Tan’s Fish

Tanichthys albonubes
Meaning of name: Named for Tan, a Chinese boy scout who found the fish;
ichthys (tan’s fish)
Albonubes, (White Cloud)

Tan was a boy scout, but it turns out that he was not a boy “Boy scout,” instead he was a man. He was a scout leader who went up a mountain and returned with a fish. The mountain was not just any mountain, but in fact “White Cloud Mountain” China.

The year was 1932, the man was Tan, and the fish was the White Cloud Mountain Minnow.
In that year, on that mountain, Tan went exploring and found the white cloud tetra. He realized that he had something wonderful in his net, so he brought his find to the “Fishing Research Station.”

Once Tan’s fish was in the hands of Lin Shu Yen, head of the The “Fishing Research Station” at Canton, the fish was studied, a paper was written, and Tan’s fish was named in his honor “Tanichthys albonubes.” I just don’t think it gets much better than that.

By the year 1935, people started seeing the fish here and there. In that year a single pair came into the posssision of the editor of the “Aquarium Magazine” William T. Innes. Soon the market released it and the rest, as they say, is “History!”