Following my intensive research into this group of fishes I suspect that they are very delicate in physiology and die quickly after being netted? The stronger individuals likely perish in holding tanks from starvation when their nightly feasting of planktonic items isn't found in the filtered captive waters of the wholesalers.
pretty sure you acquire lampreys the same way you acquire swamp eels - through a food market. They don't have a very large economy around them. Now sweepers though... many of them look pretty good, especially the parapriacanthus ones, yet nowhere are they for sale except for quality marine, which only sells to distributors. Not even in food markets...Following my intensive research into this group of fishes I suspect that they are very delicate in physiology and die quickly after being netted? The stronger individuals likely perish in holding tanks from starvation when their nightly feasting of planktonic items isn't found in the filtered captive waters of the wholesalers.
They are also easy to eat and likely more valuable as a pizza topping in places where they are captured than being wasted in captivity to die before they can be transported to the LFS's around the world.
Sweepers - Pempheridae
www.myreefguide.com
Not to mention that the pictures and descriptions talk about grey, brown, dull colors and small fishes that are not going to excite many hobbists besides the OP to purchase one if it appears as an odditty in the fish trade.
I have a soft spot for the lamphreys and hagfishes and they are also not popular in the hobby?
Look what I found!I have a soft spot for the lamphreys and hagfishes and they are also not popular in the hobby?
You’re reminding me of a repressed hagfish memory...:
Cool. Where I am, it takes a lot of effort but you can collect hags for yourself. I don't want to bother with all the mess involved with keeping them though... chiller and all. My local public aquarium has them. Same goes with lampreys, although we don't have sea lampreys specifically.I don't have much to add here, though I did see a school of silver sweepers (Pempheris schwenkii) at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach last December and they seemed to be doing pretty well for themselves. They were being housed in an SPS reef tank alongside a copperband butterflyfish (Chelmon rostratus) in the Tropical Pacific Gallery. Maybe the folks over there would have more knowledge.
Here are some photos I took:
Look what I found!
https://gulfofme.com/all-sea-life/kr3l0ehwe81ionb3kovbyz1ta4umms
https://gulfofme.com/all-sea-life/atlantic-hagfish-myxine
You’re reminding me of a repressed hagfish memory...:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/7500-pounds-of-live-eels-spill-onto-oregon-highway-coat-cars-in-slime/
That’s not going to be my next build effort, but thanks for the links! Capitalism is amazing in its ability to make markets for everyone!I don't have much to add here, though I did see a school of silver sweepers (Pempheris schwenkii) at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach last December and they seemed to be doing pretty well for themselves. They were being housed in an SPS reef tank alongside a copperband butterflyfish (Chelmon rostratus) in the Tropical Pacific Gallery. Maybe the folks over there would have more knowledge.
Here are some photos I took:
Look what I found!
https://gulfofme.com/all-sea-life/kr3l0ehwe81ionb3kovbyz1ta4umms
https://gulfofme.com/all-sea-life/atlantic-hagfish-myxine
You’re reminding me of a repressed hagfish memory...:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/7500-pounds-of-live-eels-spill-onto-oregon-highway-coat-cars-in-slime/
I wonder if they are available for aquarium purchases in Japan? They seem to have had a more colorful species in their seas.
There's a food market for it in Indonesia iirc. Presumably you'd drain off the slime before eating them.
