Closest you have been to an aquarium fish in the wild.

[SwedishFish]

This may sound dumb but I just wanted to see if any one lives near an area with tropical aquarium fish? Like thailand and other countries. Anyway I live in west virginia in the United States. I went swimming with my brother and his wife at some swimming place they liked to swim. I put goggles on so I could see around for fish! I swam down near the bottom of this swimming spot that is part of a creek. I saw this fish that looked like a rainbowshark! Then I thought to myself rainbowsharks dont live in the moutains of wv! I tried to get closer but it saw me and swam off! I had been wondering what that was until yesterday when I found it online! http://www.loaches.com/species_pages/micronemacheilus_pulcher.html I have never seen this fish in stores before is it just a native fish or is it an aquarium fish? I just thought it was cool that I saw that. Does anyone else have any stories about coming in contact with wild aquarium fish?

[hineigger]

Ive actually caught full grown Green Terrors, firemouth's, and oscars here in Tucson, AZ at local ponds, due to illegal dumping. Dumping leads to massive breeding, ponds are full of tropical fish. Arizona waters are warm all year around.

Theres also a number of full grown koi in ponds, as well as huge red pacu. And Im just describing ONE pond I frequent, other ponds have even more things.

[tricksterpup]

The odds you didnt see anything related to a rainbow shark but maybe a horse. They are many different types that love clean water. So if you were in a location that has clean water the odds is that is what you saw. They tend to have lots of color on them with red tails. But the more i think about it, it sounds like either a Minnow, dace or a shiner.
Now again, what do you declare as an aquarium fish? Marine, Fresh? Native or tropical? I have been next to wild marine fish but I have also been with lots of Native fish in the wild. Alot of Native fish make aquarium fish while others do not.
Here is a site that will give you a list to the fish in WV.
http://www.wvdnr.gov/Wildlife/PDFFiles/fishbrochure.pdf

But here is a red horse
http://floridafisheries.com/images/fish-pic/mox-car.jpg

jim

[clayt101]

I went snorkeling in Hawaii and saw yellow tangs in the wild.:)

[Doublette90]

When hubby and I were on our honeymoon we went scuba diving in St. Thomas and our instructor was giving us dog food kibble to feed the fish. This was years ago and we weren't into fishkeeping then so we have no idea what they were. I just remember they were very colourful!

[SwedishFish]

I did see the loach link that i posted that is the exact fish i saw. My definition of tank fish is like fish you see for sale in pet stores :D Like have you ever swam with wild swordtails you know what I mean?

[Sum-X]

I've seen Plecos in natural ponds in florida, pretty cool actually.

(BTW, I love swedish fish!!! They're so good, but I ate all mine. :( ) :D

[Prometheus]

Cozumel had some nice fish, but the water was really cloudy... St. Thomas was nice... But the best was at a small island about an hour from the bahamas... I need to get my underwater camera pics scanned... wow!

I wish I had a chance to snorkel in Bermuda (I was 12 and with my folks on vacation) I just hung out at the pool in the hotel... what a shame... I did make it to the beach the day before I left...

Clearest water in the world and beautiful perfect soft pink sand..... I hope I'll be able to make it back one day....

[Dragon_Lord_Tia]

i caught launar wrasse and some lipstick tangs before also saratogas, mangrove jacks, barras

[blitzen25bm]

at balboa park here in san diego theres a huge pond for koi but if you look theres also swordtails, guppies etc. at my autns house in thailand (they are rich, in US standards not just rich for thailand) their house is built on stilts so it has a moat but it also goes under the house. and in there they have huge turtles asian redtail cats, big cichlids, stuff like that. when i go back i should get rid of all those other fish and put in a few asian arowanas maybe they can breed that would be awesome. also went to some ponds and caught some wild bettas. the beaches there are great, its warm but i got stung by jellyfish.

[tanker]

When I go fishing in the Florida Everglades I catch Oscars , ugly Oscars, but they definitly are Oscars.

[125gJoe]

I also have caught Oscars here. The Red Tiger Oscars looked the best.... They even fight stronger than the Largemouth Bass!! Peacock Bass are also caught down here.

The Oscars and Peacock Bass will only live outdoors south of Lake Okeechobee (the big lake in the middle of FL)...