Anyone own a flashlight fish?

[cardona]

I have been wondering about getting one of the amazing fish from a online vendor, but I dont know much about them, if anyone has any knows anthing about me please lemme know

 

[Caleb Kruse]

That would be so cool, who is selling it?

 

[Questin]

I have always wanted one, or 10, but can never find them.

 

[Stinkyfish1]

Liveaquaria.com sells them.

 

[Ninong]

The Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco had a large tank devoted to them. Naturally it was kept in complete darkness 24/7. That might be a problem in a home aquarium -- keeping the room dark 24/7.

 

[LSD_Zeppelin]

I saw some at the long beach aquarium, they were pretty sweet. Are they hard to keep?

 

[hahnmeister]

I saw a reef with them... there was a huge ledge in the tank (tank was 5-6' tall), and the top of the ledge was lit up very nicely so corals were growing on top. But the underside of this ledge was there there was a whole school of the flashlight fish... just hanging out in the shadows... until the lights went off and then they would go all over the place.

 

[plummike]

what is the care level? how big do they get?

 

[Ninong]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9513826#post9513826 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by plummike
what is the care level? how big do they get?

There are a couple hundred different species in several genera that are commonly called "flashlight fish."

The one most people think of is Photoblepharon steinitzi. According to fishbase, it's maximum adult size is 11cm (4.33").

These fish require a dark habitat to thrive. At the Steinhart Aquarium, they not only had the tank dark but they had a wall a few feet in front of the tank to block the already low ambient light in the room from entering the tank. Scott Michael covers these fish in one of his books and I believe he recommends keeping the tank dark 24/7 and making sure that the room is not bright.