Re: [RML] Herbies & pappan creek tris

Bruce Hansen (bruceh at powerup.com.au)
Tue, 20 Mar 2001 07:33:14 +1000

G'day Stephen

I don't know how many "grizzled Aussies"will take up the challenge but as I
don't have either of the 2 species at the moment it will have to be from
memory - both are lovely fish when seen at their best, which is usually the
case when you look at photos by the top aquarium fish lensmen like Gunther
Schmida and Neil Armstrong.

Remember they have access to top specimens and are experts at selecting and
displaying the fish to get them to display. Gunther always "borrows" your
best and biggest 2 males and your largest female - those Pappan Creek Tris
in his book were of my fish and were wild-caught at about 2 inches, kept
inside in aquaria during winter, outside in ponds in summer and were 4 years
old and between 5 and 6 inches long. They only looked that good (as in the
picture) for an hour or two each morning when displaying or a half hour or
so after lights on.

Sorry about all this preamble but I'm trying to make sure you don't go
looking for yellow fish in the aquarium shops - they wont look yellow there.
They will look like many other juvenile tris (except the reds like Goyders,
and the blues like Wongas etc) so try to buy from a reputable breeder who
"knows his streams and keeps them clean". Then you will have to grow them up
but the effort is worthwhile.

"Herbies" are more likely to look a bit yellowish and to have a reddish tail
(although they may not) when you see them as juveniles. If you had a tank of
adults of each species side by side the things that would tend to impress
you would be -

Herbies have proportionally smaller fins, the bodies not as deep and oval,
the snouts not as pointed.

Herbies tend to have more red in tails, and the band of colour in the fins
closest to the body seems to have more pigment.

I'm sorry if this sounds a bit vague but it is often difficult to look at a
couple of uncoloured juvenile stressed fish in a dealers tanks and
confidently be sure of their ID even if they haven't been crossed and even
if they have been well fed and looked after :-(

Regards,
Bruce Hansen
vicepresident - ANGFA Inc, ANGFA (Qld) Inc
Please visit us at http://www.angfa.org.au

----- Original Message -----
From: "Stephen Boulet" <stepheb at comm.mot.com>
To: <rainbowfish at pcug.org.au>
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2001 1:21 AM
Subject: [RML] Herbies & pappan creek tris

> I've noticed through looking at photos that herbies and pappan creek tris
seem
> to have similar colors.
>
> Would one of you more experienced types (read: grizzled aussies) care to
> compare and contrast these two species? Thanks.
>
> -- Stephen, who's starting to get eggs from his pappan creek tris
>
>