Critically Endangered
These are not a shark, they are related to minnows and carp. They are a good sized fish when you consider that they are popular in aquariums. Their average length is to get up to about 5 inches, but can be 6 inches or even a little longer. Most of the pages I saw were about taking care of them in aquariums. Along with that I don't think a single picture I saw of them was of their natural habitat, only in fish tanks. Unlike many of the other fish popular in aquariums, the trade of these does not seem to have contributed to their near extinction in the wild. In 1996 they were declared extinct in the wild in fact, but in 2011 a small number of them were found in the Chao Phraya Basin in Thailand. The likely culprits for their numbers going down are draining of swamps and the building of some dams.
I apologize for the limitations that are caused by photographing with my phone. I would use my actual camera. That would mean I needed to set up my tripod, my light cube, or other way of making sure there is even lighting and no reflections. We do not have the space to leave that up year-round, and to get it out for only 30 seconds of photography every day is more than my naturally fairly lazy self wants to deal with. I have thought about scanning the paintings, but that seems to show the texture of the paper even more than the cellphone pictures do and takes away some of the detail of the painting itself. The painting is much more saturated looking than the photo shows with a very dark fish, bright red-orange fin, and much more vibrant water. I do hope that people get a chance to see these in real life. In some of them the difference is fairly subtle, but in some like this one they are vastly changed. I am having to change from the one fundraising site I had hoped to use. I heard back several days ago after my final attempt, was told they were working on it, and nothing since. I am currently working on getting a page up and going with another site. I wish it had worked out, things seemed they could be great, but we will come up with something.
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