Fish I.D. Request

**FishSoup** · 1st Jul 2008, 16:21

Hey there guys, was at sentosa a week ago when my friends and I saw a very small fish ( ~2 to 3 cm) being washed along the shore by the waves. Subsequent capture using a friend's goggle case revealed the reason for its helplessness against the current: it had somehow lost its tail (the caudal peduncle just terminated with a stump), and could not fight the current.

Anyhow, feeling sorry for the wee thing, i brought it home together with some clumps of seaweed and set up a small tank just for it. Wasn't confident it would survive, due to its bad condition and the fact that i had never kept marine tanks before, but luckily the thing started taking frozen brine shrimp after a couple of days, and has survived for about a week already.

Anyway, i still don't know what kind of fish it is

anyone here can help?

**XnSdVd** · 31st Jul 2008, 04:25

Heya FishSoup,

Hope the little fellah's still alive. I believe it's the juvenile form of one of the many marine perches we have in our waters. I think i caught a similar species a few weeks ago:

Also, here's a few that MIGHT be the adult versions of your little pet:
http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/guideb...h/text/271.htm
http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/guideb...h/text/272.htm
http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/guideb...h/text/273.htm

**FishSoup** · 31st Jul 2008, 14:21

Hmmm, yes, that looks about right

thanks man, i had no idea where to start researching what it was.

The fella's doing fine, extremely greedy, stuffs his face daily with frozen brine shrimp. I'm glad to report that his tail's grown back, and is now beginning to show some dark markings. He's also grown by about half a cm from since he arrived.

**XnSdVd** · 1st Aug 2008, 17:18

Here's a little tip from what i observed them doing in the wild, if you float something like a piece of wood or a piece of black trashbag in the tank, he'll constantly hide under it. Ideally you could get a piece of seaweed from the beach at sentosa for him to hide under. I'm guessing this might prevent him jumping in case the nitrates get too high. Seems marine fish can't tolerate nitrates like freshwater ones. BFG should know more though, he's the resident marine expert

**BFG** · 1st Aug 2008, 22:37

Nah, can't ID that fella. My marine literature is limited to the popular species being kept by marine hobbyist. I do not have those books that have thousand of picture of fishes available in the ocean. Sorry FishSoup.

**FishSoup** · 3rd Aug 2008, 22:29

BFG: Hey, its no problem

As long as i roughly know what i'm working with.

XnSdVd: I did exactly what you said when i first brought the little fellow home

sadly the seaweed melted, about 2 months after i brought it back. I have no idea why.

The other funny thing is: i was feeding him last night when i suddenly spotted some foreign objects in the sand. Closer inspection showed the objects to be several live fan worms

i have no idea how they got there... hitchhiked on the now-dead seaweed?

now it seems i'm starting to have a regular marine nano setup

**XnSdVd** · 4th Aug 2008, 02:29

Well if he's still around next year and getting too large, i'd be happy to adopt him/her. Got any pictures though? I've suddenly developed a huge interest in marine tanks

The dark side is calling it seems.