Here's a fish that you don't see that often
 

This is male Shaws boxfish, Aracana aurita, that I just got last night. These are temperate boxfish from Southern Australia. I keep them in the 60 F water of my temperate reef.





[IMG][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/steveweast/maleshaw.jpg[/IMG][/IMG]



Here's the female


[IMG][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/steveweast/femaleshaw.jpg[/IMG][/IMG]

beautiful, are they the only fish in the tank, what else is in that cool water

how much did they set you back?

Thanks for sharing, Steve.
Perhaps consider donating your pics to fishbase, which badly needs pictures of this species:

[url]http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/speciesSummary.php?ID=14561&genusname=Aracana&speciesname=aurita[/url]

They're not alone....I have my white bar boxfish in there too which comes from the same region.

WOW.....those are vey nice.....especcially that male......very colorful

Amazing!!!

Wow, those fish are awesome!

WOW I think that's now in my top 3 of coolest fish I've ever seen!

Wow! When I saw a new thread by Steve Weast; I knew it would be cool.

Steve,

wonderfull that one really takes care of the correct needs of thsi cold water species!

Excellent pictures!

Most amazing creature i ever seen

Wow!! Those are some wild looking fish! Thanks for sharing:rollface:

WOW!!!!! Amazing fish.

Where do you find these fish? LFS?

I imported these guys directly from the collector in Tasmania....very few...maybe 2 or 3 of these cold water fish are imported a year into this country through the regular routes. In fact, since the few that do make it in are destined for warm water reefs, their survival rate is very poor and importers/retailers end up pricing these guys upwards of $500.

Wow...wonderful fish

Do you have any other pix of your cold water tank setup?

Henry

Well, here's a pic of another fish on this order...it's a Western Blue Devil that is closely related to the warm water betta...or comet......and yes, his polka dots are that flourescent blue. I didn't think that he would make it since he had a severe leak in his shipping bag....but, he recovered and is now eating.



[IMG][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/steveweast/bluedevil.jpg[/IMG][/IMG]

Wow.. that fish is just stunning.. That one is yours too?

Very nice.... how big does the Western Blue Devil get??

Wow. Keep 'em comin'! :eek2:

Western Blue Devil gets very big if I remember correctly.

Actually....there's not that much info on these guys out there....but, what is out there descibes their max size between 22 - 25 cm....or 8 -10 inches (some info has them as big as 40cm...but in an aquarium, I'd expect closer to the 22cm number). This fish is also a sedintary fish. It basicaly sits in a cave opening or under an overhang. This is actually the case with most cold water species.....they just don't move much.....in fact, my boxfish are the most active.

Awsome fishes!! I've always been interested in cooler-water, deep-reef setups. Yours is about the only cool-water setup I've ever seen. It would really be cool to see pics of the whole setup! Good Luck!

can I get a full tank shot?