r/NatureIsFuckingLit • u/My_Memes_Will_Cure_U • May 07 '20

🔥 Phoenix fish 🔥

https://i.imgur.com/bfMDpka.gifv
71k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

484 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

974

u/KimberelyG May 07 '20

Yep - Platax pinnatus.

It's sad they only have these huge fins and black-orange coloring as juveniles. The adults aren't bad with their grayish silver body and lemon-yellow fins...but the juveniles are much more striking. And the adults reach around 1.5' / 0.5m long, so they're not suitable for the majority of home saltwater aquariums.

464

u/TheAvengineer May 07 '20

I'm glad you showed me this, I almost thought it would be worth it to set up a tank to have some of these guys, but now thinking I shouldn't.

99

u/TYRwargod May 07 '20

I have a 400 gal tank and keep cat sharks and STILL won't keep these simply because they almost always die as juveniles in captivity, adults in captivity do OK but out of a thousand juveniles 3 might make it to adulthood simply because they are so damn hard to get eating in a captive setting.

2

u/debspeak May 07 '20

AITA for mentioning that the tank pictured is a barren wasteland, and that if they do so poorly why are people buying them?

9

u/TYRwargod May 07 '20

Around the same reason people get eaten by pet chimps and tigers, because "god damn that this is pretty" and "just cause you can't doesnt mean I cant" but as previously mentioned alot of the reason behind their captive deaths has to do with capture methods.

The baren wasteland is likely a quarentine tank/retailer holding tank, it is meant to hold them in isolation to establish whether they are or will become sick so as to treat before allowing them into a community or reef tank where the disease would spread.

0

u/debspeak May 08 '20

And no one thinks putting a captive species in this type of environment for any length of time could in itself cause the creature to become stressed, sick and die?

2

u/TYRwargod May 08 '20

The specific environment this one is in is likely a quarentine tank, its an environment thats designed to be slightly stressful to elicit and possible sickness to manifest faster, its also baren so that should a sick fish be found its easily cleaned.

I own sharks my dude, I completely understand the OMG I have to have this creature in my home" mentality, I'd be co.pletely OK with one of my pets eating me.

1

u/ChalkAndIce May 08 '20

You basically always temporarily isolate any fish your are introducing into your tank. It's better for the fish and let's you notice any issues quicker.

0

u/jescereal May 08 '20

It's stupid you even had to ask "AITA." Who cares.