Benthochromis tricoti avaliability

[Richard]

Hey guys,

I have studied alot on these guys for the past week and was looking in purchusing some soon but all of the sites i have been on are from the US.

Was just wondering if these guys are avaliable in Australia and if anyone on this forum keeps or breeds them. What is the price for these guys?

[griffin]

Hi Richard,

yes a few people do have this fish, they are absolutely beautiful. I do not know of anyone who is successfully breeding them (even anywhere in the world for that matter), there have been reports of spawnings but so far I don't think anyone's managed to raise the fry.

They are on the allowable import list though, so you can get them from time to time. They're not cheap though as they usually come in as wild-caught adults and go for about $250 a fish if I remember correctly.

Ask Nigel - he'll know more, he's imported them several times.

Cheers,

Jess

[Link2Hell]

Tricotti are an allowable import but are not cheap and not readily available

You will find that they become available at around 5 cm size

after the trawlers haul up brooding females, which are milked

before going to the fish market, the fry are then raised in vats till they

reach a 5cm size for the hobby market

Other than these you get 15cm wild caught fish but these have to be decompressed after capture in the wild due to the depth they come from

There have only be a few people that have managed to breed these

fish in the world and that includes 2 people in Australia I know of

The problems these fish give the prospective breeder range from

females carrying mouthfuls of air to low fertility and fry mortality

caused when the fry just refuse to eat

So if you want an extremely challenging fish these are for you

Good luck finding some

L2H