Species no longer seen in Houston LFS

[Nickintex]

Having been in the aquarium hobby since I was a kid in the 1970's, I have noticed that some species of fish that were once commonly, or infrequently seen in LFS in Houston in the past have gone MIA. I'm sure factors include laws concerning collecting, species going nearly extinct, current trends in the hobby etc. What fish can you think of that you don't see anymore in Houston LFS?

1. Brown Ghost Knife
2. African Grasscutter Catfish
3. Mystus Catfish (there are many species of Mystus sp.)
4. Peacock eels (the non-striped type)
5. Blue Eyed Pleco
6. "Freshwater Lionfish", actually a type of brackish water toadfish
7. Giant Glass Fish
8. Black Knife Fish (they look identical to the Clown Knife Fish, but were jet black in color and were not the same as African Knife Fish)
9. Halfbeaks
10. "Freshwater Barracuda" aka "Silver Gar" (a small predatory fish with a short thick beak)
11. Butterfly Goby (actually a brackish water scorpionfish)

Can think of any others?

[myjohnson]

Asian aro!

[Nickintex]

Asian aro!

13. Black Arowanna

[myjohnson]

asian aro is not a black aro.

Black aro is a cheap and common fish.

[marauder_77868]

Hemitilapia oxyrhynchus
Copadichromis quadrimaculatus
Any Gobiocichla
Any Teleogramma

[Nickintex]

asian aro is not a black aro.

Black aro is a cheap and common fish.

REALLY? I see the silver ones all the time. I remember they were black, with a yellow stripe and large eyes. Maybe I'm thinking of a different aro.

[Nickintex]

Ok, scratch my previous #13

mormyrids, which includes Elephant Fish, Worm-Jawed Fish, and "Baby Whales"

"Blue Dolphins", which were cetopsid catfish

[myjohnson]

13. Asian Arowana

[imagirlgeek]

Can ya'll elaborate on why they are no longer seen? (if you know) This is something that interests me. Like with Desert Gobies, you never see them anywhere, but from what I've read, they were very popular several years ago. Nick found some for me at an Austin LFS (thank you again Nick) and I just love them.

[Mzungu]

5. Blue Eyed Pleco

Distributors have them, but they are so incredibly expensive now that unless you have a confirmed buyer it's not worth it. Kinda like L046s, everyone wants them, but not everyone wants to pay hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars per fish. :(

[Nickintex]

Distributors have them, but they are so incredibly expensive now that unless you have a confirmed buyer it's not worth it. Kinda like L046s, everyone wants them, but not everyone wants to pay hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars per fish. :(

To think you could get Blue Eyed Plecos for about $15-$20 in the 1990's!

[Kittysnax]

We sold the black knives by the hundreds when we were distributing. But that was a good 6 or so years ago. The one fish I hadnt seen in forever up until sunday (at city pets) was the little freshwater flounders. I think they called them flat plecos or somthing at CP. I absolutely loved those things LOL They were like little sand dollars that stuck to the glass )

I forget which hurricaine/flood took out our warehouse, It was before rita, but it ended up flooding all of 1960 in dayton (where we were located) and took out everything. I think my boss (the original owner) sold it to an employee. Good guy, but I unno if hes still in buisness or if he gets those weird things in like we used to get.

[jughead]

fish gallery had halfbeaks last week

[Nickintex]

And I just saw Worm Jawed Fish (labeled as Elephant Nose Fish) at City Pets today.

[Matt in Houston]

asian aro is not a black aro.

Black aro is a cheap and common fish.

I see two on aquabid...one is buy it now for $220 and the other is $250.

As far as I know, not a single LFS in Houston has one. Xtreme had 2, they are both gone..I got one luckily. FG was supposed to get them in...now they say it might not happen.

So IMO I would say they are neither cheap nor common....anymore at least. Common is the silver arowana, I went to 4 LFS today and probably saw 50-60 different specimens.