gorges Dam in China is thought to have already forced the world's largest freshwater fish, the Chinese paddle fish, into functional extinction. Now a new scheme in Indo-China may spell the end for other species of giant fish.

The report River of Giants: Giant Fish of the Mekong, profiles four giant fish living in the Mekong that rank within the top 10 largest freshwater fish on the planet. These include the giant stingray (the size of a double bed) the Mekong giant catfish, (as large as a small car),the dog-eating catfish (named because it has been caught using dog meat as bait) and the giant barb, (the national fish of Cambodia, and largest barb in the world).

The hydropower dam planned on the Mekong River in Sayabouly Province, northern Laos, is a threat to the survival of the wild population of Mekong giant catfish. The Sayabouly dam is the first lower Mekong River mainstream dam to enter a critical stage of assessment before member countries of the Mekong River Commission advise on whether to approve its construction.

"A fish the size of a Mekong giant catfish simply will not be able to swim across a large barrier like a dam to reach its spawning grounds upstream," said Roger Mollot, Freshwater Biologist for WWF Laos. "This would lead to the collapse of the wild population of this iconic species."

"More giant fish live in the Mekong than any other river on Earth," said Ms Dang Thuy Trang, Mekong River Ecoregion Coordinator for the WWF Greater Mekong Programme. "Currently, the Lower Mekong remains free-flowing, which presents a rare opportunity for the conservation of these species. But the clock is ticking."

Building the Sayabouly dam would reduce sediment flowing downstream to the Mekong River delta, increasing the vulnerability of this area to the impacts of climate change like sea level rise.

SCOLICHTHYS STORIES

As regular readers will know, just over a week ago Dave B-P, Max and I went to Redditch in the West Midlands where we bought some rare and unusual livebearers including this little fellow (and his five companions). This is Scolichthys greenwayi, a small fish from the Rio Chixoy and Rio Salinas system in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala.


Well, much to our great pleasure they have bred already and hopefully will continue to do so. This makes eight species of livebearers succesfully bred at casa CFZ during 2010 so far.



By the way, if anyone wants to collect them, we have surplus Girardinus metallicus (yellow form) and Heterandaria formosa....

New paper adds seven elasmobranch species

Over on the Frontiers of Zoology list, Matt writes:

http://www.cmar.csiro.au/e-print/open/2010/lastpr_a.pdf

This CSIRO paper describes seven new species of large fishes and resurrects two forgotten ones. If anyone tells you there's no possibility of large unknown marine animals, roll up this paper and smack them with it.

Right on Brother. Tell it how it is

KNIFE LIVEBEARERS

On my desk is a 30" tank containing a solitary female Ramarizi dwarf cichlid, a thriving colony of guppies, which are, nominally at least, the property of my eldest stepdaughter, and since Sunday night, six knife (or knife-edge) livebearers, an unjustifiably obscure species from Central America, which I have to say that I had never heard of before bidding three quid for an immature trio.


It is interesting to watch them alongside the guppies because although superficially similar, they are much sleeker and much more predatory in appearance, and swim in a much more determined and forthright manner.



In the picture the two lighter-coloured fish are fully grown female guppies, and I think that the difference between the two species is very marked.