I am excited!!!!

People who have been here a while know I'm a somewhat, umm, obsessive fishkeeper who manages to get hold of some uncommon species.

I just hit one of the holy grails. I picked up a bag of Congopanchax brichardi, a fish I saw pictures of 25 years ago, and had never seen alive. They may not make the morning, but if they do, they should survive. A few days ago they were in the shallows close to Kinshasa, Congo.

They are micro-fish, under one inch long, at most, full grown, with cardinal tetra blue bodies, and bright red fins. They are a lampeye killie, a shoaling fish. They are also notoriously hard to ship, and to get in alive. The shipment arrived in Montreal this evening and the fish are eating live baby brine shrimp as I type. Okay, I get pumped about finding new fish, but this thing? I never thought I would even see it, let alone have an outside chance of learning about breeding it. This, to me, is so cool I have to share my excitement - with no photos yet...

I also got some Barbus hulstaerti, a micro barb I have kept and bred before. It's an old favourite I was glad to see again - another tiny fish.

Add to that two pairs of Pelvicachromis subocellatus from Moanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, a really nice dwarf cichlid that should soon have a really fine colour pattern.

We have a bit of a flash freeze on, from a balmy -2 it is falling fast, heading for -18. The drive out to get them was a little slippery, as the highway was black and shining. And hey, it was worth it!

Sure sounds like the trip out was worth it. Just stunning fish! The pattern on the pelvicachromis are stunning. What kind of size are they compared to something like a pulcher?

The barbs have a cool dalmatian thing going on.

The Congopanchax brichardi are beautiful. Congrats on the new arrivals.

Just gorgeous. I hope they all do well for you. I can't wait to see some photos of any and all of these guys.

Congratulations Gary! I completely understand your excitment ... anytime I manage to get my hands on a fish that I've only read about and/or wanted for a few decades my heart gets racing too

I'm not familiar with the little killies, but the hulstaerti have shown up a few times before in my neck of the woods. They're beautiful. I'm hoping to track down another little barb, Barbus jae, a fish I had about 15 years ago, but was only able to get males of at the time.

Good luck with all of your aquisitions, that location of subocellatus looks great too!

Gary, your excitement is contagious!!! I find it very rewarding that after years and years in the hobby you can still get major excitement!!!
Sounds like the feeling I get when my dog goes Best in Show!!!!!!!

Hey that's great Gary ! Cool uncommon fish !

So awesome! Looking forward to seeing photos of all three!

That is awesome Gary. I know the feeling of excitement when you find that rare fish you been looking for. This hobby is always exciting.

Gary, you got to tell us your secrets!
If you ever manage to find more of these or breed them....
Hook me up. I have been looking for these as well. 25 years is a very long time to wait for a fish. I really hope they make it for you!

Congratulations, it certainly is exciting when you find a fish you have been looking a long time.

Hope to hit my Holy Grail one of these days.

Steve

I've enjoyed reading Steve's excitement at getting some of those koi. I get it. It might take about 10,000 of these little brichardis to make one koi, but the principle's the same. There are fish you find out about, watch for and give up on. And boom, they appear.

I figure I have about ten holy grails in mind. But I had eleven!

Hey Congrats on getting these rare fish and good luck with breeding. That was a long wait for the fish enjoy.

Congratulations! Can't wait for the pics

I saw pics on the Ontario killi page, they came in through below water?

Congrats on a sweet find! hopefully they grace you with lots of fry and neat behaviours too!

Gary, I am so pumped for you.

The same ones, from belowwater.
Today, they survived a 4 hour power blackout, but that killed my brine shrimp culture. Grrrr.

Coool! those are nice looking fish! Hopefully you get some nice shots.