Has anyone here ever heard of anyone who has kept one of our two blincats in captivity? I think they would make interesting tankfish.

Not me, but I've always wanted some. Where would you even get them? I once read that you pretty much had to suck them up with a deep well pump, or pay someone with such a well to save any fish they found for you, which I also read wasn't legal. Still, they're pretty cool, eh? Who knows what else still lurks deep down in the earth as yet undiscovered?
Ooh! That reminds me; there is a cave about 100 miles west of here that contains cavefish, but that puts them about 200 miles south of anywhere they're supposed to be. Maybe they are a wholly new species? I have no idea bit I'd love to find out someday. The problem is that no adult can fit through the tiny hole into the cave. We only know the fish are there from reports from small children who occasionally sneak in against the warnings from their parents. LOL!

Anyway, as for keeping them, I'd have to assume that you'd set up your tank much like you would for other cave fishes. I've kept oodles of the ordinary blind cave tetras over the years, and found it to be not much different from keeping more normal fishes. Breeding them over successive generations with the lights on will ruin them, though, as they start to grow back their eyes and a most unattractive coloration. I would think that breeding blindcats would be a great enough accomplishment in itself, though; no need to worry over that sort of thing. I do know that breeding most troglodytes is a bit tricky since they are not especially fecund and don't respond much to the usual cues. I would assume the same for blindcats as a starting point, at least.

Edited by Mysteryman, 10 October 2009 - 09:27 AM.

i wish I had cavefish here.
It would be an awesome biotope. you could use small LED lights for dim lighting.