In ourprevious installationwith regards to Mr. Wong, we took a look at some of his existing collection of butterflyfish in his home aquarium. Today we’re stepping into a time machine to explore some of Mr. Wong’s fish that he has had the opportunity to keep in the past, and by past we mean decades ago. Therefore we’re swapping out “Throwback Thursday” for something a little more appropriate. #TimeTravelThursday back to the past as we flip through some of these old photos from the film era!
For many old reef veterans, the hobby of decades past holds a special place in their hearts. I’m only 22 and so I don’t have much personal experience in this front, but some of my fondest aquarium memories were of my dad tinkering with his office marine aquarium. The choices of fish back then was lacking, and so was quality information. Much of the literature today stems from personal experiences handed down by pioneering generations, and even then these masters are still inventing new things.
我仍清晰地记得有一天我来了home from school, still in my uniform. My dad picked me up and took me to his office. I saw that he had bought three new fish, and they were small, elongated and were coloured in the most beautiful shade of scarlet. Each of them had three vertical pearly white bands and I was nothing short of captivated. As I sip my cup of nostalgia tea and remember that day, I now realise that those were juvenileCoris gaimard, and that they’d one day grow into their destructive and pugnacious adult form.
Everyone has their own story, and for Mr. Wong, his were digitalised in the form of film photos. After a tour of his house and tanks, Mr. Wong sat me down and gingerly took out a stack of film photos, each covered in a fine layer of dust. These were photographs of his fish from many years ago, some even dating back to the 80’s. It was unfathomable, looking through these photos of fishes that I can only dream of seeing in person. Some of these species are not available anywhere now, and the only way to ever see one would be to go look for it in the wild. Coupled with the heady intoxicating scent of volatile organic compounds from these old photos, I truly felt like I had been transported back in time.
In the film era of photo taking, photos cannot be seen in a handy dandy LCD screen, nor can they be digitally enhanced and edited in a software. Those who are familiar with this will know the heart wrenching pain of realising how bad the picture is, only after it has been developed. The photo above ofChaetodon litusfor example, photographed in all its blurry and overexposed glory. Speaking of which, many of these photos are of fish that are now either very rare, or are no longer available to the hobby.C. litusfor example, has not been seen in a long time since the hiatus of Easter Island imports. Aquarium favourites from the region such asCentropyge Hotumatua和Chrysiptera rapanui, once common fare have sky rocketed to the top of the “want list” for many collectors.
Two other butterflyfish species that were once obtainable but now impossible arePrognathodes dichrous和P. obliquus. The Hedgehog and Oblique butterflyfish are members of thePrognathodesgenus, and are distinct from all others in the genus by having a brown base colour with a silver back. Rectangular forP. dichrous, and an oblique patch forP. obliquus. The former hails from Ascension Island, where collection ofCentropyge resplendenswere frequent and the species, a bread and butter staple. The latter hails from St. Paul’s Rocks, where the main export fish were off coloured “koi” Queen Angelfishes (Holacanthus ciliaris).
In the present, no collection is allowed to be made in both areas, rendering these two butterflyfishes unobtainable. There is as far as we know, only one japanese reefer who still has a livingP. dichrousin his collection, and is the survivor of a pair.
Another species common in the wild that has disappeared from the face of the aquarium hobby isChaetodon sanctaehelenae. The Ascension island endemic likeP. dichrous和C. Replendensis no longer available due. In the wild, this species is not rare and is often seen swimming in large groups. In the above photo from 1998, a specimen is seen swimming withCentropyge joculator和Chaetodon declivis, both although common and relatively inexpensive now, were holy grails at that time.
Mr. Wong’s hybrid game is strong, even back in the days. If you had sharp eyes, you might have noticed aChaetodontoplushybrid in one of the photos posted earlier in this article.Chaetodontoplus conspicillatusxc . meredithiis a very rare hybrid in the current day, and you can only imagine how many times rarer and expensive it would have been back in the days. Here above, a hybridChaetodon必威官网登录随行版蝴蝶只是他旧系列中的许多人之一。由于照片的质量低下和颜色铸造，所以说什么样的混合动力可能有点困难，但是C. aurigaxC.vagabundusis not improbable.
Here’s another hybrid he once had, but unlike the previous one, this one is a little more straight forward. The faint crosshatch markings, a crown on the nape and orange back suggests genetic input fromC. xanthurus, and the vertical maze like bands could come fromChaetodon punctatofasciatus. This is of course, only an educated guess. In theprevious articlewe saw a similar hybrid, but one involving the close sister ofC. punctatofasciatus–C. pelewensis. Like this one above, it also has genetic input fromChaetodon xanthurus, and that specimen is still alive swimming in Mr. Wong’s home aquarium.
有关黄先生电影图片集的更多照片，请查看下面的画廊。毫无疑问，黄先生还有更多照片，其中数百张照片。但是我们只拍了一些更有趣的照片。看看那个异常的摩尔人偶像，还有其他混合蝴蝶鱼！必威官网登录随行版您过去最美好的记忆是什么？您在80年代或90年代在做什么？
