# General > Events, field trips and gatherings >  In seach of the 2nd smallest fish in the world

## kuching

_Paedocypris micromegethes_ is the second smallest fish in the world. 

A day after I quit my job, I went to search the type locality of the tiny fish with my friend, John. 

In this trip, we found out a lot of natural habitat have been destroyed by the Humans...but luckily, we found a secret blackwater stream which is full of fish....the first time in my life seeing so many beautiful fishes in a stream!!! The most amazing stream I ever found in Borneo....totally undisturbed & unpolluted blackwater stream in the peat swamp of the central Sarawak.



Sibu town of Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. We're staying in this town for our 3 days fishing trip:






_Paedocypris micromegethes_ 




_Sundadanio axelrodi_ .....one of the tiny fishes from the peat swamp of Borneo.





.......to be continued.

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## hwchoy

hey the axelrodi, which variant?

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## kuching

> hey the axelrodi, which variant?


bluish + greenish. :Smile:

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## Jervis

I see a Raflesia in your avatar too... I have never seen one in my entire life  :Sad:

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## BFG

> I see a Raflesia in your avatar too... I have never seen one in my entire life


I believe you smell it 1st before seeing it. :Smile:

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## Jungle-mania

Kuching, are you in any science field or research?

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## kuching

> Kuching, are you in any science field or research?



No, I'm just a hobbyist. mY job is something to do with accounts....& soon I'll be a freelance photographer.

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## kuching

After 6 hours of driving, we reached a blackwater stream near Sibu. The peat swamp is full of blood sucking mosquitoes. It's not a pleasant site to collect some fishes for our aquarium. However, we're shocked to find out, the fish is found abundantly there. Less than half an hour, we found almost all the beautiful tropical fish which can be found in the peat swamp of Sarawak!

The undisturbed blackwater peat swamp (water is acidic):






Collecting fish on a fallen tree:





_Betta akarensis_ (wild fighting fish):





This swamp is infested with thousand of mosquitoes!




Most probably _Crypt yujii_ in submerged condition:

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## kuching

Most probably _Cryptocoryne yujii_



emersed condition:






_Sundadanio axelrodi_ (colour is not showing up; under stress)






Bumblebee catfish (_Leiocassis_ sp.)





2nd smallest fish, _Paedocypris micromegethes_ (length = less than 1cm)





....to be continued.

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## kuching

Please take note that the bumblebee catfish is called _Nanobagrus fuscus_.  :Smile:

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## doppelbanddwarf

Wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

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## Fei Miao

Hi Michael, really envy you having such biodiversity of wildlife in your backyard, makes me want to visit Kuching again... :Grin:

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## Jungle-mania

Wow, hate to say it, but you are really in the wrong line of work, you should have gone to science and field research, I think you could put some scientists to shame with your passion and effort.

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## kuching

Thanks, I may work as freelance photograher soon.

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## kuching

On the following day, we went to check out ablackwater stream at a disturbed Kerangas forest. Not much fish there but we're suprised to catch a few _Paedocypris micromegethes_. This tiny fish is more common than we thought!

2nd location of our trip:





Pikehead (_Luciocephalus pulcher_). This is a predatory fish!





After half an hour later, we moved to 3rd location.





Found Cryptocoryne again & I think it is probably _Cryptocoryne pallidinervia_.






_Blyxa_ sp. 






A fish trap set by someone. The bait is the oil palm fruits.

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## kuching

Collecting fish.





_Betta brownorum_









4th location: this is the type locality of _Paedocypris micromegethes_  near Mukah. Unfortunately, the habitat is badly disturbed & we couldn't find this fish anymore! However, we saw a big population of _Cryptocoryne cordata_  var. _zonata_  :




A fly (pollinator??) on the spathe (flower) of _Cryptocoryne cordata_  var. _zonata_  :




_Cryptocoryne cordata_  var. _zonata_  :

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## kuching

The leaf of _Cryptocoryne cordata_  var. _zonata_ :





The spathe:




_Cyrtosperma_  sp.






_Barclaya motleyi_:




The flower of _Barclaya motleyi_:

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## kuching

Batang Balingian (_Balingian river_):




At the last location near Sibu before going home, we caught a cute little catfish which is most probably _Parakysis grandis_, a new record for Sarawak.






_Sundadanio axelrodi_  




_Paros. allani_




Catfish (_Kryptopterus macrocephalus_):

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## kuching

Tiny fish, _Paedocypris micromegethes_  (adult size):






All fishes are packed into an ice box (ice is keep in a smaller ice box, no direct contact with the plastic bags contain the live fish). The fatality rate is very low. Only 2 or 3 fishes are dead by the time we reached home, after 6 hours later. Some fishes are kept in breathable bags.






Say goodbye to mighty Rajang river, the longest river in Malaysia:







On the way back, we saw an "injured" transformer! Shall we help him?





THE END.

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## Aquaculture

Thanks for the photos. Make me feel like I'm there... a little escape/holiday from this cramped environment we call office.

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## David Moses Heng

> Tiny fish, _Paedocypris micromegethes_ (adult size):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> All fishes are packed into an ice box (ice is keep in a smaller ice box, no direct contact with the plastic bags contain the live fish). The fatality rate is very low. Only 2 or 3 fishes are dead by the time we reached home, after 6 hours later. Some fishes are kept in breathable bags.
> 
> ...


 
cool pictures mike!! would really love to visit borneo/sarawak this month during the school holidays.. Let me talk to my wife first and sees if she is okay with the whole family going up. As for the Decepticon, better leave it to the autobots to handle.  :Grin: 

Cheers!!

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## Panut

Hi bro, all the fishes still alive at the moment?  :Smile:

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## Ah_ZhaN

The Betta Brownorium looks good. A matching pair??

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## kuching

Thanks all. sorry for late reply cos I just got home from another trip.

Yes, almost all the fish survived.

I didn't bring back those Betta brownorum.

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## ZANE

> On the way back, we saw an "injured" transformer! Shall we help him?
> 
> 
> 
> THE END.


HELP HIM ?!?!?!??!?!? THATS A DECEPTICON!!!! Bad transformer, probably got the rough end of a tangle with bumble bee...  :Grin:  :Grin:

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## revernance

^Well, I'm going to go watch the movie after that. ^_^

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## kuching

> HELP HIM ?!?!?!??!?!? THATS A DECEPTICON!!!! Bad transformer, probably got the rough end of a tangle with bumble bee...



Ha!ha! :Grin:

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