red eye tetras

[Larry Blanchard]

A while back, red eye tetras were known as yellow banded moenkhausia.
According to what I've read, the name was changed because many generations
of captive breeding had just about eliminated the yellow band at the base
of the tail.

So I was at our local PetsMart today and what to my wondering eye should
appear (sorry, it's almost Xmas season) but a bunch of them WITH the
yellow band.

I didn't have the stand for my 20 gallon tank readfy yet, but it's the
only empty tank I had with hood, heater, and filter ready. So it's now
sitting on the 30 gallon stand that I did have finished. It has 8 yellow
banded moenkhausia in it. I fed them some frozen bloodworms about 2 hours
after I put them in the tank and they gobbled them up, so I guess they're
not too stressed.

The band is a light yellow, but maybe I can breed some with a brighter
yellow over time.

Sometimes we get lucky.

[Larry Blanchard]

On Sun, 27 Nov 2005 21:03:54 -0500, NetMax wrote:

> Not too long ago, I found a pair of Eretmodus cyanostictus in a store.
> Thinking myself more mature and experienced now *cough* ;~), I didn't buy
> them and went home to think about it instead. They were expensive so I
> didn't think they would be sold too fast, plus I wasn't sure I wanted to
> spend that much money. Anyways, my decision took less than a week but by
> the time I went back, they had been sold!

Yep, I went home swearing I wasn't going to buy them, but I was back at
the store about 4 hours later :-).

BTW, I mentioned them to a pretty knowledgable guy at the LFS, and his
guess was that they were either wild-caught or one generation removed from
wild-caught. Could be.

[NetMax]

"Larry Blanchard" > wrote in message
...
>A while back, red eye tetras were known as yellow banded moenkhausia.
> According to what I've read, the name was changed because many
> generations
> of captive breeding had just about eliminated the yellow band at the
> base
> of the tail.
>
> So I was at our local PetsMart today and what to my wondering eye
> should
> appear (sorry, it's almost Xmas season) but a bunch of them WITH the
> yellow band.
>
> I didn't have the stand for my 20 gallon tank readfy yet, but it's the
> only empty tank I had with hood, heater, and filter ready. So it's now
> sitting on the 30 gallon stand that I did have finished. It has 8
> yellow
> banded moenkhausia in it. I fed them some frozen bloodworms about 2
> hours
> after I put them in the tank and they gobbled them up, so I guess
> they're
> not too stressed.
>
> The band is a light yellow, but maybe I can breed some with a brighter
> yellow over time.
>
> Sometimes we get lucky.

I hear so much about researching fish purchases first, but I think 1/2 my
acquisitions have been impulse buys. I'll be wandering a neighbourhood
pet shop and *bang* something catches my eye, so then there is that
frantic moment when I'm mentally inventorying and arranging my tanks and
equipment. When I get home, the bag gets floated in another aquarium
while I frantically set about assembling/creating a set-up.

Not too long ago, I found a pair of Eretmodus cyanostictus in a store.
Thinking myself more mature and experienced now *cough* ;~), I didn't buy
them and went home to think about it instead. They were expensive so I
didn't think they would be sold too fast, plus I wasn't sure I wanted to
spend that much money. Anyways, my decision took less than a week but by
the time I went back, they had been sold!
--
www.NetMax.tk

[NetMax]

"Larry Blanchard" > wrote in message
...
> On Sun, 27 Nov 2005 21:03:54 -0500, NetMax wrote:
>
>> Not too long ago, I found a pair of Eretmodus cyanostictus in a store.
>> Thinking myself more mature and experienced now *cough* ;~), I didn't buy
>> them and went home to think about it instead. They were expensive so I
>> didn't think they would be sold too fast, plus I wasn't sure I wanted to
>> spend that much money. Anyways, my decision took less than a week but by
>> the time I went back, they had been sold!
>
> Yep, I went home swearing I wasn't going to buy them, but I was back at
> the store about 4 hours later :-).
>
> BTW, I mentioned them to a pretty knowledgable guy at the LFS, and his
> guess was that they were either wild-caught or one generation removed from
> wild-caught. Could be.

My experience with Brazilian wild-caught is that they always had an
assortment of tetras. Tricky to pre-order, as they were never sure of what
would be caught, but my impression was that many types (corys & tetras) were
not too hard to catch. There is a good chance that yours were wild-caught.

As compared to farmed fish, price was comparable, health was more risky
(external parasites), genetics were much better, size uniformity was poor,
and the chances of finding something really unusual was quite good.
--
www.NetMax.tk