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Four-eyed fish (Anableps spp.)


Vallisneria
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"Range: South America: Trinidad and Venezuela to the Amazon delta in Brazil"

My family had a place down in Trinidad for 4 years, and I got to spend a lot of time on the beaches. These fish were all over the place, and they looked hiliarious when they rode the waves... They are amazing fish, I never knew you could actually keep them in an aquarium! Wow, I wish I could find one of em!

If you ever want to get rid of it... :D

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Well I picked up the anablep and its tank today. Man is this a cool fish. Its so creepy looking :shock: Its little eyes are always watching you.. He is also very personable. She said she hand feeds him and he swims right up to you when you watch him. He is about 7" and she gave me the 36"x18" tank and all equipement/accessories too. He is the strangest, yet coolest fish. I'll get some pics tomorrow when he settles in

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I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for tankmates for this guy. The water is brackish, about 0.004-0.006. I"m not sure what else can be added, or how he would act towards tankmates as he has always been kept alone. I wanted something maybe to help eat the left over food as he is a messy eater. He wont' eat anything that isn't on or close to the surface, so food if the food falls to the gravel he wont' eat it.

The tank is 36"x18x15"(about 42gals) with about 20gals of water. Would something like mollies work? Or i've heard that zebra snails breed in brackish, would they live in this sort of water?

I was also wondering about how anableps swim. From what i've read they stay close to the surface. My guy is always just floating below the surface with his eyes poking out. When i feed him I noticed he tries to swim below the water but it seems like he struggles to keep under the water. He reminds me of a cork bobbing on the water. Is this normal? The girl said he has always done that, so is it normal for them to float like that and have trouble sinking? Just wondering because when i feed him he can't seem to swim down and eat the food that has fallen.

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At 7", you'd want to start off w. large mollies - sailfins are the truly brackish variety, tho all molly sp. can survive w. some salt. If the mollies start breeding, the fry may intice your Anableps to try swimming...

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swimming like a cork could be a problem.

ive seen some pics of anableps scavenging in a tank and their natural diet can include smaller fish and crustaceans, so they must be fairly mobile when necessary.

never had one myself. nice pickup.

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