Mugwump's Fish World

It's not often that you get the chance to witness the introduction of a new fish into the hobby, but in the case of the 'Galaxy Rasbora', I was in the right place at the right time and that was exactly what happened.....

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In the wee hours of the morning of September the 6th 2006, Kamphol Udomritthiruj of AquariCORP made the following post on the Petfrd forum, (a Singapore ?based fishkeeping website).


(http://www.ballaquatics.com/images/cpd/Petfrd/CPD-Post-001.jpg)


After the initial excitement died down, the tone quickly turned to scepticism.  It was suggested that Kamphol had used 'Photo Shop'  to produce his photo by mixing body parts of Danio erythromicron , (at the time Microrasbora erythromicron), and Danio choprai.

After a couple of days of this speculation, Kamphol silenced the crowd with his next post on September the 8th of more photos of the beautiful new fish.


(http://www.ballaquatics.com/images/cpd/Petfrd/CPD-Post-002.jpg)


At this point the questions turned to where the fish were found and when they would be available to hobbyists.  Kamphol replied that the fish was found in Myanmar just a month before, but since it was such a new discovery he was keeping its exact collection locality under wraps for commercial reasons.

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More to come.....

Dennis

God, it must have been exciting!  This lady wants to see more.

They are just as pretty in person.....the colors shine through when they pass thru the hood light...gorgeous little creatures......

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As the clamor for these fish was still on the rise, it was announced on September 22, 2006 that Britains Aquatic Superstore in Bolton had received 800 of the new fish into stock and they would go on sale shortly. It was speculated that they would be likely to sell for 5 - ?8 Pounds, ($8 to $12 US Dollars), for the first few months.

Here in the states, on October 31 2006 an auction on AquaBid was posted for the fish. When the auction ended the fish sold for $22.50 each with a minumum of 6 fish purchased.

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More to come.....

Dennis

Gorgeous fish and Maquire's photography is outstanding!

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The next big news was to come on October 12,2006. This was when the announcement came that the fish had just been bred for the first time by fish gurus, Pete Liptrot (Aquarium Development Officer) and Paul Dixon (Aquarist) of the Bolton Museum Aquarium in the UK.

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When asked about the event, Paul says that he observed a brightly ?coloured male attempting to drive females into a spawning mop and Pete found seven small eggs in a clump of Java moss a week later and spotted some fry which had already hatched. Said Pete: "The eggs have been laid over Java Moss and appear to be only very slightly adhesive, they drop out of the moss very easily. We've removed the moss to another aquarium to see what else hatches. As we were moving the moss one of the smaller males was very busy hunting around for eggs or fry."

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As more information and photographs became available, the clamor for these tiny fish seemed to grow by the day.  All was looking very good for the new fish, but trouble was just over the horizon.....

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More to come.....

Dennis

Nice story Dennis.
Great pictures also.

Quote from: BillT on November 27, 2012, 04:26:34 PM
Nice story Dennis.
Great pictures also.

Thank you Bill.  I have collected the bits and pieces of this information in the hopes of putting it all together in a story one day.

Dennis

Quote
I have collected the bits and pieces of this information in the hopes of putting it all together in a story one day.
Dennis

You'd better get it published and get some money for it.  You have the documentation.  Even though I don't want the fish, I want to learn more.  They are beautiful things.

February 09, 2007

Just when things were looking very bright for our new little fish, the man who fist discovered it, Kamphol Udomritthiruj made the folling post on the Petfrd forum.

QuoteIt has only been six months since the discovery of this fish, and there should be much to celebrate at this time concerning this little jewel.  The end of February should see its formal description published (w/ a new genus also accommodating erythromicron).  Also, I am amazed at the global interest in this petfrd thread (surely with record number of views) but more importantly the whole thread continues with relevant and hard core data and ensuing discussion.  Leading of course to its successful breeding, this despite withheld info on its habitat.  Sadly, these breeding projects may be their only savior.

Alas, there is not much to celebrate concerning the galaxy habitat. This past Monday I had the opportunity to visit the type locality. East of Inle Lake, it is in the highlands at 1045 m elevation. It is a micro?habitat. The water source begins with a spring.

(http://www.ballaquatics.com/images/cpd/kamphol_udomritthiruj/kamphol_udomritthiruj-001.jpg)
Photo by Kamphol Udomritthiruj

This small pool is then diverted into an area for public use.

(http://www.ballaquatics.com/images/cpd/kamphol_udomritthiruj/kamphol_udomritthiruj-002.jpg)
Photo by Kamphol Udomritthiruj

After which it flows into a sort of wetland, formerly overgrown with grasses. Water is at most 2?-3 feet deep.

(http://www.ballaquatics.com/images/cpd/kamphol_udomritthiruj/kamphol_udomritthiruj-003.jpg)
Photo by Kamphol Udomritthiruj

This whole flooded grassland/wetland is actually caused by a man?made weir for agricultural irrigation below the spring.

(http://www.ballaquatics.com/images/cpd/kamphol_udomritthiruj/kamphol_udomritthiruj-004.jpg)
Photo by Kamphol Udomritthiruj

Within these past couple of months the vegetation has all been trampled to non?existence. The catch is now at about 30? - 50 pcs a day.  You know where I'm going.

(http://www.ballaquatics.com/images/cpd/kamphol_udomritthiruj/kamphol_udomritthiruj-005.jpg)
Photo by Kamphol Udomritthiruj

I have a water sample that I have not yet analyzed, but your success with alkaline conditions seems to be correct as are cool water temperatures.  It was a cool 24 degrees, and possibly lower where there were thermoclines/stratification in the fields. And, as the cat is being let out of the bag, the rosey loach Yunnanilus sp is also sympatric with the galaxy as are the D. sondhii. As soon as I have the water analyzed, I shall report. Keep your breeding projects going pet friends.

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Well needless to say, the report was devastating to hobbyists who had been following the story world wide. Practical Fishkeeping magazine in the UK called for hobbyists to stop buying the fish unless their intent was to try to breed them. Shortly after this, Myanmar?s Department of Fisheries banned exports to allow officials to assess the situation.

Things were not looking good for the fish that had had such a bright looking future just months before.

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What will become of the beautiful new fish?  Our story concludes with the next installment.....

Dennis

Very interesting tale....thanks, Dennis....

I'm really loving this ''documentary'', Dennis.  Thanks....Ron

Thanks for the support guys!  I know Liz said she was enjoying the story so I was hoping that I wasn't boring the rest of you to tears...   :'(

It's great to hear you are also enjoying the tale!   ;D

Dennis

Very interesting! Is one of the fish you breed and sell?

Quote from: Jdmcfast on November 30, 2012, 11:16:51 AM
Very interesting! Is one of the fish you breed and sell?

Thanks Josh, and yes they are.  My fish room has to support it's self, and the sale of these little guys has really been a big help over the past several years.

Dennis

How can one be bored with the exciting history of these fish with those great photos?  Let her know that this is one unbored guy....!

I really like the interesting story combined with the great pictures.

Somewhere several years ago I read an article on these guys that was saying there were two genetic strains of them, one with round spots and one with more elongated spots.
You think this is a real thing Dennis?

I was never able to see this clearly in the fish swimming around, but with pictures like this it is easy to see the stop shapes. Some of the fish seem to have a a mix of round and oval.

Quote from: BillT on November 30, 2012, 12:44:53 PM
Somewhere several years ago I read an article on these guys that was saying there were two genetic strains of them, one with round spots and one with more elongated spots.
You think this is a real thing Dennis?

I haven't heard that one, but I did hear about red, orange, and yellow colored fish.  Nothing from a reliable source though.  I just figured there was so much hoopla over these fish, it was just idle speculation.

Since 2007, I've purchased groups of these fish from 7 separate sources and if you throw them all in a tank together you can't tell one group from another.

Dennis

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Well, shortly after Kamphol posts about the sad state of the original collection site, our little fish gets it's first scientific name.  It was named Celestichthys margaritatus by taxonomist Tyson Roberts in late February 2007.  The trade name of Celestial Pearl Danio comes from Celestichthys from the Latin and Greek words meaning ?heavenly fish? and margaritatus meaning ?adorned with pearls,? Celestichthys margaritatus translates to ?heavenly fish adorned with pearls.?

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In June of 2007 10 officials from the Department of Fisheries and the Myanmar Fishery Federation conducted a survey and found the fish at five locations around Ho Pong. Mr. Tin Win of the Hein Aquarium in Myanmar was one of those in this party. Their report identified populations in streams around Ho Pong; the village of Lwe Paw, 3.5 miles east of Ho Pong; the village of Naung Khone, 3 miles north of Ho Pong; the village of Loi?un, 6 miles from Ho Pong; and Hug?park village, Loi?san sit village, Pong?low village, all about 20 miles south of Ho Pong.

It was from this survey that I received these photos from Mr. Tin Win along with the water sample data.




Tin Win reports the water where these fish are found is crystal clear with a pH of 7.3 and the conductivity of 250 micro siemen. The pond bottom is covered with sand. The area is mostly grassland and rice paddies, so the ponds are open to the sun and filled with a rich variety of aquatic plants.

With this new information, it seems that the initial scare of the fish becoming extinct in the wild were somewhat premature. All is well with our new fish again!

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When it comes to names for our little fish, it turns out that third times a charm. A paper published in January of 2008 by Kevin Conway, Wei?Jen Chen and Professor Richard Mayden of Saint Louis University, will re assigned the species to the genus Danio. This was on the basis of a colour pattern common to all Danios (with the exception of D.erythromicron), osteological studies and phylogenetic analysis.

An interesting note about these fish is that before they were discovered by the aquarium trade, they were caught and sold as food to local poor people. Tin Win says they get a much bigger return on selling the fish for the aquarium trade compared to what they made when they sold the same fish for food. The fish that sold for over $20.00 each on AquaBid, would net the locals 25 Kyats (approximately .50 cents) for a can of 500 dried fish.

Over the years the prices have droped on these fish, and for about the last 18 months have held steady at around $4.00 per fish as an average price. They are a bit harder to produce in quanity, so they will likely never be a inexpensive as some of the easy to breed Danios.

Well I think that brings us up to date with these fish. If I remember something of interest, I'll be sure to post it here.

Thanks again, Dennis...I enjoyed, and looked forward to each addition that you posted. These are truly beautiful little fish.

Thanks for sharing your story. 

Fantastic, and I really appreciate your presentation here, Dennis!

Thanks folks, I really appreciate all the kind words.  I'm very happy you all enjoyed the tale.  I've been accumulating the information and kept thinking I'd put something together for the CPD web site, but I've just never got a round to it.  I guess I should really be thanking all of you for letting me try it out on you!   :P

Dennis

Thanks for all that info on these beautiful fish! When will you have some of these for sale?

Quote from: Jo on December 05, 2012, 09:01:52 AM
Thanks for all that info on these beautiful fish! When will you have some of these for sale?

Hey, good to see you back in town stranger.  I just asked Jon the other day if we should start to worry about you.   ;)

I've not gotten much done in the fish room here of late so it's looking like next spring before I have any CPD's available.  They really prefer cooler water and stop spawning for me in the summer when the tank temps get into the high 70's low 80's.

Dennis

Thank you for your concern! I just had some health problems with my little girl dog. I posted in lounge.

Please let me know when you are ready to sell some I think these are just stunning. I bought some harlequins a few weeks ago and they are small in size also. I really like the smaller fish in the planted tank. Would love to do a planted tank with just Celestial Pearl Danio's.

I will be reading thru this and looking at amazing pics until then.  ;)

Thanks for sharing the story.  It's very interesting.

Please do keep us posted regarding the availability of these fish.  I had asked you about them a few months ago on the "previous forum". 

Hi Pauline, I'm glad you enjoyed the story.  I haven't forgotten about you wanting some CPD's, it's just that I wasn't completely happy with the ones I raised over the summer, so I didn't sell any of them.  It was just too hot around here!!!  With a little luck, I should have some available when the weather breaks for shipping next spring, probably sometime early in March.

Dennis

Aww, I hadn't seen this until now! I also enjoyed the story and those stunning pics! These are great fish.... and those little baby fries are sooo cute! :)

Thanks Miranda, they really are great little fish.  There are many really nice Danios that I think most hobbyist are simply unaware of.  As I get my info pulled together, I'll try to go into some detail on some of the others.

Dennis