Strange Creature From the River 8/29/05
Hello, I recently was given a small fluke that was found in the Croton River.  It is about the size of a 1/2 dollar.  I was wondering if it is okay for me to put it into my tropical tank or if it will eat my other fish.  I currently have a very large goldfish, a smaller goldfish, some tetras, Gouramis, guppies, angel fish, and an algae eater.  Also, if it is okay to put him in there, what do I feed him.
< Without knowing exactly what it eats I would not place any creature in my aquarium. I would however get another container set up to watch it for awhile just to see what it does out of curiosity.-Chuck>  

Freshwater Sole Got Soul!
Hi Guys
I am an aquarium hobbyist from South Africa and have recently got 2 "fresh water soles".
I have had them for about 4 days now and unfortunately I am experiencing some problems in getting information on these fish.
Info from Baensch pointed me in the direction of Brachirus or Solea.
On the www I found mention of:
Brachirus salinarum (salt pan sole)
Brachirus selheimi (selheims sole or fresh water sole) and Brachirus pan
They are sometimes found referred to as Synaptera selheimi & S. salinarum.
Is there any information available on these fish? Some images to help me identify what I have, requirements and feeding habits?
Any help will be appreciated.
< If you can find them , I would recommend the Baensch Atlas for looking up all odd balls. Get the one that has all the photos from the first five vol.'s. They may not have your exact species but I am sure they will have something from the same genus as your fish which will give you a start. I know from wholesalers in the US that the ones we get here from Asia prefer cooler waters and are ambush predators feeding on small fish and invertebrates. Not to picky on the water conditions but I have heard that some may prefer brackish water.-Chuck>

So-called "Freshwater" Flounders (Achirus lineatus)
Hi,
<cheers, Anthony Calfo in your service>
Just seen your website about these great fish, I have 5 of them in my tank, could you just confirm that you know about them, then I have a question for you!
<hmmm... please through the following links and follow up if you still have questions. Please know, or be reminded that few so-called "Freshwater" flounders will survive in freshwater for much longer than a couple of years/juvenile stage. Especially and including the lined species you have (they are brackish to marine). Many more are brackish or marine:
http://filaman.uni-kiel.de/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?ID=4256&genusname=Achirus
and a brief list of popular aquarium species: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwflounders.htm
Thanks,
<with kind regards, Anthony>

Questions about Freshwater Flounders
<<JasonC here, Bob is away diving.>>
I recently purchased a freshwater flounder for my home aquarium. I was searching for information about them and came across your website. I have no clue what type of flounder I have, but it is about an inch in length and will grow to be 6 inches. The lady at the pet store told me there is no need to add food for him he will eat the "left-overs" and I was just wondering if that was true. <<yes, should be so - certainly is for saltwater flounders. I'm sure they'll eat whatever they run into that's edible.>> I also have no sand in my tank, all gravel. it is a 20 gallon tank and I do have eager eaters in there, mostly sharks and tiger barbs 1 Gouramis and a puffer. Is this an ok living environment for him? <<possibly, but I'm actually not too knowledgeable about freshwater flounders. I did a quick search on Google with the phrase "freshwater flounder" and found 10 pages of links - think this may be a good place to start. You may also want to post this question on the WetWebDiscussion Forum http://talk.wetwebfotos.com to see if perhaps someone else has had some experience with these.>>
please e-mail me back.
<<Cheers, J -- >>

More on the Freshwater Flounder
aka, Hog chokers, Aquarium Fish Magazine, 11/01 issue, pg. 10 has an
article about keeping these fish. one of the things they recommend is
NOT to have a gravel bottom: they'll stress themselves trying to match
the pattern.
<<Ahhh, very helpful - will post tomorrow on the Daily Q&A this. Cheers and thank you, J -- >>

Appreciate the Input (in the FW Flounder)
:( ) but I'll still do what I can. I'm just happy to help.
Mike
<<Do appreciate the input. You are a gentleman and a scholar. Cheers, and good day to you. J -- >>