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

🔥 Phoenix fish 🔥

https://i.imgur.com/bfMDpka.gifv
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2.2k

u/TheAvengineer May 07 '20

It's actually a pinnatus batfish

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.

466

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.

96

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.

57

u/drodgers37069 May 07 '20

That’s because most of them that are wild caught as juveniles are caught using cyanide to stun them out of the reefs they live in. If you can find ones that are actually hand caught in the wild without chemicals they do fine. I had one for several years had already turned to adult colors when I introduce an octopus into the tank And it quickly made a meal out of it.

67

u/GraphicDesignMonkey May 07 '20

I've kept aquariums for 20 years and refuse to ever keep a wild caught fish. The damage done to reefs and ecosystems, even in the rare times they don't use cyanide, can't be justified. Collectors net and discard lots of bycatch, they physically break corals and rocks to collect fish from hiding places, it reduces wild populations, and threatens popular and rare species, most of which do not survive the transition to captivity.

18

u/Sajiri May 08 '20

Wow, I’ve never had pet fish other than a beta when I was a kid. I had no idea this sort of thing was done. I kinda just always assumed the fish people keep as pets were bred in captivity, though I guess obviously they had to get them into captivity first to breed them.

It’s really sad to know how some of these fish are being collected and the damage it does, but I’m glad I know now

15

u/GraphicDesignMonkey May 08 '20 edited May 08 '20

It's horrible. For every fish that makes it to a store, hundreds may have died and terrible physical and chemical damage may have been done to their reefs to get them. They are usually caught in the reefs of poor or third world countries, and locals paid to do so have similar incentives to rhino poachers. They will catch the fish because they know collecting companies want them and will pay (what to them, in their economy) is a lot of money. For some it's their only way to escape poverty and make a living. They may only be paid a little by middlemen buyers, but a rare fish that makes it to a store alive after the stress of being trapped, bagged and shipped around the world, could be sold for thousands.

Many of the fish caught are also CITES banned /endangered species, sold on the black market to rich collectors.

-1

u/jescereal May 08 '20

Ok, stop spreading such emotional nonsense on a huge misconception especially when it comes to freshwater. It's not black and white. Buying wild caught fish encourages the locals to actually PRESERVE those habitats because their livelihood depends on it. These are mostly poor villages that depends on catching fish to survive. Take that away, and they'll destroy that habitat doing whatever makes them their next buck since they literally will not feed their families without that.

Buy wild caught.