But the most interesting fish was one that I had not seen before, "Denison's Flying Fox" or the "Red Line Torpedo Fish" (Puntius denisonii, formerly Barbus denisonii Day 1865, and Madan also referred to it as Crossocheilus denisonii - there is still lots of confusion over Indian fish names!). This fish resembles the common Siamese Algae Eater (Crossocheilus siamensis) and I assume it has the same algae eating propensities (plus I am informed it will similarly eat most live or dried foods), but as my photographs show it is far more colourful, with beautiful red and yellow stripes on its body and fins. It is peaceful and non-territorial, and grows to about 16cm. It is a jumper and should be in a covered tank. One of my Indian friends once had one jump five feet straight up out of a bucket - he caught it at eye level! Later I took the trouble to seek out the wholesaler, in Madras, and was told that it is only available seasonally, being caught in the wild from fast flowing hill streams in South India. (It thus requires a well oxygenated tank and will accept cooler temperatures). Like the flying fox, it has not yet been bred in captivity and I do not know how many are left in the wild, although Madan told me that it is not on the endangered list. (December '02: I just came across a list in an Indian web site
http://www.ornamentalfishes.org/html/family.htm that says that this fish is endangered, but "sufficient quantity is available for commercial exploitation"). Particularly if it could be bred in captivity*, it would be a wonderful alternative to flying foxes in our aquariums. It has recently been imported and sold in North America, at a price of US$30 - 40, and some were sold in Germany in 1997.
