Desperate to find a partner for

A zoo in the UK calls fish farmers all over the country to find a partner for an endangered tropical fish.

Mangarahara cichlid is the name of an extinct tropical fish in the natural environment. People often call them 'bad fish' due to their rough appearance. The male is slightly bigger than the female.

'They are not beautiful fish. In fact, they are very bad , 'said Brian Zimmerman, an employee at the London Zoo in England.

A Mangarahara cichlid fish in London zoo. (Photo: BBC)

Even so, London Zoo still owns two fish Mangarahara cichlid. Both are male. That means they won't have a chance to be a father if the zoo can't find the female. Two fish have lived for 12 years. So the zoo considers finding a partner for them urgent. They called on fish farmers to find a "super bad fish".

The homeland of 'bad fish' is Mangarahara river in the island nation of Madagascar. The appearance of many dams on the river makes them unable to return to the upstream to breed. So experts believe that they are extinct in the natural environment.

A zoo in Berlin used to raise two Mangarahara cichlids, including one male and one female. The zoo staff tried to mate with two children, but their efforts turned into catastrophes, because the males killed their children.

'Killing a partner is a common action in Mangarahara cichlid fish , ' Zimmerman said.

The London Animal Association has sent a team of experts to marine parks around the world to find the 'super bad fish' , but they fail. Now they only hope that someone may be holding such a fish in their own home.

Zimmerman is pessimistic about the ability of two male fish to be a father.'I think this fish's chances of survival are very low,' he said.