Considering our initial excitement three months ago that a single Belonoperca pylei finally arrived in the United States rather than head over to Japan yet again, you can image our excitement that a second Belonoperca pylei just arrived in America. The Dr. Seuss Fish as it often is referred to is probably one of the coolest, most comical and awesome looking fish you can imagine, making it’s nick name very justified – its coloring is truly something you’d only imagine seeing in a Dr. Seuss comic book. This particular species was shipped to Pacific Inland Aquatics, and is currently for sale on their website with a $3,750.00 price tag. The specimen appears to be in superb health with great coloring and we only wished that we had the cash to pick it up ourselves.
Belonoperca pylei are commonly found at depths between 300 and 350 feet in the Marshal Islands, which explains its rarity in the hobby and its often high price tag. This particular Belonoperca pylei was caught at the surprisingly shallow depth of 170 feet by Brian Greene, which is a name that should ring a bell by any serious fish geek, especially considering that he has been the one to catch the majority of these specimens. Still, arrowhead soapfishes including the Dr. Seuss fish and Belonoperca chabanaudi should be kept in cooler and dimmer aquariums.
As you can imagine 170 feet is extremely shallow for this species, although Greene confined to us that he almost captured a one inch specimen at 200 feet. Also, if you miss out on this particular Belonoperca pylei, don’t kick yourself to sleep just yet as we could be seeing more available at this rate as sometimes happens with rare valuable fish like this. [Pacific Island Aquatics]
