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Long, funky and what the...?


Loopy

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Ok i suddenly realised that i am thread-jacking so i shall start this thread about the little weirdos i bought as "glass kuhlis"

confrence033.jpg

I am not convinced that they are kuhlis at all as they don't have kuhlis type fins or barbels.

They appear to be more like an eel.

do they look familiar to anyone?

See here for previous posts.

http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/7-vt18 ... l?start=90

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yeah but what about fish that come in with no label?

That happens.. I was told that all that come in must have a Sci name but have found from suppliers that the odd thing that arrives comes with a simple plain old common name :roll:

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Cool link markoshark

But i didn't see anything that looked like my guys.

Little weirdos have no fins! They just look like noodles! :lol:

Well not that i can see! As it is i have been gawking at them with a magnifying glass.

Cutout1-1.jpg

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I actually have them in a little tank. about 30cm x 15 x 15cm. And that tank is floating in one of my 2ft tanks to keep them warm. and i gave them a bit of sand to hide in. (seems like a requirement for them) They remind me of whiptails in that you can shove them round a bit and they won't dart away.

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Ok guys, I managed to get into Organism after work, and they are without doubt eels (as in true eels, Anguilla sp). True eels go through several life stages, first being the marine leptocephalus, then glass eel when returning to freshwater, then elvers (like very miniature adults), then they just grow from there. The ones currently being sold as "glass kuhlis" are at the glass eel stage. They will start colouring up soon. I didn't have a magnifying glass but could just (barely) make out a fin protruding past the actual tail tip. In eels the dorsal, caudal and anal fin are combined to make one long fin, but in glass eels the fin and body are almost indistinguishable so it is VERY hard to see. The first bulge in the body, as seen in the photos, is the gill arch.

These ones are not NZ eels, and are likely to be an Asian Anguilla species. There is no way MaF would knowingly allow the import of Anguilla eels because of the risk that would pose to our native eels, both in terms of them as a species and in terms of our eel fisheries. They are therefore "illegal", and I would suggest people do not buy them.

For those that do have them, glass eels are very easily reared on brine shrimp, bloodworms, etc.

They are certainly not loaches, and neither are they Afromastacembelus as suggested (all mastacembelids have pointed noses even as tiny babies).There is a very slim chance they could be synbranchids (swamp eels) but it is unlikely; I haven't seen baby synbranchids so I don't know their fin structure.

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get a native one instead

I would but my native tank is not ready and i dont know where to get a short finned eel from.

I think it would be better to either destroy these Anguilla eels or get some one to look after them that knows what the really are and that if released could have serious implications.

What did the shop say now that they have been identified?

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