Amazon Leaf Fish ... I got a pair.

and I am SO excited. For anyone who doesn't know about them, they're the chameleons of the fish world. They are able to change color to match their surroundings, they move VERY slowly, swimming as if they were dead leaves floating in the water, and they have unexpectedly large mouths. HUGE for the relative size of the fish, actually. They only eat live foods, and they are just as picky about water conditions as chameleons are about their habitat conditions.

Here's a video of one. You can see his mouth open and fill with water.
YouTube - South American Leaf Fish

I'll be posting pictures of mine in the tank momentarily. They're getting used to it first.

Schweet!

I'm guessing that's an adaptation to catch small fish?


dr del

That is just amazing. Thanks for posting. I learned something new today. :)

What a great addition, no wonder you are so excited!

Bruce

They are cool looking :gj:

Yep - that huge mouth is to help them grab at passing fish without having to chase them down and get noticed themselves. They will eat just about anything, though. I am keeping them with two angels, a cory cat, and will probably add a black ghost knife fish (always wanted one) to the mix pretty soon. It's a 30gallon tank, so with only 6 fish and a bajillion ghost shrimp (food), it should work out great. I like all the weird stuff.

My passion (before I found ball pythons) were tropical fish, so I can appreciate your nice pickup. :gj: It should be cool watching these mini-predators floating around the tank like a leaf and snapping up glass shrimp and guppies. Can't wait for the pics...

Well, everyone seems to be doing just "swimmingly" (get it? :8: ... no? :()

Anyway, here are the pics!

The tank (30 gal):
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...eaffish001.jpg

The leaf fish -

Not a happy camper:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...eaffish011.jpg

Feeling better:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...eaffish012.jpg

Back to normal:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...eaffish020.jpg

And I call this the "dun dun dun" picture. Y'know, with scary music and whatnot, suggesting something is lurking in the background:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...eaffish031.jpg

They each knew the other was there, though. The angel went right up to the leaf fish and looked at him, then swam away. So now I know they'll pose no threat to one another. :)

And here's the sie of the angels compared to the tank:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...eaffish033.jpg

I got babies. I had a pair of breeding angels that I raised from this size. The female just recently died. The male had some form of bloat and passed away within a day of showing symptoms; there was nothing I could do. The female lived about a year longer before she developed swim bladder problems. I think it burst, and she lived on the bottom of the tank for about a month. I hand fed her everyday. They both lived to be about 8 years old. I loved them SO much. More than anyone should love fish I think. -lol- So now I've got the newbies to tame. Everyone will be getting blood worms tomorrow night. :gj: