A Lake Near Home

[Shovelnose]

Long time since I posted in this particular forum. Been doing a lotta small trips. Reported here is a collection of a few small trips I managed to do with a bunch of fellow hobbyists near Madras (Chennai for some), my hometown.


About 40 Kms from the city of Madras lies the Chembaramabakkam Lake (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chembarambakkam_Lake). It is also the primary source of water for our city.

We had received news off some rather surprising fish found there and hence planned quite a few trips there.

This was where we 'wetted' our nets most of the time.







I know it doesnt look like much but we got a decent haul from this place.



Channa gachua





Pseudosphromenus cupanus



Cardinia gracilirostris



Puntius dorsalis



Oryzias dancena




Rasbora daniconius



Esomus danricus



Puntius ticto




Lepidocephalichthys guntea




Etroplus maculatus



Badis badis (A very very delightful find.)



Hemochromis bimaculatus (A rather nauseating find)



Mystus cf.bleekeri (???). Trip objective accomplished for me.



Pterygoplichthys Sp. This one we saw in a fisherman's catch. Now who can stand up and yell proudly " We dont have the damn plecos in our waters??"

You know there is that feeling you get whenever you leave for a trip??? "I think I packed everything but Im pretty sure I didnt". Well none of us had that but we still managed to not take a Photo Tank. So we resorted to using the bags or our greasy hands to take pics of the fish.




The fisherman's haul



Notopterus notopterus



Glossogobius giuris



The Lake.


The second spot was bout 4 kms from here and had yielded some nice Puntius to people who had collected here earlier.





The Spot.

Let me take a minute to tell you this was the toughest spot I have collected in. Slush!!!!!!!! Tonnes and tonnes of slush!!!! Lift your feet, place 'em back and watch 'em plunge a coupla feet deep into the mud. I would happily walk the plank rather than these waters on any day!!



Ehirava fluviatilis



Another intruder. Oreochromis mossambicus



Juvenile Notopterus notopterus

Other species collected from this spot were :

Puntius vittatus
Chela cachius
Esomus barbatus
Rasbora cauverii
Puntius chola
Puntius sophore
Puntius sharmai
Puntius filamentosus
Amblypharyngodon mola
Aplocheilus Sp

Pics not available for this lot though.

Since the area of the lake is pretty large, there are outlets all over the place. Some of 'em were feasible for collecting. Though it looked promising, another spot yielded only one interesting species:



Macrognathus pancalus

En route a new spot, we peeked again into another fisherman's catch :



Sob!!!!!



Etroplus maculatus



Hyporamphus limbatus



Osteobrama cotio



Salmostoma Sp.



The final spot





Nilssonia leithii



Channa punctata



Puntius gelius







Nicely coloured up Badis badis. These are not supposed to be found here.They were supposed to be confined to the Northern part of India but recent field trips have lead to collections of this species down South too.

One fish we were really looking forward to collect was the Horadandia atukorali but not even one specimen was collected or even sighted. These schooling fish were sighted in the hundreds by a few other hobbyists a few months ago. Haven been able to zero in on the location yet.

I was compensated though by the Parambassis lala. Never has a Glass Fish attracted me. This little beauty is 'supposedly' quite peacefull in the aquarium unlike other Glass Fish which are rather evil. Wasnt able to bring 'em back cos I didnt have any tank that suited 'em. Next time though.

Herps we spotted here were An Olive keelback, a few Calotes and a few Sitana. A few friends went and collected a nice and fat Russell's Viper last week or so. Lemme see if I can dig up that pic too sometime soon.

A few more trips will be planned to this lake as it seems to hold great promise to hobbyist folks.

P.gelius,B.badis,M.bleekeri and O.cotio that are recently reported species from this lake though collections have been going on here since 1910.

Here s a complete list of species we collected / Spotted :

1. Puntius chola
2. P. sophore
3. P. dorsalis
4. P. sharmai
5. P. gelius
6. P. orphoides
7. P. ticto
8. P. conchonius
9. Parambassis lala
10. Chanda nama
11. Oryzias dancena
12. Gambusia affinis
13. Aplocheilus parvus
14. Macrognathus pancalus
15. Badis badis
16. Rasbora cauverii
17. Rasbora daniconius
18. Etroplus maculatus
19. Oreochromis mossambicus
20. Trichogaster lalius
21. Pterygoplichthys juv.
22. Esomus danricus
23. Esomus barbatus
24. Pseudosphromenus cupanus
25. Mystus c.f. bleekeri
26. Mystus vittatus
27. Amblypharyngodon microlepis
28. A. mola
29. Lepidocephalus thermalis
30. L. guntea
31. Channa punctata
32. Salmostoma clupeoides
33. Neotropius athernoides
34. Osteobrama cotio
35. Hyphoramphus limbatus
36. Glossogobius giuris
37. Notopterus notopterus
38. Channa gachua
39. Macrobrachium Sp
40. Cardinia gracilirostris

Very strangely, haven even seen a single Clariid on any of my trips thought they are supposed to be found in abundance down here.

Picture credits to everyone who went on the trip except me. More soon hopefully.........

[Richard B]

awesome thread - keep them coming!!!

[racoll]

Another great thread.

I'm quite a fan of Indian fishes.

Photo tank next time!

[Birger]

Hemochromis bimaculatus (A rather nauseating find)

If you meant Hemichromis bimaculatus, these sure do get around, there is an area 20 minutes from my home in the Rockies that has these as well.

Thanks for showing all these pictures.
Birger

[andywoolloo]

great! love it! thanks for sharing!

[Shovelnose]

Thanks all.

Racoll :

Ha ha. Not leaving without a photo tank the next time.

Birger :

Yes. Thats a spelling error. Meant to type Hemichromis only. These were in breeding mode. So colours were awesome except they arent really welcome here.

[L number Banana]

Very nice! Fabulous pics even without the photo tank.

Thanks and look forward to the next one.

[corybrummie2010]

Brilliant thread and great pics of your trip.Can`t wait until your next one

[nvcichlids]

AWESOME!!! Love that little eel. and the Badis is another of my non catfish favorites.

BTW, are there any other dario/badis species found around you??

[Shovelnose]

Thanks. Will update as and when more trips happen to this location.

AWESOME!!! Love that little eel. and the Badis is another of my non catfish favorites.

BTW, are there any other dario/badis species found around you??

Nope. Even the Badis found here was a surprise. They were thought to be a North Indian species but have been found here and in a few other locations in South India.

[Shane]

Outstanding post. I have got to get to India.
-Shane

[Shovelnose]

Outstanding post. I have got to get to India.
-Shane

Yes please. All the cheap beer will be on me.

[Jools]

Outstanding post. I have got to get to India.
-Shane

Yes please. All the cheap beer will be on me.

If Shane and I turn up, even cheap beer may cost you a few rupees! I am also really enjoying this thread.

Jools

[Shovelnose]

Ha ha. No problem there. More cheap beer!!!!!!

[Mike_Noren]

Even the Badis found here was a surprise. They were thought to be a North Indian species but have been found here and in a few other locations in South India.

Transplanted by aquarists just like the Hemichromis and Pterygoplichthys?

[Shovelnose]

This Lake gets part of its water from the Krishna River (from a different South Indian state) where there are reports of Badis badis.Also, they have been collected from areas that are almost inaccessible to most people. So we cant really arrive at a conclusion right now.

[Shovelnose]

I have been wanting to keep the Puntius dorsalis for sometime now. So planned a trip with a few fellow hobbyists to the lake again this morning. Also wanted to collect some shrimps to feed the Bagrids I have.





The First Spot






Puntius dorsalis. Gorgeous fish. Sorta like a mini Tor. Very common over most of South India. Grows to around a foot in length and is a food fish for the locals. Was described by Jerdon in 1849 from Madras.




Anguilla bengalensis

Moved over to the shrimp spot next.



The spot.





Mastacemblus pancalus



Mystus cf. bleekeri

Lotsa doomed shrimps later, we moved over to cleaner water to pack the fish. Saw quite a few Olive Keelback (Atretium schistosum). Managed to take a very shaky video of one of 'em.



The P.dorsalis is just settling in. It is holding itself quite well against the Bagrids. The perfect and the most easily accessible barb (over here) to keep with Mystus along with P.sarana and P.orphoides in my opinion. Planning to catch another two or three in the coming weeks.