I saw P. fangi in Walmart!!!

Jim Powers · Post by **Jim Powers** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 3:11 pm

I stopped in a small town Walmart today to check out the fish dept. and to my surprise, there was a tank with about 6 P. fangi. There was a card on the front of the tank saying that these "Hong Kong Plecostomus" were the March Fish of the Month. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the care info on the card looked as if someone had checked out Loaches Online. The card stated that the fish were also called hillstream loaches and required water flow with high oxygen levels, temps in the 65-75F range and that they should not be housed with aggressive fish. They did overplay the algae eating tendancies of the fish a bit, though.
Its good to see the word getting out.
I looked at the fish for a looooooooooooooong time. They were about 2.75-3" and looked to be generally healthy. I checked the rest of the fish in the other tanks and while there were dead ones in several of the tanks (they appeared to be the food for the remaining fish) most of the fish looked rather healthy. The tanks were bare and most had algae all over the front, with the exception of the one that housed the hillstreams. I suspect they may have cleared it off. There was no one to be found in the fish department so I took that as a sign and passed on the fish for now. I'll look around at other Walmarts and see what comes along. Maybe I can find some of these Vanmenia too.

Graeme Robson · Post by **Graeme Robson** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 3:28 pm

Sounds promising Jim!

Jim Powers · Post by **Jim Powers** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 3:35 pm

Graeme, what can you tell me about the temperment of these fish now that you have had yours a bit? How do they get along with other hillstreams? Are they as bossy as chenis?

Graeme Robson · Post by **Graeme Robson** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 4:30 pm

Hi Jim. Mine are extremely peaceful. They just mind there own business with the odd nudge with one another. Mine seem to show no interest with other hillstream occupants. Plenty substrate searchings for food though.

aquariumjunkie · Post by **aquariumjunkie** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:49 pm

I'm new to this forum, anyways... I was at Wal-Mart last night and i found these two loaches i'd never seen before. So i had to buy them!!! I'm not to familar with loaches, so i thought i'd post a pic, and maybe some one from here could help me identify them. They kinda look like (Schistura rupecula) but im not sure. Any help would be great. Thanks

Sorry my camera sucks (i'll be getting a new one)

Graeme Robson · Post by **Graeme Robson** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:56 pm

aquariumjunkie wrote:I'm new to this forum, anyways... I was at Wal-Mart last night and i found these two loaches i'd never seen before. So i had to buy them!!! I'm not to familar with loaches, so i thought i'd post a pic, and maybe some one from here could help me identify them. They kinda look like (Schistura rupecula) but im not sure. Any help would be great. Thanks

Sorry my camera sucks (i'll be getting a new one)

Here's your Schistura >> http://www.loaches.com/species-index/sc ... f-balteata

Jim Powers · Post by **Jim Powers** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:59 pm

First P. fangi and Vanmanenia sp...now S. balteata at Walmart...what is going on?

By the way, aquariumjunkie, where did you find these?
It sure helps us if you put your location in your profile.

Graeme Robson · Post by **Graeme Robson** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:01 pm

Christmas has come early for Jim!

aquariumjunkie · Post by **aquariumjunkie** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:06 pm

Thank you so much... I'm from seattle, Wa. But the Wal-Mart i found them in was in Everett, Wa. about 30 mins north of Seattle. I've found some pretty cool fish at Wal-mart, some really nice African Cichlids like this one...

It looks like a Cy. afra crossed with something else.

Jim Powers · Post by **Jim Powers** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:09 pm

I don't know about that.
I really don't feel very comfortable buying fish from Walmart.
I'll have to make VERY sure they are healthy first. I sure wish my favorite fish store would get this stuff. It would make things much easier.

aquariumjunkie · Post by **aquariumjunkie** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:23 pm

Thats one thing you and i agree on. Wal-Mart isn't well known for their healthy fish

. But if all the fish look healthy in the tank i will but them, and then put em' in my 20 Gal. quarantine tank. My LPS has some pretty weird fish sometimes. Thats were i bought my African Tigerfish.

aquariumjunkie · Post by **aquariumjunkie** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:25 pm

I'll be back on later, Thanks (Graeme Robson) for the info

Jim Powers · Post by **Jim Powers** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 5:28 pm

I checked out a few Walmarts today and even talked to the fish guy at the one with the best looking fish. I only saw beaufortia at one store, but no vanmanenia or P. fangi. The fish guy I spoke with at a store with no hillstreams, said they were to be the "Fish of the Month" in either April or May. So apparently, there is still a chance that these fish will be available in Walmart over the next two months or so.
Apparently not all Walmarts have the same "Fish of the Month" at the same time.

Jim Powers · Post by **Jim Powers** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 3:45 pm

I was near the Walmart that had the P. fangi so I stopped by the check on them today.
They were all still alive and actually appeared to be a bit more active today. Overall, they are fat and healthy looking fish. Unfortunately, they still had nothing to eat except for some algae around the water surface and the remains of a fallen comrade. One was sticking its head out of the water to feed on the waterline algae.
I just wish I would have had an algae wafer with me to toss into the tank. I studied the fish for a bit and finally noticed a couple of small ich spots on one of the fish. I checked the rest of the tanks and noticed the irredescent sharks in one tank were covered with ich. Since this is an interconnected system I'm sure there is ich all over the place.
Unfortunately for the hillstreams, if they don't starve to death, they will probably succumb to the ich or its treatment. If I had enough quarentine room I would be tempted to buy all six and treat them myself, but I don't.
As it was last time, there was no one to be found in the fish area.
How sad to see such an uncommon species in such a bad situation.

shari2 · Post by **shari2** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 4:47 pm

Aww Jim, go grab a 10 g and set it up in the kitchen or something...

Loaches Online Forum

I saw P. fangi in Walmart!!!

I saw P. fangi in Walmart!!!

Who is online

Go to page

About us