# Ichthyophiles - a little help to ID a fishie please **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 10, 2007, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ichthyophiles-a-little-help-to-id-a-fishie-please/387431 "2007-01-10T18:04:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ichthyophiles-a-little-help-to-id-a-fishie-please/387431/1 "2007-01-10T18:04:18Z")
I’ve twice encountered members of a fish species that really intrigued me but I wasn’t able to find out what type of critter I was dealing with at the time. These were in small aquariums (as opposed to, say the Vancouver Aquarium). The fish are fairly small (maybe 3 inches long), grey (mostly) and the unique physical feature is that they look like they have some sort of toothlike thing in the lower jaw which isn’t always visible but which appears periodically as the fish swims about. What was very cool about these little guys is that, unlike their mates, they noticed me and would follow me or my finger around as I observed them. They seemed smarter than the rest of the bunch in the tank and almost had personalities - they were inquisitive and seemed to enjoy the game of ‘follow the finger’ but even when I kept my hands away and just put my face close, they’d follow me as I looked around the aquarium. I’d expect they’d be fairly popular as pet fish since they seem to interact with activity outside the tank but don’t know lots of fish owners so I wouldn’t know where else to find them. I read through the recent threads about aquariums but saw no mention of them. Anybody have any idea what kind of fish they might be? ---
**Author:** ![outside\_artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@outside\_artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outside_artist)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ichthyophiles-a-little-help-to-id-a-fishie-please/387431/2 "2007-01-10T21:00:55Z")
Linky, please? ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ichthyophiles-a-little-help-to-id-a-fishie-please/387431/3 "2007-01-10T21:21:39Z")
[QUOTE=Not a Well Woman] Linky, please? [/QUOTE] Huh? 😕 If I had a link, I’d not need to ask the question. These are fish I saw with my own eyes that I’m wondering about. I don’t have a photo - tried to take one but it didn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ichthyophiles-a-little-help-to-id-a-fishie-please/387431/4 "2007-01-10T23:52:27Z")
There is a tropical reef fish mostly black about 5-10 cm in length that is very intelligent and curious towards humans. I have often encountered them while snorkeling in Venezuela. They will come out of their hideaways and even touch your fingertip if you extend it and have behaved well and quiet during the encounter. I am just saying this to see if the mention of habitat and size helps a bit to indentify it, since nobody has come forward ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ichthyophiles-a-little-help-to-id-a-fishie-please/387431/5 "2007-01-11T00:36:16Z")
I’ve tried searching on terms like ‘grey aquarium fish inquisitive’ - seems there’s lots of inquisitive fish but none of them I’ve found so far are this one. The one I saw more often was an aquarium in a hotel in Florida so it might have been tropical fish but I don’t know about fish to know tropical from freshwater tanks. I’m wondering if the lower jaw tooth-type thing might ring a bell. I don’t recall seeing many fish at all with something that looks like one flat dental-type object in their lower jaws. ---
**Author:** ![Silence\_of\_the\_clams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Silence\_of\_the\_clams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silence_of_the_clams)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ichthyophiles-a-little-help-to-id-a-fishie-please/387431/6 "2007-01-11T10:07:00Z")
Its hard to try to ID a fish without a picture. But to not totally getting nowhere, I suggest this [link](http://fins.actwin.com/index.php) to flip through some aquarium fishies to see if you find something similar. Kotick ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ichthyophiles-a-little-help-to-id-a-fishie-please/387431/7 "2007-01-11T12:41:44Z")
[QUOTE=Kotick] Its hard to try to ID a fish without a picture. But to not totally getting nowhere, I suggest this [link](http://fins.actwin.com/index.php) to flip through some aquarium fishies to see if you find something similar. Kotick [/QUOTE] Thanks - according to the photos, little guy must’ve been a puffer - same sort of jaw and shape. And from reading various sites, same personality. [One site](http://www.aquariumfish.com/aquariumfish/detail.aspx?aid=20718&cid=4150&search=) says > [@](#): > > They ensnare unsuspecting hobbyists with the way they interact with people on the other side of the glass, following their movements, most likely hoping for food So I’ll poke around and see if I can find a photo of the specific type of puffer it was. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ichthyophiles-a-little-help-to-id-a-fishie-please/387431/8 "2007-01-11T14:06:36Z")
Wow. From your description I never would have guessed puffer. True, they have considerable personality (for a fish!), but every puffer I have seen is distinctly “puffer-looking.” Just wanted to add that several cichlids are very attentive to their owners. Just about any owner of a Jack Dempsey or Piranha will tell you about its personality. And my angels always crowd the glass when I enter the room to see if I will feed them. My daughter claims they act differently when I enter the room, than when she does. ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ichthyophiles-a-little-help-to-id-a-fishie-please/387431/9 "2007-01-11T16:29:17Z")
[QUOTE=Dinsdale] Wow. From your description I never would have guessed puffer. True, they have considerable personality (for a fish!), but every puffer I have seen is distinctly “puffer-looking.” [/QUOTE] Well the ones I saw didn’t look puffy at all, but from the photos I’ve checked so far, most don’t unless they happen to actually be puffing. Looks like it could’ve been an arothron but still no go on the right one. I didn’t gather that other types of fish have the same sort of jaw configuration - do they? [These](http://fins.actwin.com/species/index.php?t=9&i=482) are about the closest but the wrong colour. See how the face and lower jaw looks? That’s the feature that stuck out (ha) to me.