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Re: American Flag Fish



Marci wrote:

> Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 16:49:52 -0700
> From: Leonardo <cathouse at cdsnet_net>
> Subject: Flag fish
> 
> Kevin Z. brought up flag fish, after hinting that he would like
> feedback...
> 
> Well, here ya go!
> 
> I see these flag fish mentioned all the time.  I can't track down in any
> book the common name flag fish, and I have no idea what they are, though I
> would love to find out.  So, Kevin, would you describe them for me? Anyone
> have a pic they would send me, or a scientific name, or a west coast
> colloquial name I might recognize the fish by?
> 
> (Something tells me these fish are gonna turn out to be guppies....)
> 
> Marci

Dwight has unfortunately mentioned these fish as Florida Flag 
Fish. The actual common name is American Flag Fish (the male 
has the coloration of the American Flag - not the Florida flag). Latin 
name is Jordanella floridae. They are not guppies. They are native 
to Florida, hence the species name. Flag fish are very effective at 
eating filamentous algae, and they are IME peaceful community 
fish which stay smaller than SAEs. You can see a photo of the 
female at this site:

http://www.nfis.com/~hartland/aqua/fish.html

Cathy Hartland
Middletown, MD