# Blind cave fish



## foxfish (25 Oct 2014)

I bought four of the little devils last week, I though they might look good in a new scape I have just put together.
However they are not really what I expected, they fly around the tank 24 7... non stop buzzing around! they take food from the surface or anywhere in fact & continuously swim into my overflow box.
Cor makes me dizzy watching them & all the other long term cory dudes don't like them at all !!
Still I think they are having a good time or at least better than being in a shop tank.


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## Tim Harrison (25 Oct 2014)

That's 'cause they's blind dude...
Me thinks they's ugly bugly...

...init...


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## kirk (25 Oct 2014)

Haha^


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## sciencefiction (25 Oct 2014)

He, he, this made me laugh. Them cory dudes have to get used of them I guess


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## Tim Harrison (25 Oct 2014)

Seriously tho'. Interesting fish foxfish, I seem to remember the old London Aquarium had a small species tank scaped like a cave (of all things) with a couple of dozen or so blind cave fish and it worked quite well. At least I think it was London Aquarium


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## foxfish (25 Oct 2014)

They are not a fish I have every kept before, thought about it many a time but never took the plunge!
I very naively though they would stay in the cave but now I understand they don't know what a cave is! 
I don't think they are aggressive towards other fish but they do bump into them & steal food, I guess they don't know what another species of fish is either?


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## sciencefiction (25 Oct 2014)

I guess if they are blind, it's hard finding the cave  Maybe they think the tank itself is the cave...
They'll probably get used of the tank layout eventually.


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## Tim Harrison (25 Oct 2014)

I'd be unable to resist the temptation of moving stuff around just to confuse them...much more bang for your buck...


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## sciencefiction (25 Oct 2014)

That's very mean Troi  I was reading around a bit about them just now and they seem to be capable to "feel" objects around them so your plan may not work


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## Tim Harrison (26 Oct 2014)

Damn those lateral line thingies...


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## foxfish (26 Oct 2014)

I just think they can see in the dark.


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## foxfish (30 Oct 2014)

I must of removed the pink twits one hundred times from my sump overflow before I realised, they just go in &  out as easy as race horse jumps a fence!
I am now on a mission to film the pink devils jumping the weir...... it is going to be a you tube sensation!


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## drodgers (30 Oct 2014)

foxfish said:


> I am now on a mission to film the pink devils jumping the weir


LOl! reminds of a Siamese cat fish that i had it used to swim up my skimmer intake


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## foxfish (3 Nov 2014)

First attempt at a vid ....


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## X3NiTH (3 Nov 2014)

Awesome!

Didn't just flop over it but launched itself over with such aplomb you'd think it were a Salmon!


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## drodgers (4 Nov 2014)

very cool .


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## OllieNZ (4 Nov 2014)

That's brilliant


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## sciencefiction (4 Nov 2014)

Ha, ha, it seems like it's having fun too doing it  Very cool.


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## Lindy (7 Nov 2014)

Fantastic! I love the ''pink twits''


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## Tim Harrison (7 Nov 2014)

How does it know there is water on the other side...extrasensory perception maybe?


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## sciencefiction (7 Nov 2014)

Sound waves maybe. I was watching recently a documentary about a blind boy that was able to navigate on his skateboard by clicking.


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## Tim Harrison (7 Nov 2014)

Either way interesting little critters...there's obviously more to them than meets the eye


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## foxfish (7 Nov 2014)

They also like to peck your fingers, they will home in on your hand the moment you put it in the water.
They also love it if you disturb the substrate and happily join in with any digging required.
They  still get on my nerves a bit though... I just wish they would calm down a tad. If I get up in the night and glance at the tank the pink twits are just as crazy as ever!
We have now got used to the plop plop noise as they jump the wier, I am going to try and get a better vid of a tandem jump.


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## mlongpre (8 Nov 2014)

Haha this is getting pretty funny!


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## foxfish (7 Jan 2015)

It is no good they have to go!!!!
The little terrors have pretty much destroyed my tank, they have virtually uprooted  my whole carpet, chewed my leafy plats to pieces & now chewed my  African filter shrimps feeder fans away....
They are going back to the shop... I do feel a bit guilty because I doubt they will find a good home but I just cant cope with them anymore .....


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## kirk (7 Jan 2015)

I don't know,  find a fish with a disability and give up on it.  I think I would have got rid the first time I caught them eating plants.  Maybe it's your didgorydoo playing.?


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## foxfish (7 Jan 2015)

I am a softy mate..... to be honest they are a great fish to keep in the fact that they just never stop moving but, they also bite every single moving object!
My misses said she cant wait to get them out of our house as they distract her from the tele!


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## X3NiTH (7 Jan 2015)

I suppose being blind and living in caves they will mouth everything and if it doesn't taste like rock then it's on the menu, actually I wouldn't be surprised if they nibbled away at rocks to get at bacterial mats growing on it or in it.

Can't have them eating your new Buces though, that would be a very expensive salad!


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## roundasapound (22 May 2016)

foxfish said:


> It is no good they have to go!!!!
> The little terrors have pretty much destroyed my tank, they have virtually uprooted  my whole carpet, chewed my leafy plats to pieces & now chewed my  African filter shrimps feeder fans away....
> They are going back to the shop... I do feel a bit guilty because I doubt they will find a good home but I just cant cope with them anymore .....



  

Where are the daredevils now?


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## foxfish (22 May 2016)

Hopefully entertaining someone somewhere.


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## roundasapound (22 May 2016)

foxfish said:


> Hopefully entertaining someone somewhere.



Hopefully I won't see them whizzing past in the local river lol.


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## foxfish (22 May 2016)

Ha Ha, no I took them back to the shop (I live in Guernsey.. no rivers)


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## Tim Harrison (22 May 2016)

Haha...I loved this thread
Pesky little critters
Great to read it again...


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## roundasapound (22 May 2016)

Troi said:


> Haha...I loved this thread
> Pesky little critters
> Great to read it again...



Me too.. I was crying with laughter. Especially about the havoc and carnage they caused to the plants and shrimp


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## kirk (23 May 2016)

Yes I've not  any tanks now, but I get alerts for here ( ukaps) . Ive had a rubbish day and going through this has made me smile .


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## zozo (24 May 2016)

Here is a nice one.. It seems the controversial and mythical 3th eye actualy realy does excist after all and functions as a light detecting organ. In fish and amfibians it's experimentaly prooven, in mamals only as endocrine organ producing hormones affected by carcadian rythms..The discovery with these fish was purely by chance, these seemingly blind cave dwellers have some visual perseption through this organ.
http://www.livescience.com/9555-blind-fish.html

Awsome!..


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## alto (24 May 2016)

Complete article is available
Shadow response in the blind cavefish _Astyanax_ reveals conservation of a functional pineal eye
Masato Yoshizawa, William R. Jeffery



> *The shadow response is highest at 1.5-days post-fertilization (d.p.f.), gradually diminishes, and is virtually undetectable by 7.5 d.p.f.* The shadow response was substantially reduced after surgical removal of the pineal gland from surface fish or cavefish larvae, indicating that it is based on pineal function. In contrast, removal of one or both bilateral eye primordia did not affect the shadow response. Consistent with its light detecting capacity, immunocytochemical studies indicate that surface fish and cavefish pineal eyes express a rhodopsin-like antigen, which is undetectable in the degenerating bilateral eyes of cavefish larvae.


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