ID: Mystery Rasbora in 20G nano tank

[lljdma06]

Hello,

One of the things that brought me to this forum was the many threads that came up on the small rasbora species, mostly the boraras genus. I have a 20g up and running for 2 years. Its previous inhabitants were transferred to a larger aquarium, and I decided to restock it with species usually reserved for smaller systems. I currently have a small group of Hyphessobrycon amandae, and a mixed bag of boraras species. Oh, and add to that, 6 otos.

For the boraras species, I had placed an order for Boraras brigittae and Boraras urophthalmoides. Instead, I received Boraras merah, with one brigittae mixed in, a uropthalmoides, and 2 mystery rasboras that I can't positively id, yet. They were placed as urophthalmoides, but they are distinctly not. They are a little larger, and lack the black dot at the base of the caudal fin. They seem to be a pale fish, with two thin bands running horizontally the length of the body. The top thin band is an irredescent orange, and the bottom band is black. The two bands are roughly uniform in width, whereas the black band of urophthalmoides starts out wider, tapers to a point, and then you get that characteristic dot at the base. The fins are clear. They are strong swimmers and quite hardy. When they slow down, I'll take a few pictures.

As of now, I only have adaquate numbers of the Boraras merah and the Hyphessobrycon to begin conditioning for breeding. I am concerned for the future health of the brigittae and urophthalmoides since both species are not in adaquate numbers, but I'll work on finding these fish.

Here is a picture of the tank.



Sorry for the length. My main questions I guess, would be any guesses on the mystery rasbora?

Thanks for looking,

llj

[Shadow]

can see the fish clearly, wild guess, ember tetra?

[lljdma06]

Yes, that is an ember tetra, but that isn't the fish I'm having a problem IDing. I have a school of between 9-11, I can't count everyone. Not as colorful, as I had hoped, but I'm starting the Baby Brine Shrimp soon, and that may help.

Thank you, though.

[Quixotic]

It would be easier if you could get some close up pictures of the Rasbora species. There is a number of them that have these similar stripe patterns (lighter stripe above and black stripe below).

[lljdma06]

Here are a few photos. This little guy was really fast, so it took a while and I still couldn't get a really close shot. The thin black line is fainter in the photo.

Thanks for the help. I appreciate it.

[Shadow]

Ok. I identify the wrong one

[lljdma06]

No problem, Shadow.

Good call on the Ember tetras, that's exactly what they are, and they're starting to color up nicely. I sent pictures of the mystery fish to the vendor too, and he was intrigued to say the least. He informed me he has some talking to do with his exporter, as he is not pleased to be getting mystery species, when he ordered something different. I'm usually pretty good with Iding species, but this one doesn't look quite like the others I've seen, and I've got Volumes I-III of the Baensch Atlas series!

I just love the fish smilies, how fun is that?

llj

[ranmasatome]

Rasbora Pauciperforata??

[hwchoy]

maybe Rasbora agilis?

[lljdma06]

Wow, when I googled the species, a photo that came up was spot on for my fish. It's kind of like R. pauciperforata's ugly stepsister.

Baensch gives a lot of conflicting info, though. In one volume, it gets to be like 2 inches, in another almost 6 inches. Not encouraging, and the photo from both volumes looks nothing like the photo in the website I dug up.

http://www.fishbase.us/Summary/Speci...y.php?id=10341

Thank you. I think we've narrowed it down at least.

llj

[hwchoy]

you have to be very critical of information especially photographs on the Internet. Even fishbase can have the wrong pix. ;p

[lljdma06]

If Baensch can have conflicting photos, of course a website can as well. If anyone else has a picture of R. agilis for comparison, that would be best. Photos of R. pauciperforata and R. agilis would be idea.

llj

[hwchoy]

I am quite certain your fish is R. agilis because my pictures were verified by the taxonomists in this region. the picture you happened to find on fishbase is from me. note that their stripe can range from yellow, to orangey to reddish.

[lljdma06]

So you were joking in your previous post, and I didn't quite get it. I just now noticed the smiley.

I agree it looks more like R. agilis rather than R. pauciporforata. I just hope they don't get too large. I've got Boraras species in that tank and I don't want them to be spooked, though they seem fine with the otos.

llj

[neon]

Is that Crypt nurii you got there with the red leaves ?

[hwchoy]

So you were joking in your previous post, and I didn't quite get it. I just now noticed the smiley.

actually I am very serious about it. and it is a fact that many photos in fishbase is wrong. although they have been cleaning it up, but the task is humongous.

in this particular case of R. agilis I am able to assure you because we have photos that have been verified by the scientists who had studied them.

[lljdma06]

Is that Crypt nurii you got there with the red leaves ?

The label in the pot said Cryptocoryne wendtii bronze, but I'll be the first to admit, the same situation with mis-labeling fish, is often experienced with plants as well. The plants there are about a year or so old.