FRESHWATER AQUARIUMS & TROPICAL DISCOVERY

Congo Tetras
❙ Jungles in Glass Boxes
❙ Fantastic Four-Eye Fishes
❙ Damming the Xingu

JUL/AUG 2018
BUG BITES
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 CONTENTS • VOLUME 7, NUMBER 4
EDITOR & PUBLISHER | James M. Lawrence
4 EDITORIAL by Hans-Georg Evers
INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHER | Matthias Schmidt
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF | Hans-Georg Evers 6 AQUATIC NOTEBOOK by AMAZONAS staff
DESIGNER | Michael Kolmogortsev
SENIOR ADVISORY BOARD |
Dr. Gerald Allen, Svein A. Fosså, Jay Hemdal, Dr.
Paul V. Loiselle, Dr. Nathan K. Lujan, Dr. John E.
FEATURE ARTICLES
Randall, Julian Sprung, Jeffrey A. Turner 24 CONGO TETRAS
SENIOR EDITORS |
Matthew Pedersen, Stephan M. Tanner, Ph.D., From the heart of Africa—beauty and biodiversity
Michael J. Tuccinardi, Steven Waldron in seldom-explored waters
CONTRIBUTORS |
by Roland Numrich
Juan Miguel Artigas Azas, Mary Bailey, Devin Biggs,
Heiko Bleher, Eric Bodrock, George Farmer, Ian
Fuller, Adeljean L.F.C. Ho, Ted Judy, Ad Konings,
32 CONGO GOLD
Marco Tulio C. Lacerda, Raymond Lucas, Oliver by Stanislav Kislyuk
Lucanus, Jeffrey Michels, Neale Monks, Mark Sabaj
Perez, Ph.D., Ret Talbot, Sumer Tiwari 38 FISHROOM: INTERVIEW WITH TORSTEN SCHWEDE
TRANSLATOR | Stephan Tanner, Ph.D. Still crazy, but now his passion is African Tetras
ART DIRECTORS | Amey Radcliffe, Stephanie Salmon
by Hans-Georg Evers
DESIGN CONSULTANT | Linda Provost
DESIGNER | Anne Linton Elston 44 VIVARIUMS: JUNGLE IN A GLASS BOX
ASSOCIATE EDITORS | Louise Watson, Interview with Dr. Adeljean Ho
Bayley R. Freeman, Alexander Bunten
EDITORIAL & BUSINESS OFFICES |
by Matt Pedersen with images by Adeljean Ho, Ph.D.
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98 UNDERWATER EYE
AMAZONAS™ is a licensed edition of
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All rights reserved. Reproduction of any material from this
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COVER:
www.AMAZONASmagazine.com
Composite of Congo Tetras,
family Alestidae. Images: F. Wang.
AMAZONAS

3
EDITORIAL Dear Readers,
There seems to be growing interest in the keeping of beautiful characins from Central Africa these days.
More and more people are enjoying these exceptionally attractive fishes, now that they are appearing in our
local fish stores. Both the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo, two countries
separated by the middle reaches of the Congo River, have become more accessible in recent years, allowing
some exporters and travelers to collect little-known species for the aquarium trade and for science. We, the
aquarists, are the lucky beneficiaries. In this issue we update readers on some of these wonderful Congo
Tetras—some new, some classics—and offer advice about their care and breeding.
Over the years, a considerable number of highly acclaimed contributors have written stories that have
made AMAZONAS, both the German and English editions, the world’s most well known and widely read
magazine for freshwater aquarists. It has taken a lot of effort to keep the quality so high, but it has been
worth it. Idealism is always a necessary ingredient when creating niche products, and without passion and
hard work, publications like this often lack soul.
I have been editor-in-chief of AMAZONAS since its inception, and—as many readers might not know—I
have created the content in my free time, in addition to having a full-time job. Unfortunately, I cannot con-
tinue this demanding schedule—my family and my personal health must come first. This issue will be my
last as editor-in-chief. I will remain as an advisor and author for AMAZONAS, so you will not get rid of me
that fast! My successor will be my longtime friend and colleague Friedrich Bitter, who will take over with
the next issue. With this change AMAZONAS enters a new era, and some things are bound to change—but
the quality of the content and the pure aquaristic focus for which our magazine is known will remain its
trademark under Friedrich’s leadership.
I want thank the editorial teams, advisors, and authors at Natur und Tier Verlag in Münster and Reef to
Rainforest in Vermont. Last, but not least, thanks to you, our loyal and always interested readers, for your
many years of loyalty and cooperation. For the last time I leave you to read and enjoy this issue, and wish
you much joy as you pursue the most beautiful hobby in the world!

Yours,

Hans-Georg Evers
AMAZONAS

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AQUATIC

Sustainable fishes
from Brazil

Pterygoplichthys parnaibae lives

in the Parnaiba River basin, an
area from which fishes have rarely
been exported.

opinion by Hans-Georg Evers • Wild-caught fishes from Brazil

are very popular with aquarists. But an ambitious project in
this largest of the South American countries demonstrates that
aquacultured fishes are a great option.

FOR DECADES, WE HAVE KNOWN AND APPRECIATED cardinals and discus, dwarf cichlids, and rare
armored catfishes, which have traditionally been wild-caught. This hasn’t been a problem,
because the natural stocks can cope with seasonal collection. But the environmental crimes
that humans commit in the Amazon out of greed, and under the dubious banner of progress,
are a different story—see page 78 for a prime example. When you become aware of the dif-
ficulties faced by the few remaining fish collectors and exporters in Brazil, you begin to doubt
that there will be wild-caught fishes from Brazil in our aquariums much longer. It is very
easy for a bureaucrat in Brasilia to pretend to fight for the environment by voting for extreme
AMAZONAS

restrictions on fish collecting while quietly approving one mega-dam project after another.
ALL: H. CRIZANTO

That makes it very important to reward the commitment of the few who are doing
something to help—people like Hudson Crizanto Gonçalves of Fortaleza. For years his com-
pany, H&K, has been exporting selected discus and plecos purchased directly from fisher-

6
 Top: The breeding animals are
conditioned in small aquariums.
Middle: Part of the rearing system for
plecos and tetras.
Bottom: The large armored catfishes
are bred in these outdoor ponds.

men, which allows them to command higher prices, reduce their numbers
of fishes, and save the stocks. This works very well. Now, along with the
Tanganyika Fish Farm in Fortaleza, an African cichlid farm for the Brazilian
market, Gonçalves has launched the first commercial catfish breeding proj-
ect in Brazil. Their breeding station in Altamira on the middle Rio Xingu,
which is being heavily impacted by the huge Belo Monte Dam, is a scientific
project to study animals. They are conducting their first experiments with
Pseudacanthicus species (P. leopardus, P. pirarara, P. pitanga, and others) and
plan to work with more species in the future.
Gonçalves works closely with the authorities in Brasilia and tries to
include species in the breeding project that are not on the Brazilian “positive
list” (approved for wild harvest). So far, he has bred both Pterygoplichthys
AMAZONAS

parnaibae and the recently described Hypostomus sertanejo from the northern
state of Ceará and releasing them for export. Other attractive catfishes, such
as Hypostomus pusarum and Parotocinclus haroldoi from Ceará, will follow.
Several tetra species are also being propagated and will soon be added to

7
AQUATIC

Above: Hypostomus sertanejo was not described until 2017, but broodstock is being
conditioned for spawning.
Inset: H&K and Tanganyika Fish Farm are breeding large numbers of tetras like this
Hyphessobrycon notidanos.
Right: Pterygoplichthys parnaibae is a very handsome pleco, reportedly a great algae grazer
and easy to breed.

the stock list. Attractive species like

Moenkhausia cosmops and many new
species from the upper Rio Tapajós,
such as Hyphessobrycon wadai, H.
cyanotaenia, H. hexastichos, H. mela-
nostichos, and many others, are now
being bred and exported.
As we are seeing for the first
time, sustainable aquaculture of Bra-
zilian species is quite possible and
can gain the support of Brazilian
authorities. This is just the begin-
ning. Let us hope that more species
AMAZONAS

will follow and that the project will

be accepted by tropical fishkeepers
everywhere as these captive-breds
become available.

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AQUATIC

Stingrays in
black and
white
by Hans-Georg Evers •

Abovet: This unusual captive-bred

ray has many small white pattern
elements. It is likely a hybrid.

Left: The Q-Taro ray, in which large

white spots on jet black are prized.

SOUTH AMERICAN STINGRAYS are relatively rare in North aquarists worldwide. In the past, these “Black Diamond
American and European aquariums, mainly because Rays” have commanded five-digit prices. Through strict
these large animals need to be kept in very large tanks selection, breeders in Thailand created the variant “Super
with a lot of space. In Asia, the wild forms and breeding White Black Diamond,” in which the white dots were
variants of the Asian Arowana species Scleropages formo- bigger. Fish like this are highly sought after by breeders
sus are considered lucky charms. Those who can afford it and traded at astronomically high prices.
house them in huge tanks. The attractive bottom-dwell- Bey Thuan Wei, owner of the Golden Crossback
ing stingrays from clearwater rivers in central Brazil are Arowana Farm in Buchimera, Malaysia, has specialized
maintained “underneath” surface-oriented Arowanas. in the breeding of Asian Arowanas as well as beautiful
They are now being bred in large numbers in Thailand, rays. The breeding goal for the Q-Taro Ray (a name that
China, and other Asian countries. he says plays on the idea of fish meatballs) is to get the
Breeding large numbers of animals leads to frequent largest possible number of circular spots on a deep black
spontaneous mutations and color changes. Especially background.
with high-priced species, these mutations are often raised How the original “Super White Black Diamond”
and backcrossed with the parents in the hope of creating emerged is not clear. It probably started with a cross of P.
stable strains. This form of line-breeding is ancient, and leopoldi “Black Diamond” with P. albimaculata (P14), but
there is nothing really objectionable about it if the fish this cannot be proved. Crossbred animals from these two
are doing well, but it can be problematic to breed animals species have numerous white spots on their bodies, as the
of different species in order to create new forms and accompanying photos show. But whether these hybrids
colors. Both variants and different species of stingrays are were really the basis for the Q-Taro, or the variant was
often mated, creating hybrids and new forms. purely selected from particularly beautiful P. leopoldi
AMAZONAS

The black and white species Potamotrygon leopoldi, P. “Black Diamonds”, is unknown.
ALL: N. CHIANG

albimaculata, and P. henlei are often cultivated. In partic- The Q-Taro line is well fixed and produces very at-
ular, the beautiful variant of P. leopoldi from the middle tractive, high-contrast offspring, but most of us can only
Xingu near São Felix has always been very popular with dream of such stingrays, because most are sold in Asia.

12
Top left: Large indoor raceways for stingray culture at Golden
Crossback’s Arowana Breeding Farm in Buchimera.
Top right: A product of the crossing of P. leopoldi “Black Diamond” and
P. albimaculata (P14).
Left: The breeding goal is large, circular white spots on a deep black
background. This offspring from the Q-Taro line is on the right track.

AMAZONAS

13
AQUATIC

Bloodworms:
A Cautionary
Tale
by Matt Pedersen •

A Dwarf Pufferfish (Carinotetraodon

travancoricus) feeding on bloodworms.

CONSIDER THIS CASE: “When I was working in tropical fish attractive to finicky fishes. They are a classic and effective
retail, we had a customer who was hyperallergic to blood- conditioning food and have long been used by aquarium
worms. He usually called ahead to make sure we were not fish breeders to get their broodstock primed for spawning.
feeding frozen bloodworms for the two or three days prior, Bloodworms get their common name from their
because if we did, just walking into the store made him bright red coloration, a result of the hemoglobins in their
instantly unwell. Keep in mind that the entrance was 25–30 bodies. These hemoglobins are powerful oxygen scav-
yards away from the fish section. Direct bloodworm exposure engers that allow the larval chironomids to survive in
would send him to the hospital right away, as we found out organic-rich, oxygen-deprived bodies of water. The same
the hard way. hemoglobins are responsible for the allergic reactions that
“One day, before we knew of his sensitivity, we had fed some people have to coming in contact with bloodworms.
bloodworms and I bagged fish for him, of course holding the Researchers have understood for a long time that
bag with wet hands. A few drops of contaminated water on bloodworm allergies are found mainly among aquarists.
the outside seeped through the newspaper we wrapped the bag From a 2005 report, Fishing for Allergens: Bloodworm-
in and when he touched it, he literally fell over backwards. Induced Asthma: “Although chironomids can be found
Luckily, he had an EpiPen in his bag. An ambulance rushed in Europe, North America, and parts of Asia, allergies to
him to the hospital. This type of reaction isn’t common, but them are mainly due to their use as fish food. Individuals
rashes are quite frequent and bloodworm dust is definitely at particular risk of chironomid-induced allergy include
the worst.” fish farmers, fishermen, pet shop owners, and others who
—Reported by Stephan Tanner, Ph.D. keep fish or work with fish” (Wu et al. 2005).
Senior Editor, AMAZONAS Magazine
Awareness and pervasiveness of allergy
TOXOTES HUN/SHUTTERSTOCK

Whether you have a touch of itchy hands or (rarely) a But how many aquarium enthusiasts are aware of this
reaction so severe you’re heading to the ER, bloodworm potential health hazard? AMAZONAS Magazine sought to
AMAZONAS

allergy is a real health concern for some aquarists. A get a clearer picture of bloodworm allergies in the aquar-
popular, richly nutritious, and extremely effective fish ium hobby, and in May 2018 we conducted an informal
food that is usually sold in frozen or freeze dried ver- online survey of aquarists, receiving 445 responses from
sions, these bright red chironomid midge larvae are very the magazine’s readers.

14
 15
AMAZONAS
 Pigmented by rich
hemoglobins, these
live bloodworms are a
classic fish food used
by serious aquarists to
feed broodstock and
finicky fishes.

Nearly 99 percent of respondents said they

had fed bloodworms to their fishes, yet a full 40
percent were unaware of the allergy risk prior to
our survey.
A large minority of respondents (47 percent)
self-identified as being free from bloodworm al-
lergy. However, 34 percent identified themselves
as having a known or suspected allergy to blood-
worms, and 19 percent said they were “unsure.”
Chironomidae sp. midge Reporting that one in three aquarists may
female, the adult form of in have a bloodworm allergy seems extremely high
the bloodworm life cycle.
and raises the question of participation bias: TOP: VOVA SHEVCHUK / SHUTTERSTOCK; LEFT: JOHN RICHFIELD / WIKI COMMONS
These insects are found widely
in North America, Europe,
were people who believe they have an allergy
and parts of Asia. more likely to participate than those who don’t?
Perhaps, although an earlier study (Bauer 1992)
had remarkably similar findings—36.1 percent
of people who had “hobby-related” exposure to
bloodworms showed sensitivity to the associated
allergens in bloodworms.

How do bloodworm allergies present?

Of the people reporting symptoms in response to
bloodworm contact, 25 percent had a reaction the
AMAZONAS

very first time. Of those who didn’t have an imme-

diate reaction, 30 percent had an allergic reaction
within a year’s time, and the median time to first
reaction was four years.

16
 Symptoms of a bloodworm allergy are readily identifi-
Symptom
able (see table). Severity of reaction was rated on a scale Bloodworm Allergy Symptoms Prevalence Among
of 1 to 10; very mild (tolerable, requiring no mediation) Affected People
to most severe (potentially requiring a trip to the emer-
Itchy Skin 72%
gency room). Among individuals who initially responded
that they were “unsure” if they had a bloodworm allergy, Itchy Eyes 62%
the average severity rating of symptoms was 2.9/10. Of Red Eyes 60%
the people who identified as having a known or suspected Swollen Eyes 47%
allergy, the average rating was 5.6/10. Runny Nose 37%
Acceptable risks? Sneezing 35%
A full 64 percent of the respondents who reported having Hives 29%
known or suspected allergies said they were still coming Breathing Difficulties/Asthma 24%
into contact with bloodworms. When asked what they 12%
Other (freeform responses including
were doing to prevent or minimize bloodworm-associated
sweating, swollen extremities and/
problems, solutions included hand-washing (although or face, burning sensations, coughing,
often noted as ineffective) and minimizing contact by wheezing, and including one report of
wearing gloves, using feeding tongs, feeding proportioned anaphylaxis)
frozen worms (which require no direct handling), and
wearing face masks. Others noted that only certain forms
of the food caused reactions; multiple respondents said REFERENCES
they avoid freeze-dried bloodworms but seem okay when Fishing for Allergens: Bloodworm-Induced Asthma. https://www.ncbi.nlm.
working with frozen forms. But many, once they realized nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2877067/
they were allergic, opted to avoid bloodworms entirely. Insect hemoglobins (Chi tI) of the diptera family Chironomidae are relevant
environmental, occupational, and hobby-related allergens. https://www.
Continuing information ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1399031
“With the increasing popularity of aquariums, allergy to Chironomidae hemoglobin allergy in Japanese, Swedish, and German
chironomids may become less of a novelty and become populations. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8198244
something clinicians should be aware of when searching
for the cause of a patient’s atopic symptoms,” concluded
researchers Keith CP Wu and colleagues in 2005. In
other words, if you feed bloodworms, keep this informa-
tion in mind should you wind up going to the doctor
with symptoms.

If you are experiencing symptoms, it’s best

to get medical help or advice
To take our three- to twelve-question bloodworm allergy
survey, see a more detailed breakdown of the data on
which this report was based, get more information, and
read the stories of other aquarists, please visit our online
Bloodworm Survey Hub at http://www.reef2rainforest.
com/bloodworm-allergy

Anecdotally, dried bloodworms

reportedly cause more allergic
reactions than other forms, but
MIRKO ROSENAU/SHUTTERSTOCK

contact with frozen or live

worms can also affect those
with sensitivity to the
AMAZONAS

hemoglobins in these
insect larvae.

17
AQUATIC

Tetraodon schoutedeni:
a breeder’s dream come true
The Leopard Puffer is a by Herbert Nigl •
peaceful and attractive MY AQUARIUM HOBBY became a profession when I grew up, but my dream fish, Tetraodon
animal that only gets
schoutedeni, remained beyond my reach for many years. This pufferfish comes from the
about 4 inches (10 cm)
long.
Congo and is only collected there seasonally—and then rarely. Political instability and
the lack of a well-established export trade make regular shipments sporadic.
Below: During classic Hans-Georg Evers recently told me that there had been a report on the successful
puffer courtship, the spawning of Tetraodon schoutedeni in AMAZONAS (Baldus et al. 2016), but that the
smaller male’s belly
rearing of the fry had been unsuccessful. I was excited when I learned that the reason
turns a yellowish quince
color.
for this seemed to be the small size of the fry; because I was currently running into the
same problem with another breeding project, I already had access to a wide range of
possible food animals.

TOP: H. NIGL; BOTTOM: H. WEDEKIND

AMAZONAS

18
 Import successful
I immediately contacted an exporter I knew in the Con-
go. The first thing I heard was “very rare, very expensive.”
In fact, this supplier was able to procure 16 different sizes
of fish, and they all arrived alive. I acclimatized them
and kept them all together in one tank. They proved to
be peaceful, and there were no vicious squabbles. They
liked to eat snails, and feeder shrimps really made them
go crazy.
Over the following months I gave most of the ani-
mals to other breeders, promising to pick up any off-
spring. I offered a few to my friend Helmut Wedekind,
which made him very happy. After only a few weeks he
called to let me know that his pufferfish were laying eggs.
He said that around lunchtime, the male nipped at the
belly of the female and the pair swam together through
the tank to spawn. This was repeated several times, but
Helmut did not have the appropriate food for the tiny
larvae, which were now hatching regularly. With a heavy
heart, he decided to return the fish—I was better equipped
to rear their fry, thanks to the other project I already had
going and my access to appropriate foods.

Successful breeding and rearing

Before Helmut brought the fish to me we talked about
ideal water values, and I decided to keep them at 400 μS.
The tank was about 30 inches (80 cm) long, 12 inches

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 A) Leopard Puffer
eggs 5 hours after
oviposition.

B) An 24-hour-old egg.
C) After 48 hours the
embryos can be
seen through the
eggshells.

D) These eggs are 72

hours old.
E) An egg at 96 hours;
it is about to hatch.
F) A Tetraodon
A B schoutedeni larva
shortly after
hatching.

G) A hatchling and an
8-day-old juvenile.
H) A small Tetraodon
schoutedeni, 67 days
old.

C D

E F G

Beginning on the second day, I started doing daily

water changes with pure osmosis water. After exactly
one week I had a conductance of about 60 μS and found
the first (roughly) 2,000 eggs distributed on the floor
H
throughout the tank. I was absolutely delighted and im-
mediately called Helmut to tell him that he had prepared
the animals well over the past few weeks.
(30 cm) wide, and 12 inches (30 cm) high. I skipped The following day, some individual eggs were fungal.
the substrate but stuck a handful of plastic plants in one After about five days the fry hatched. I transferred them
AMAZONAS

corner. The following day I started feeding the fish. They into a 4-gallon (15-L) tub to make it easier to watch
eagerly ate medium ramshorn snails and feeder shrimp. them feeding. I lost about 50 percent of the eggs to fun-
The smaller male usually hid among the plants and was gus, so starting with the second clutch I used an antifun-
H. NIGL

not as greedy for the food as the female. gal drug. The fish were now spawning punctually every

20
 seven days, and I was losing only
10 percent of the eggs at most. On The male nips the larger
average, each clutch yielded 1,000 to female’s fleshy belly
as an inducement to
2,000 eggs.
spawn.
Two to three days after hatching,
I began to feed the babies Brachionus
rotundiformis rotifers (a standard
food used by marine breeders),
which I fed with a mixture of 10
different microalgae (phytoplank-
ton) species. I assumed the larvae
were taking the rotifers, because
they were slowly growing. After nine
days I started to offer newly hatched
Artemia nauplii, which I had set up
12 hours earlier, and some larvae
were able to eat the baby brine
shrimp. I still kept the fry in their
tub and continued with the daily
water changes. After three more
days, all the larvae were able to eat
Artemia and I transferred them to
my rearing facility, where the water
changes became automatic. About a
week later, I was feeding them 24- to
48-hour-old Artemia that, 12 to 36
hours earlier, had been fed a mixture
of 10 different microalgae.
At the age of about six weeks, the
fry ate their first Grindal worms, and
two weeks later they got their first
well-rinsed Tubifex. After that they
had a significant spurt. Now, 67 days
after hatching, the first fry measure
about 0.8–1.2 cm, and I hope that I
will soon be able to hand them over
to pet shops for the first time.
Nowadays teenagers can prob-
ably afford to buy the animals
that result from our breeding, and
we will do our utmost to produce
the species regularly so that we
can make this very suitable puff-
erfish available to everyone. A big
thank you to the breeding team at
Aquarium Deitzenbach, especially
Rainhard, who conditioned our
broodstock so well.

REFERENCE

Baldus, S., M. Meyer, and O.A. Schneider.

2016. Erfahrungen mit dem Leopard-Kugelfisch
AMAZONAS

(Tetraodon schoutedeni). German AMAZONAS

69, 13 (1): 40–45.
H. WEDEKIND

21
AQUATIC
by Stefanie Merker, Ph.D. •

Against the current

The Zebra Danio (Danio rerio) is often TO REALLY UNDERSTAND BRAIN FUNCTION, scientists need to look at the brain in
used in neurological research. A new terms of both behavioral algorithms (“What exactly does the brain do?”) and
paper explores how this fish achieves
neural implementation (“How does the brain do what it does?”). They assume
rheotaxis or orientation in water currents.
that the brain uses algorithms as guidelines that control behaviors—switches
for processing sensory impressions, decision-making, and motor control. By
carefully observing triggering factors and resulting behaviors, they hope to
AMAZONAS

isolate the brain’s built-in controls. Once a particular algorithm is understood

and described, scientists can analyze the neural transformations by examin-
ing and manipulating the underlying nerve cell circuits in the appropriate
behavioral context.

22
 Florian Engert of Harvard University and Ruben before and after a swim period, the fish can effectively
Portugues of the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology calculate how the gradient has changed during active
and have now found such an algorithm. Their research swimming and then adjust their behavior accordingly.”
focused on figuring out how zebrafish larvae recognize Building on those results, the scientists succeeded in
the presence of a current and hold their position in it. describing the exact algorithms that convert sensory in-
This orientation of living beings in a current, known as formation from the lateral line into motor commands.
rheotaxis, sounds simple enough, but it has mystified Computer simulations confirmed that the rather simple
scientists for a long time. It does not seem that a fish algorithm provoked the rheotaxis behavior that re-
that swims in uniformly flowing water should be able to searchers had observed experimentally.
distinguish the direction from which the flow is coming “Lateral line organs are often overlooked as sensory
in the dark—a human with eyes closed can’t tell in which modalities; because we humans do not have them our-
direction a train is traveling, or even that it is moving, selves, we may find it difficult to relate to them,” muses
when its speed is constant. How do zebrafish manage it? Portugues. “But, as we have seen, they are extremely
The scientists identified the lateral line organ as one interesting!” A fish must summarize the information
of the most important sensory organs for rheotaxis. The gathered by the hair cells around its body in each time
lateral line consists of a dense collection of tiny hair frame and calculate an estimate of the flow gradient.
cells that can detect local changes in water flow. Zebraf- “Basically, the fish calculates a vector integral, re-
ish larvae swim for periods of 250 milliseconds, between members the result, executes it, and compares it to the
which they rest for 1 second. The researchers showed that new integral—that is amazing!” Engert adds. After this
during these breaks the fish take a kind of snapshot of exciting insight, the researchers now want to find out
the water flow around their bodies, which results from how the fish’s brain performs these calculations.
local linear flow gradients.
“When we disrupted their tails’ lateral line, the REFERENCE
fish could not feel the presence of a current and no Oteiza, P. et al. 2017. A novel mechanism for mechanosensory-based
longer exhibited rheotaxis—they drifted away,” explains rheotaxis in larval zebrafish. Nature 547: 445–48, doi:10/1038/
Pablo Oteiza, first author of the study. His colleague, nature23014.2017.
Iris Odstrcil, adds, “By measuring this flow gradient

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 C OV E R STORY

CONGO
TETRAS From the heart of Africa—
beauty and biodiversity in
seldom-explored waters

Andinoacara biseriatus, from

the region around Tadó and
Quibdó in Colombia, is a
very nice smaller cichlid that
has finally been exported.
Phenacogrammus sp. “Fantastique” is
one of the most beautiful of the tetras
discovered in the past few years.
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24
 by Roland Numrich • The Congo Tetra, Phenacogrammus interruptus,
is a spectacular species that has long had a place of honor in large
community aquariums holding African fishes. But there are other
“Congo tetras” from the genera Alestes, Alestopetersius, Bathyaeth-
iops, and Phenacogrammus that deserve our attention. Little is known
about the biotopes of these Congo tetras, family Alestidae, as the
countries of origin—the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo—are either very unstable politically or rarely
visited by aquarists. Our author reports on his collecting trips there.

SEVERAL TIMES IN RECENT YEARS I had the opportunity to travel to the Republic of
Congo, also known as Congo Brazzaville, and observe and catch a number of
different Congo tetras in various biotopes. I would like to introduce some of
these African habitats and the tetras that live in them.

River Lefini, Republic of the Congo, home to

Phenacogrammus and Nannopetersius species
The Lefini River flows through the Bateke Highlands, a savannah landscape
that extends from southeastern Gabon across the central Congo to the
Congo River. The savannah is drained by the Lefini with small tributaries in
the middle and lower reaches. The deeply cut creeks and streams are lined
with gallery and remnant forests. Even in the dry season, the rivers are full
of water and there are small rapids. The Lefini is a whitewater river, while
the small tributaries are clearwater streams. There were once great rapids
in the lower Lefini, but today, due to the construction of a hydroelectric
R. NUMRICH; INSET: GUILLERMO GUERAO SERRA / SHUTTERSTROCK

Traveling a calm stretch of the Lefini

River, a tributary of the great Congo
River, in the Republic of the Congo.

Left: The popular Congo Tetra,

Phenacogrammus interruptus, now
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captive-bred in large numbers.

25
 A male gold-striped Phenacogrammus
aurantiacus from the Lefini drainage. the deep forest under overhanging
branches.
The description of the species
is uncertain because P. aurantiacus
was determined from the Sangha
River by ichthyologists, and these
fish’s coloration is clearly different
from that of the Lefini animals.
Gery (1995) depicts a P. aurantiacus
from Gabon (Makokou), which dif-
fers significantly from our animals.
So the species status of the Lefini
form is not yet settled, and we may
be dealing with an undescribed spe-
cies. Zamba (2010) called the form
P. aurantiacus. Until final clarifica-
tion, we should use this name.

Nannopetersius lamberti
This species, which is up to 4 inches
(10 cm) long, lives in forest brooks
in the middle reaches of the Lefini
drainage. The biotopes are fast-
flowing, cool forest streams with
sandy bottoms, fallen branches, and
Anubias-like plants from the arum
family. Unlike the Phenacogrammus
species, this species lives alone or in
A freshly caught Nannopetersius small groups.
lamberti exhibiting fright coloration.
Bryconaethiops microstoma
This larger species, which is very
widespread in the central Congo
Alestopetersius cf. caudalis basin, lives in the same habitat in
from the Lefini River. small groups or solo.

Alestopetersius cf. caudalis

This species, which is similar to
the well-known Yellow Congo
Tetra (Alestopetersius caudalis), was
recently collected for the first time.
Unfortunately, the exact locations
and biotopes in the Lefini area are
not yet known.

The Congo tetras of the

Likouala-Mambili river
TOP AND BOTTOM: F. WANG; MIDDLE: R. NUMRICH

system
The rivers of the Likouala system
dam, they have disappeared. The rapids were a barrier to are located near the equator and north of it in the border
Congo River fishes migrating upstream. area with Gabon. Unlike the rivers in the Lefini area, the
rivers and streams here are typical equatorial rainforest
Phenacogrammus aurantiacus
AMAZONAS

rivers and experience flooding during the pronounced

This species gets about 2.8 to 3 inches (7–8 cm) long rainy season. The soils, foliage, and wood that enter the
and inhabits large tributaries of the Lefini. It lives in big water create typical blackwater conditions, with extreme-
groups of 50 to 100 individuals in the dark shadows of ly low degrees of hardness and low pH values.

26
 Hyphessobrycon cf. melanostichos has red on the upper
eye ring and in the tail fin. Otherwise, the species is hardly
distinguishable from the syntopic species H. melanostichos.

Collecting Nannopetersius lamberti in the Lefini system.

Phenacogrammus sp. “Makoua Orange”

The habitats of this and the following species are forest The Kouyou system comprises blackwater rivers.
streams that remain about 6 to 10 feet (2–3 m) deep
throughout the year. Phenacogrammus sp. “Makoua
Orange” migrates into smaller forest streams during
the rainy season. The species grows to a size of 4 inches
(10 cm) and lives syntopically with Phenacogrammus sp.
“Fantastique”. If the water level drops, the fish move back
into the deeper streams.
Phenacogrammus sp. “Makoua Orange” may be
widespread in the Congo. In the description of P. bleheri
there is a picture of a similar/identical species from
the region of Gemena in the north of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. In Gery (1995) the fish is called
Phenacogrammus sp. aff. aurantiacus (form described as P.
heterodontus?). The body shape and color, but especially
the tailfin patterns, are similar to those of P. sp. “Makoua The habitat of Phenacogrammus aurantiacus
Orange”. Heiko Bleher, who collected the form in the in the Lefini drainage.
Lindi River, thinks the forms are identical (pers. comm.).

Phenacogrammus sp. “Mini Makoua Orange”

From a group of Phenacogrammus sp. “Makoua Orange”, Phenacogrammus sp. “Fantastique”
AMAZONAS

Stanislav Kislyuk selected a few specimens of a very In November 2015, I caught this new species for the first
similar but more colorful and smaller species. In contrast time in a small forest stream that flows into the Lik-
R. NUMRICH

to the large species, which has blue eyes, the eyes of the ouala. With a maximum length of 2.4 inches (6 cm), it
“mini” are yellow/orange. is currently the smallest known Congo tetra species and

27
 Phenacogrammus sp. “Fantastique” is a glorious new
species and the smallest known Congo tetra, often found in
large schools.

Bathyaethiops greeni is widespread in the Likouala. lives in small, shallow streams in the rainforest. In
the dry season you can catch them in large schools
of 30–50 animals.
The biotope is a cola-colored stream with very
soft, acidic water. The bottom is made of white sand,
driftwood, and leaves. Because the forest is so dark,
there are no underwater plants here. However, as
soon as the stream emerges from the rainforest,
Nymphea species and an Eleocharis species can be
seen growing on the banks.
Habitat notes I made in February 2016, 11:30
a.m.: Dry season, sunny, air temperature 89.6°F
(32°C); water temperature 75.2°F (24°C), pH-Wert
4.5, conductivity 15 μS/cm. These values do not
change, whether it is the rainy or dry season.

Bathyaethiops greeni
I caught this species in forest streams that flow into
the Likouala. It is widespread in the central Congo
Phenacogrammus aurantiacus “Ringo” after catching. In the basin in various habitats in both small forest streams
aquarium, the base color of the body turns a golden yellow, and large rivers. This beautiful species is very rarely
making the fish distinguishable from those from the Lefini.
exported from blackwater rivers around Kinshasa. I
was only able to find males with a pronounced red
hump in the northern Congo. The species lives here
in large schools in small forest streams, always with
just a few large, fully colored males.

Phenacogrammus aurantiacus “Ringo”

from the Kouyou system
AMAZONAS

The Kouyou flows between the Lefini and the Likoua-

S. HAMADA

la, in the savannah area near the equator. Near the

town of Owando I fished a biotope in the savannah

28
 Alestes sp. “Mambili”

with mature forest and caught a Congo tetra Freshly caught Phenacogrammus sp. “Makoua Orange”.
that is probably similar to the P. aurantiacus
form from the Lefini. The biotope is varied and
inhabited by a variety of fish species, depend-
ing on the habitat. As soon as the river emerges
into the sunlight, the water, enriched with
humic matter, appears to be on fire. This Congo
tetra species, spontaneously named “Phenaco
Ringo” by our collectors after the leader of their
group, lives only in the darkest parts of the
river. At first we thought the forms from the
Lefini and the Kouyou were a little different,
but after keeping them for some time in my
aquariums I can no longer see any difference.
Interestingly, in April 2017 the fishermen found
and caught Phenacogrammus sp. “Fantastique”
in the Kouyou River basin. Congo tetras from Mbandaka and
Lake Mai-Ndombe
Congo tetras of the Mambili On a trip in 1996 to the city of Mbandaka in the central
On a trip in February 2016, I briefly visited the Mambili Congo basin (Cuvette Central) in the Democratic Repub-
River in the northern Congo, where I found Phenaco- lic of the Congo, I was able to catch an unusual Congo
grammus interruptus, the Congo Tetra, for the first time. tetra. We originally referred to it as Tricuspidalestes caeru-
In a small, open forest stream we managed to catch a leus, but it probably belongs to the species Alestopetersius
large group of adult specimens under an overhanging brichardi. Individual animals have often been imported
tree whose drooping branches provided them shelter. On from this area as bycatches, but never as a targeted
the Mambili itself, we caught a large group of juvenile import. In the summer of 2017, we were able to import
Bathyaethiops greeni near the shore area in the early 45 individuals of this species. They were caught near Lake
morning hours. Omnipresent in the river was a Brycinus Mai-Ndombe and its tributaries. Freshly imported males
AMAZONAS

“robber tetra” species that moved in loose gangs through have very elongated dorsal, anal, and caudal fin fila-
the water. Five different species of Phenacogrammus have ments. The filaments, as well as the red color, are initially
R. NUMRICH

been collected by American ichthyologists in the upper lost quickly but form again as the fish ages, and in very
reaches of the Mambili. So there is still much to find! soft water with humic substances and low pH.

29
 Alestopetersius nigropterus ing in the black waters of the Likouala, I know that the
A common import from the area around Lake Mai- intense red fin coloration completely disappears within
Ndombe and its outflow, the Lukeni, is Alestopetersius three days, even if the fish are kept in water from the
nigropterus. Depending on the place of origin and care original habitat during transport. Two Bathyaethiops
conditions during transport, the animals arrive with species are also exported from this area via Kinshasa: B.
cherry-red or colorless fins. From my experience collect- caudomaculatus, common in the Congo, and B. greeni.

Outlook
Alestopetersius brichardi lives in the tributaries of Lake Due to the significantly improved road
Mai-Ndombe (Black Water). conditions in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo in the last five years, almost
all parts of the country are easily accessi-
ble to collectors of ornamental fishes, so
it is likely that several new Congo tetras
will be discovered there over the next few
years. However, the situation in the Re-
public of the Congo continues to be tense
and risky for ornamental fish exports, so
we cannot expect many new species from
there in the near future.

REFERENCES

Boulenger, G.A. 1899. Matériaux pour la faune

du Congo. Zoologie. Série I. Poissons nouveaux
Phenacogrammus sp. “Makoua Orange Mini” was bycatch du Congo. Quatrième Partie. Polyptères, Clupes,
in a shipment of Phenacogrammus sp. “Makoua Orange”. Mormyres, Characins. Ann Musee Congo (Ser.
Apparently the two species are sympatric. Zoology) 1 (4): 59–96, pls. 30–39.
Fowler, H.W. 1949. Results of the two Carpenter
African expeditions, 1946–1948, part. II: The fishes.
Proc Acad Nat Sci Phil 101: 233–275.
Géry, J. 1995. Description of new or poorly known
Alestinae (Teleostei: Characiformes: Alestidae) from
Africa, with a note on the generic concept in the
Alestinae. Aqua 1 (4): 37–63.
———. 1996. On a small collection of characiform
fishes from the middle Sangha River, Zaire basin,
with the description of a new Phenacogrammus
(Teleostei: Ostariophysi: Alestidae). Aqua 2 (1):
4–11.
Mbimbi Mayi Munene, J.J. and M.L.J. Stiassny. 2012.
A new Alestopetersius (Characiformes: Alestidae)
from the Kwilu River (Kasai basin) of central Africa;
with a phylogeny for the genus and synonymy of
Duboisialestes. Zootaxa 3166: 59–68.
Alestopetersius nigropterus is occasionally collected for the Moritz, T. and U.K. Schliewen. 2016. Description of
hobby in Lake Mai-Ndombe and its tributaries. two new Bathyaethiops species (Teleostei: Alestidae)
from the Congo basin. Zootaxa 4117 (4): 476–490.
Pellegrin, J. 1930. Poissons de l’Ogôoué, du Kouilou,
TOP AND BOTTOM: R. NUMRICH; MIDDLE: S. KISLYUK

de l’Alima et de la Sangha recueillis par M.A.

Bandon. Description de cinq espèces et cinq variétés
nouvelles. Bull Soc Zool France 55: 196–210.
Poll, M. 1945. Descriptions de Mormyridae et de
Characidae nouveaux du Congo belge avec une étude
du genre Stomatorhinus et des genres de Characidae
nains africains. Rev Zool Bot Africaines 39 (1):
36–77.
AMAZONAS

———. 1967. Révision des Characidae nains Africans.

Annales, Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren,
Série in 8o, Sciences Zoologiques 162: 1–158.

30
 Thank You
for 50 Incredible Years!
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31
 CONGO
GOLD
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32
 C OV E R STORY

Opposite page,
top: Male Congo
Gold Tetra,
Phenacogrammus
aurantiacus.
Opposite page,
bottom: At first glance,
the only difference
article & images by Stanislav Kislyuk • between males and
The Ogooué (Ogowe) River system is females is fin length.
Their coloring is
home to some of the most beautiful tetra similar.
species in the Old World, including, in Above: With the onset
the extremely acidic black water, Africa’s of sexual maturity
males develop a long
live gold: Phenacogrammus aurantiacus. dorsal fin, initially the
only reliable gender
difference.
Below: Spawning in
the wool mop of the
spawning trap.

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33
 Eggs on day 1 after spawning. Day 2: The larva and yolk sac can be seen inside the
transparent egg.

Just over three years ago, a very special type of tetra ar- and anal fins, and crimson scales can also be seen on the
rived in Europe, and I was fortunate to acquire a group abdomen. But the longitudinal gold band was what gave
of them: Phenacogrammus aurantiacus. The animals were this fish its common name, the Congo Gold Tetra. The
not fully grown but already displayed beautiful colors. Is iridescent blue eyes are a very attractive bonus.
this sexual dimorphism? No! In contrast to the well-
known Congo Tetra, Phenacogrammus interruptus, and Aquarium basics
Alestopetersius caudalis, the differentiation of the sexes in Mature males reach 2.8 to 3 inches (7–8 cm) in length;
this species is minimal in subadult specimens. Only sexu- females are about 0.4 inch (1 cm) shorter. A shoal of
ally mature males can be recognized by their long dorsal six or eight animals can be kept in an aquarium with a
fins, which in extreme cases grow as long as the body. volume of 20 gallons (80 L), because P. aurantiacus is
But even immature fish are impressive. Between the very peaceful toward other fishes. However, they are not
olive back and the broad, dark side stripe there is a strik- shy, and it is especially important to ensure that they
ing golden band that turns to orange on the rear half of have enough open water for swimming. Some branching
the body. The same gold-orange color extends through driftwood would contribute a natural look. The species is
the lower flank area. Depending on the amount of light, not particularly fussy about water values; medium-hard,
you can sometimes see crimson in the dorsal, caudal, neutral water is perfectly adequate.

At the age of about four weeks, the

juvenile fish are “out of the woods.”
They eat Artemia nauplii and have
a dark spot on the caudal peduncle
and caudal fin base; the spots
disappear over the next few weeks.
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34
Day 3: The embryos darken in the eggs. The larvae on the verge of hatching. The first larvae (left)
hatched on the morning of the fifth day.

Failed breeding efforts

Both West and Central Africa are notorious for their
unstable political situations, and from time to time fish
exports are interrupted. Some interesting species have
already been lost. So my first goal after acquiring P. au-
rantiacus was to establish the species in the trade through
captive breeding. After about six months I saw the males
chasing the females, but they did not spawn despite the
apparent courtship. I decided it was time to try targeted
breeding experiments.
Their big relatives, P. interruptus, are quite easy to
breed. As a starting point I used the same conditions for After hatching, the larvae have small
yolk sacs; they consume most of the
P. aurantiacus, but it soon became obvious that the Gold
sac within the next 24 hours.
Tetras ceased their courtship activities immediately after
being transferred to a typical breeding tank with a spawn-
ing screen and Java Moss, and did not resume them even
after weeks. They obviously felt uncomfortable in this new
environment. In the spring, the fish completely stopped all
Larva on the first day after reaching the
courtship behavior, and I devoted myself to other species. free-swimming stage.

Renewed efforts
During a very warm September, I made another attempt
at breeding the fish. I moved the entire group to a large,
shallow tank measuring about 60 x 20 x 10 inches (150 x
50 x 25 cm) and removed all the décor, leaving only the
substrate. The temperature often reached 81–82°F (27–
28°C), and I sometimes skipped water changes for several
AMAZONAS

weeks. At the beginning of October it turned noticeably

cooler; now the time had come to simulate the rainy sea-
son. I switched off the lights, and after a few days started
doing small, then increasingly larger water changes. I fed

35
 A ready female followed him to his spot and exten-
sively examined the spawning substrate. Then the two
animals pressed their lower bodies close together and the
female expelled the eggs, lightning-fast, into the mop.
As a result, all the eggs were safe. I never saw other Gold
The neon-blue eyes develop when the
Tetras trying to eat them. A large female can lay 300 to
larvae are three months old. 400 reddish eggs during a single spawning. At the end
of the day, up to 1,000 eggs were under the protective
spawning screen.

Rearing lessons
Unfortunately, only 50 young animals survived to the
free-swimming stage. What had happened? The eggs
turned white rapidly and kept dying, until I realized that
the losses were significantly lower at night. I remem-
bered that when breeding Cardinal Tetras, the tank must
be darkened after spawning. Darkening the Gold Tetra
breeding tank had the effect of decreasing daytime losses
to only a few eggs. Further breeding experiments showed
The beautiful golden color is developing that you can do without darkening the room if very dark
splendidly in this young fish (five months). black water is used. This makes sense, since the species
occurs in black water in the wild.
The surviving eggs developed rapidly. By the second
day I could already see a small, twisting larva in each egg,
and on the third day the eyes were visible for the first
time. If you have darkened the tank, you should now
stop doing so, lest it cause delayed hatching and develop-
mental dysfunction. If methylene blue has been used to
prevent fungal infections, the eggs should be transferred
to fresh water with the same water values.
At 75–77°F (24–25°C), hatching occurs between
the fourth and sixth day after fertilization. The larvae
At about six months, the males develop need another two or three days to consume their yolk
their long dorsal fins. sacs. When they become free-swimming they are about
3 mm long and require correspondingly small food. For
me, a particularly small species of brine shrimp, Artemia
the fish plenty of frozen and live food, and I noticed very persimilis, has worked for rearing. The rearing aquariums
soon that the females were gravid. should be kept meticulously clean and have adequate
Now I placed a spawning trap with a glass bottom in water movement. Regular water changes of 50 percent of
the tank. To make it interesting for the animals, I placed the volume every two or three days are required. For the
a wool mop on the screen. Fresh driftwood provided sake of hygiene, I do not use any kind of decoration; the
more coverage and supported the low pH of 3.5 with young fish are good swimmers from the beginning, just
leaching humic acids. After the conductivity fell below like their parents, and do not need hiding places.
250 μS/cm, I switched on the evening light for three or The fish can be adjusted to normal water values
four hours. slowly. The critical phase is over after three weeks. From
then on there are few, if any, noticeable losses. At this
Success! point the juveniles will also accept fine dry food. They
A few days later, I noticed a lot of activity in the aquarium. also develop the typical blue eyes and have a small black
The otherwise peaceful male tetras fought fiercely and spot on the caudal fin. After about three months the
tried with all their might to attract females, but the fe- young tetras look physically very similar to their parents,
males only had eyes for the male who had taken over the and the black longitudinal band begins to show. A few
wool mop. In later breeding trials I realized that they pre- weeks later, the golden color is also recognizable. At the
AMAZONAS

fer dense, fine plants and artificial plants. The preferred age of about one year the fish become sexually mature.
male vehemently defended the mop against intruders and My second generation was less demanding in their breed-
tried to attract the females. He repeatedly lay down on the ing requirements. Low pH values are not mandatory, but
fibers and his whole body shivered dramatically. soft water is necessary.

36
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37
 F I SH R O O M TOUR Interview by Hans-Georg Evers

STILL CRAZY, BUT NOW

HIS PASSION IS AFRICAN TETRAS

Torsten Schwede with several

of his 6.5-foot (2-m) tanks.

Over the last few years Long-time AMAZONAS readers may remember that in AMAZONAS January/
February 2012, our L-CATS issue, we introduced “crazy catfish keeper” Torsten
Torsten Schwede has Schwede. A few years later we visited him again, but not to see his L-number
collected a considerable catfishes, which he still keeps but in diminished numbers. He has now dedicated
most of his extensive facility to the care and breeding of Congo tetras, family
number of attractive
Alestidae. These jewels from the heart of the African rainforests swim in large,
Congo tetra species beautifully maintained aquariums.
and is breeding several.
AMAZONAS: Good morning, Torsten. Thank you for letting me pester you with ques-
AMAZONAS visited tions once again. I’m seeing the largest number of Phenacogrammus and Alestopeter-
him in Kalkenkirchen, sius species I have ever encountered in one place. Why just Congo tetras?

Germany, to check out

Torsten Schwede: That question is easy to answer. In 2007, while looking for
his system. some fishes to swim above my catfishes, I visited a breeder who was breeding
AMAZONAS

large numbers of the popular Congo Tetra Phenacogrammus interruptus, also

ALL: H.-G. EVERS

called Blue Congo Tetras, in his basement. We got to talking, and I asked him
how he reared his fish. He must have taken it the wrong way, thinking I was
trying to discover his breeding secrets—he became angry and threw me out of

38
A small display tank holding
Alestopetersius brichardi. Next to
it is the workstation, behind it the
breeding setup.

his basement. I didn’t understand, but I finally decided You house each species in its own aquarium. The six 2-m [6.5-
to find out for myself how to breed Blue Congo Tetras. foot] tanks here contain quite large groups of animals. Your
That has worked out wonderfully, and I’m still breeding system is apparently designed for Congo tetras. What are the
that species regularly. important parameters for the successful care these fishes?
And what problems can arise when keeping them?
I can see that. The school in your 4-m [13-foot] tank is prob-
ably your offspring, right? I keep the breeding animals in the big tanks, and later I
separate out the breeding trios (one male, two females)
Yes, I’ve got 175 P. interruptus in all sizes and about 50 or pairs and put them in smaller breeding tanks. In addi-
half-grown Congo Gold Tetras, P. aurantiacus “Lefini”, tion to having an appropriately sized tank and sufficient
which I still want to breed. Congo tetras feel most swimming space, it is essential that the fishes have a
comfortable and grow best when they are kept in large place to which they can retreat. These animals are very
groups, in spacious aquariums with lots of swimming skittish, especially in the first weeks, and want to hide.
room. I obtain groups of up to 50 fish to prepare them If they are unable to do so, they panic at the slightest
optimally for breeding and to have a large selection of disturbance and injure their mouths. White snouts from
AMAZONAS

breeding animals. You need a little bit of patience with bumping into glass are a clear indication of a problem
Congo tetras, because they do not grow very fast—it can with the aquarium setup. I paint the back and sides of
take them a year or more to become fully grown, or at mine and provide large roots and stones as retreat areas
least able to breed. in the back, and the fishes like them.

39
 A typical breeding tank. This one has just been set up for
this pair of Phenacogrammus sp. “Makoua Orange”.

The water temperature should not be too high. At do not love and breed fishes for profit, but because I find
80.6 to 82.4°F (27–28°C), most species begin to feel their looks and behavior fascinating. There are so many
unwell, turn pale, and are more easily frightened. In the exciting things to discover about the Congo tetras, it
big aquariums, I change a third of the water about every would be a shame not to let the public know about that!
three weeks. In the rearing block, which has central In discussions with Roland Numrich, I have learned
filtration, I installed an automatic water changer that can that the species occur in either clear or pure black water.
replace up to a quarter of the water daily, depending on I try to replicate that as closely as possible. I keep my P.
the stocking density. The waste water goes to a cistern in aurantiacus “Lefini” and “Ringo” and my Phenacogram-
the garden. I feed the adults five times a week, the juve- mus sp. “Makoua Orange” in medium-hard, relatively
niles several times a day. If they are to be spawned I offer clear water, while my Phenacogrammus sp. “Fantastique”
nutritious food, like insect larvae. Also, I do not hesitate and Alestopetersius brichardi swim in water that is nearly
to condition the separated females with Tubifex for sev- black. I use so much water that I must resort to using our
eral weeks before I put them in the breeding tanks. medium-hard tap water (about 12°dGH), but I add alder
cones, oak, beech, and walnut leaves, and sometimes
You don’t seem to have a problem sharing your own breed- even almond leaves until I reach the desired color. These
ing secrets! What about the water? tetras really shine in dark tanks. The males, in particular,
have the most beautiful colors. Watching them is better
I am happy to help any aquarist who wants to breed these than any TV program!
exciting fishes. The era of keeping secrets should be over
once and for all. The few remaining breeders among us Surely you must adjust these water values for breeding?
should work together and not let envy and greed prevail. I
Yes, I set the water temperature
to 75–77°F (24–25°C). I place a
spawning screen on the bottom
Torsten Schwede’s aquarium system and put in peat fibers and oak
1 tank 400 x 100 x 65 cm (157 x 39 x 26 inches) leaves as a substrate. I use pure
1 tank 280 x 80 x 60 cm (110 x 31 x 24 inches) rainwater because I believe it is
6 tanks 200 x 60 x 30 cm (79 x 24 x 12 inches) more “alive” than reverse osmosis
1 block of 11 tanks = 3,500 L (925 gallons) with central sump water. I can’t explain why, but rain-
1 block of small rearing tanks = 1,500 L (396 gallons) with central sump water definitely works much better.
5 breeding tanks: For every 2.6 gallons (10 L) of
AMAZONAS

• 4 tanks 60 x 30 x 30 cm (24 x 12 x 12 inches) water I add about a cup of strong

• 1 tank 80 x 40 x 30 cm (31 x 16 x 12 inches) East Frisian tea (a full-bodied
6 rearing tanks 100 x 55 x 40 cm (39 x 22 x 16 inches) blend of Darjeeling, Ceylon, and
1 show tank 100 x 50 x 40 cm (39 x 20 x 16 inches) Assam—that is no joke!). That is

40
The large aquariums are
reserved for the breeding
animals. Schwede uses
the block of tanks behind
them for rearing.

The 13-foot (4-m) aquarium at the

front of the room is stunning. The
tank below looks tiny in comparison,
but it is over 9 feet (280 cm) long!
AMAZONAS

41
 how I currently breed P. interruptus
and Alestopetersius nigropterus, as well
as the Yellow Congo Tetra (A. cauda-
lis). These species are very similar. For
every female I get about 200 to 250
crystal clear, relatively large eggs. After
spawning I separate out a trio and set
them up again after seven or eight days.
If they are in the right rhythm, a trio
can produce thousands of offspring.
I do not do that because I don’t have
enough space.

And the rearing? How do you do it?

Actually, that is pretty simple. After I Everything started with

have removed the adults I put the eggs the Blue Congo Tetra
(Phenacogrammus
with an air hose and fresh water of
interruptus).
the same quality into a bucket, which
I ventilate lightly and place in a dark
place. Congo tetras’ eggs are sometimes
quite sensitive to light. After about six Congo tetras are sociable fishes and should
or seven days the juveniles swim free, be cared for in large groups. These half-grown
Phenacogrammus sp. “Fantastique” are already
and I begin to feed them rotifers. As is
coloring up.
true of many tetras, Congo tetra larvae
are very sensitive to infusoria and
bacteria. Therefore, I use a UV water
clarifier even before the first feeding.
After the rotifers I move on to Banana
and Micro Worms, and finally, after
about a week, Artemia nauplii. I check
the larvae with a magnifying glass to
see how they are doing with the various
foods. Later I offer frozen Cyclops and
live Daphnia. Blue Congo Tetras grow
fast—after six months they already
measure 2.4 inches (6 cm).

Super interesting information, thank you!

You currently keep all of the available
species and plan to breed them all. My Imported Phenacogrammus sp. “Fantastique” are
final question: Do you have a “dream almost all males. It was not until Torsten acquired a
large group of relatively small wild fish that he was
fish”? One that would be the ultimate
able to find some females.
goal for you?

Of course! I don’t have to think long

to answer that. Phenacogrammus
bleheri is my absolute dream fish. It
would be great to keep this gorgeous
Congo tetra, but I also have so many
other beautiful fishes that I don’t mind
waiting for a while.
AMAZONAS

I have that fish on my list, too. I will keep

my fingers crossed. Thank you for the
enlightening conversation!

42
 7
test kits

Phenacogrammus sp. “Makoua Orange” can get over 4 inches (10 cm)
long overall. This male is not yet fully grown and colored.

Alestopetersius nigropterus can

be reproduced with some effort.

Bathyaethiops breuseghemi is an
uncommonly seen Congo tetra.

easy to use
extremly accurate
quick results
TOP: H.-G. EVERS; TWO MIDDLE PHOTOS: F. WANG; BOTTOM: H. BLEHER

Bathyaethiops breuseghemi,
sometimes called the African
Moon Tetra.

We Lo v e Fi s h www.sera-usa.com
 VIVARIUMS

Specklinia grobyi (known

prior as Pleurothallis grobyi)
is a miniature orchid from
Ecuador in the author’s big
home-office vivarium.

Inset: Dr. Adeljean Ho, an

evolutionary ecologist based
in Florida.

Opposite page: The author’s

large vivarium houses
tropical plants, dart frogs,
fishes, shrimps, and more.
AMAZONAS

44
Jungle in a glass box
An interview with Dr. Adeljean Ho
by Matt Pedersen with images by Adeljean Ho, Ph.D. • Curiously,
our fascination with tropical fishes often comes along with tangential
interests. That is to say, if you are drawn to keeping freshwater fishes,
you might branch out into planted aquaria or marine reef tanks. Ask
around among your fishkeeping friends; it seems folks drawn to tropical
aquascapes and aquatic plants and animals are often also rabidly into
orchids or exotic amphibians. Plus, we often seek to propagate what-
ever we can along the way. Here we talk with Dr. Adeljean Ho, a young
evolutionary ecologist with a strong interest in both freshwater and
marine fishes who exemplifies the multidisciplinary approach to creat-
ing a tropical environment in miniature.

A tale of combining passions

A TALL, LANKY 32-YEAR-OLD postdoctoral fellow at Bethune-Cookman University in
Daytona Beach, Florida, Adeljean Ho was raised on the southern Caribbean island
of Aruba, where he plied local waters for native fishes to stock his many aquari-
ums. He currently works with an EPA-funded grant, examining the mitigation of
AMAZONAS

estuarine pollution through the use of native vegetation as littoral buffers. An im-
age of Ho’s amazing office vivarium was tucked into an article about paludariums
in AMAZONAS January/February 2018, and he agreed to tell us more about his
system in this interview.

45
 Specklinia grobyi, a dwarf orchid (author’s finger shown for scale).
Note numbering tag, used to label plant species in Ho’s vivariums.

AMAZONAS: When and how did you become interested in

vivariums? How do they tie into your aquarium hobby and
your interest in ecology and fishes?

Dr. Adeljean Ho: I truly started keeping vivariums just two

years ago. My first dart frogs arrived in August of 2016, while
I was building the vivarium. However, the whole evolution
of my hobby started with my interest in orchids. The “frog
thing” came as a bonus.
I started keeping orchids when I was 13 or 14, and I
kept them until I was 18 and came to the U.S. for college. It
wasn’t until after my Ph.D. was done that I had a big moun-
tain of free time. I hadn’t kept orchids for quite some time,
but I had the opportunity to attend the Redland Orchid Fest
in Homestead, Florida, with my mother. Now, you can’t take
someone who used to grow orchids to a festival that big and
not expect them to come back with 20 or so orchids. At the
time, I was living in a small apartment, so I was purposely
looking for miniature plants that would thrive in a terrarium
environment. What started out as a small (20-gallon) orchi-
darium has grown into a huge system.
The dart frogs largely require the same conditions as the
orchids I was keeping. Of course, being a fish biologist by
training, I couldn’t set up a system like that, knowing I had
to have water anyway, without including miniature fishes in
the vivarium.

So how did things go from one small tank to an office full of

plants, frogs, fishes, and clouds of fog?

The main impetus for starting up my 20-gallon to house

the orchids is that I could do it easily. But it was going to
AMAZONAS

take a lot of manual maintenance, so I quickly moved from

the concept of an orchid holding system that would simply
keep up humidity to something completely automated that
would take almost no input on my end. My hobby went

46
 The peloric form (having a petal mutation) of Gastrochilus
retrocallus, a mini orchid originating from Taiwan.

from a simple glass box to something that is

much more naturalistic. What I have now looks
like a slice of the jungle.

Okay, since the orchids drive so much of this, tell me

about the orchids you keep.

In terms of orchids, I now have over 200 in my per-

sonal collection. My tastes are split 50/50 between
more mainstream types like Cattleyas and Brassavola
hybrids and the more niche minis. I don’t mean like
a 12-inch (30-cm) Cattleya that we call a mini, but
things on the centimeter scale...that’s what I gravi-
tate to. The vivarium houses Specklinia; it’s more
generally known and used to be called Pleurothallis
grobyi (see “On the Internet,” below.) I’ve found
that this plant alternates between blooming in
bursts and periods of vegetative growth.
I’m really into Masdevallias because they’re
hard to do here in Florida. They require high hu-
midity but cool temps. When Florida is cold in the
winter our humidity goes away, so we can’t easily
replicate the cloud forest. I’ve selected some of the
warmer-growing ones for the vivarium, using the
misting and fogging system to counteract the heat
from the lights.
I use the vivariums as a staging ground for
warmth-tolerant stock. I happen to be working
on a new Masdevallia hybrid between two that are
warm-growing and warmth-tolerant, hoping that
the offspring will be much more tolerant still. In my
In this harmonious blend of passions, no one form
of life dominates. The vivarium is mainly terrestrial
vivariums, I feel like the Masdevallias are always in
AMAZONAS

in design, but fishes, shrimps, and aquatic plants are bloom. Lepanthes—I don’t care for them as much,
tucked into the water area (bottom left). but I do have Lepanthes telipogoniflora; essentially,
the flower is three to four times larger than the leaf.
When it’s in bloom, it looks amazing.

47
 1 2 3

These orchids aside, the vivarium is dominated by prefilter. It’s less than 0.25 inch (0.6 cm)
Bulbophyllum; there are seven individuals in there right thick, and helps obscure places where the false
now. I’ve found my Bulbophyllum are the most reliable bottom might otherwise be uncovered and
bloomers in the system. I have a master spreadsheet for exposed. Still, the slope was a pain, with sub-
every single orchid I own. Each one has a specimen ID strate wanting to roll off, so there are pieces
number. The physical plants have their name tags and ID of lava rock and wood strategically located to keep the
tags. The look was inspired by museum specimen collec- substrate in place so it doesn’t create a landslide down
tions; I used a simple labeler to create them. into the water portion.

Other than orchids, what plants does the vivarium house? Is the water heated?

My non-orchid plants include creeping plants such as No, it’s room temp. I don’t heat anything in the system
Peperomia prostrata and Ficus pumila (Creeping Fig, both because I’m trying to grow cool-growing orchids. The
the regular and quincifolia form). I have four or five species I selected will tolerate room temps. So the only
different types of bromeliads. My favorite is Neoregelia heat comes from the ambient heat and what the lights
“Fireball”; if you have the right lights, they color up put out, which is just a little.
nicely. The other Neos were selections that stay small.
There are also a couple of foliage plants that add some What did you select for the living aspect of the water area?
different textures to the mix. One example is Peperomia
cf. verschaffeltii, the Mini Watermelon Peperomia. For plants in the water feature, I have Java Moss (Taxi-
phyllum barbieri), Java Fern (Microsorum pteropus), and
Let’s talk about the “water feature” in this vivarium. Give me Duckweed (possibly Lemna sp.) The pond is an open
some details. surface, so [the Duckweed] gives shade to the residents
underneath. I do cull the Duckweed, which has the
The tank itself has a volume of about 67 gallons (255 added benefit of being a pathway for nitrogen export.
L). The actual water volume is roughly 6.5 gallons (25
L); it covers the 18 X 24-inch (46 X 61-cm) footprint So what lives under the Duckweed?
of the vivarium to about 3.5 inches (9 cm) of depth.
And then there’s a little more in the canister filter. The I chose the fishes and shrimps because of their size. What
actual space that’s viewable is very small. It’s 10 X 4 (25 were the smallest and most brightly colored things that
X 10 cm) inches, semi-diagonally, and is roughly 30 could fit in that area? I settled on Galaxies [aka Galaxy
square inches (194 cm2)of water surface area. The can- Rasboras or Celestial Pearl Danios, Danio margaritatus]
ister filter pulls water from under the false bottom and and Cherry Shrimp (Neocaridina davidi). There are four
delivers the return water down a piece of Mopani wood or five shrimp in there. They’re a little more finicky than
into the open area. It creates a small pseudo-waterfall. the fishes, not growing as fast. I would assume that
AMAZONAS

The visible substrate in the water area is Fluval’s they’re breeding, but I haven’t seen any neonates. They’re
Plant and Shrimp Stratum. The sloped part of the false probably just tasty snacks for the fishes; it’s probably why
bottom is covered in window screen, and then on top my fishes don’t need to be fed at all!
of that is a really thin layer of window-unit AC foam

48
 5 6 7

A glimpse at the
construction of the
vivarium:
1. An air circulation
system is affixed to
an eggcrate/light
diffuser background
and covered with Great
Stuff Pond & Stone
expanding spray foam.
2. Inserting the
background into the
tank.
3. After being carved,
the foam is coated with
silicone and a mixture
of coconut husk fiber
and peat to create
a dirt-like texture,
concealing the foam.
4. Dr. Ho works on
adding the substrate.
5. This view illustrates
the false bottom, which
allows water to circulate
underneath the
vivarium’s “dirt” floor.
6. Mosses and other
plants being prepared
for use in the vivarium.
7. Orchids being
situated in the vivarium.
8. Mist emitters (at top)
routinely rain water
down onto the plants,
while an ultrasonic
AMAZONAS

humidifier periodically
fogs the vivarium (as
seen here) to help with
8
cooling.

49
 The “Azureus”
morph of the
Dyeing Poison Dart
Frog, Dendrobates
tinctorius, is one of
the easier-to-keep
poison dart frogs,
ideal for beginners.

risk it. Wild moss

is pretty dense, so
it’s hard to get it
completely clean,
whereas the or-
chids usually ar-
Celestial Pearl Danios, Danio rive bare-root, so they’re a minimal risk. I have one
margaritatus, are ideal inhabitants for
or two types of millipedes in the vivarium. I’m pretty
the small water feature.
sure other smaller stuff was eaten by the frogs; I see
more bugs in the vivariums that don’t have frogs.

Can you tell me about the frogs?

These are the “Azureus” morph of the “Dyeing Poi-

son Arrow Frog.” They’re pretty common in the dart
frog hobby and have been captive-bred for decades.
OK, I know you’re joking. What do you feed? I chose this particular frog for three reasons. First, their
color: they stand out against the green and brown back-
I rarely feed, because there’s so much organics and life in ground, and I just like blue. But they’re also large and
the system, so feeding is more of a supplement with extra bold, so you actually see them; they don’t hide all the
food like Hikari’s Micro Pellets. time. And last criterion: they’re quiet. Since this vivarium
was for my office, having a frog with a loud, distract-
Do you do water changes? ing call would have been a problem. I obtained the frogs
as young froglets, which I housed in a simple grow-out
Technically I do, based on the misting system’s overflow. setup while I built the vivarium and let it become estab-
I try not to achieve a fully balanced rate of misting and lished, just as I did with the isopods and springtails. Now
evaporation, instead ensuring that there is some turn- these frogs are breeding themselves.
over. Most recently, about 1.5 gallons (5.8 L) were slowly
drained from the system as a result of misting additions In closing, what are some of the challenges you’ve faced
over the past three weeks. with this vivarium?

We’ve talked about the concept of a bio-active vivarium. Overall I’m really pleased with how this system is per-
That’s basically like a living reef aquarium in which all sorts forming, but it’s not perfect. My largest hurdle is that
of life are intertwined, working together. In this case that I’d like it to be more green in terms of moss growth. But
includes bugs, which are like a reef tank’s clean-up crew. I favor my orchids over the moss, so I have my internal
circulation fans on all the time, which tends to dry out
Yes, I have both isopods and tropical springtails (Collem- the moss. Even if the fan was on intermittently, the point
bola sp.) in this vivarium. I maintain separate cultures of the fans is to dry out the orchids, which would dry out
of both, which I started with seed cultures, and ramped the mosses too. Ultimately, the mosses that are growing
up populations before seeding the vivarium. Altogether at the bottom of the vivarium aren’t getting hit by the
the vivarium was up and running and seeded with these fan, and they do amazingly well. But things higher up dry
invertebrates four months before adding the frogs. But out, and the moss gets crispy. Keeping things in balance
there’s more than just the isopods and springtails. I in a system like this is a constant challenge.
think I have some stray bugs that made it past the chlo-
AMAZONAS

rine dips that are used to prevent bringing insects and ON THE INTERNET
disease in on plants. Most plants can tolerate a 10- to To learn even more, including construction details, visit
15–minute dip, which I did for most everything. Howev- https://www.reef2rainforest.com/jungle-in-a-glass-box/
er, the orchids don’t get dipped; they’re too expensive to

50
 C OV E R STORY

GENUS CRYPTOHEROS
“Compact” Central
American Cichlids
article & images by Paul V. Loiselle, Ph.D. • Not all cichlids from
Mesoamerica are thuggish tankbusters. Small sizes and mellow temperaments
TORSTEN DIETRICH / SHUTTERSTOCK

make Cryptoheros excellent “starter” species for hobbyists who wish to

expand their horizons to include the Central American representatives
AMAZONAS

of the Cichlidae. Among the most desirable “compact” species in the

family, they still have classic “big cichlid” personalities and behaviors.
Understanding them starts with a look at their tangled history of names.

52
 PA RT 3

different species assemblages had been

gathered together under one label, restricted
the genus to its type species, Archocentrus
centrarchus (Gill 1877), and the superficially
similar A. spinossisimus (Vaillant and Pel-
legrin 1902) and erected the genus Crypto-
heros for the balance of the species formerly
included therein.
As originally conceived, the genus com-
prised eight species that been described up to
that point: Cryptoheros spilurus, C. nigrofas-
ciatus (Gunther 1867), C. septemfasciatus
(Regan 1908), C. sajica (Bussing 1974), C.
myrnae (Loiselle 1979), C. nanoluteus (Allgay-
er 1994), and C. altoflavus (Allgayer 2001).
Allgayer provided scant morphological
evidence in support of his new genus, the
diagnosis noting that Cryptoheros species
tended to be more slender than Archocentrus
and had fewer anal fin spines. He instead
emphasized both color pattern and behav-
ioral differences, noting that unlike Archo-
centrus, Cryptoheros species were character-
ized by marked sexual dimorphism, and all
were cave-spawning species that moved their
newly hatched fry to pre-dug pits. Indeed,
the generic name Cryptoheros was derived
from the fact that instead of depositing their
eggs in the open, these fishes were at pains
to hide their spawn.
Six years later, Schmitter-Soto (2007)
further split this assemblage of com-
pact cichlids into two genera. The genus
Cryptoheros as he defined it comprised,
in addition to its type species, C. spilurus,
Cryptoheros cutteri (Fowler 1932), a species
Allgayer had considered a synonym of C.
spilurus, and C. chetumalensis, a new spe-
cies described by him.
For the remaining species that Allgayer
referred to Cryptoheros, he erected a new
A pair of Blue-Eyed Cichlids (Cryptoheros genus, Amatitlania. While Schmitter-Soto
spilurus) with a clutch of eggs on driftwood. cited a number of minor skeletal differences
between the fishes he placed in these two
genera, the most obvious differences between
Cryptoheros and Amatitlania relate to their
coloration. In Cryptoheros the first vertical
THE FIRST, FOUNDING MEMBER of the genus Cryptoheros was bar on the flanks is straight, whereas in Amatitlania it is
described by German-born zoologist Albert Günther in either oblique or completely absent in unstressed indi-
1862 for a massive new catalogue of fishes in the British viduals. Additionally, female Amatitlania sport a patch of
Museum and given the name Heros spilurus. In 1877, an metallic orange or gold scales on their lower flanks, while
American named Theodore Gill at the Smithsonian In- the color pattern of female Cryptoheros lacks this feature.
AMAZONAS

stitution erected the genus Archocentrus, and the humble Although anyone familiar with these cichlids would
cichlid had a new name. certainly agree that Archocentrus as originally conceived
Then, in 2001, Robert Allgayer, a member of the by Regan was a very heterogenous assemblage of spe-
French Ichthyological Society, seeing that several quite cies, both Allgayer’s and Schmitter-Soto’s descriptions

53
 A male of the Lancetilla population of Cryptoheros
cutteri. The greatly reduced or entirely absent
second lateral bar is the most obvious superficial
characteristic distinguishing this species from C.
spilurus.

Below: A courting male of the Lago Yzabal

population of Cryptoheros spilurus. Note that the
dark bars on the flanks are all vertical, a diagnostic
feature of the genus Cryptoheros.

their intuitive insights into the relationships

of these cichlids. In their recent monograph,
Rícan et al. (2016) recognized the validity
of all three genera. Archocentrus proves to be
only distantly related to the other compact
cichlids, falling out as the sister genus of the
robust species of the genus Amphilophus.
Cryptoheros, on the other hand, emerges as
the northern sister genus of a southern group
comprising the genera Neetroplus, Hypsoph-
rys, and Amatitlania.
While Rícan et al. (2016) recognize
the three taxa included in Cryptoheros by
Schmitter-Soto as valid species, this repre-
sents a very recent development in what has
been a very convoluted taxonomic history.
Prior to the publication of Schmitter-Soto’s
revision, the species name spilurus had been
applied indiscriminately to any banded
representative of Cryptoheros as defined by
Allgayer not obviously referable to C. nigro-
fasciatus. The most notable example of this is
Robert Rush Miller’s (1966) treatment of C.
cutteri as a junior synonym of C. spilurus in
his checklist of Central American fishes. He
never saw fit to explain the reasoning behind
this action, nor is it evident from this pub-
lication whether he ever examined the types
of C. cutteri. Aquaristic references published
subsequent to Miller’s paper (Wilson 1979,
Mayland 1984, Sawikowski & Werner 1985,
Conkel 1993) accepted the synonymization
of C. cutteri and C. spilurus. This confusion
A fry-tending pair of C. cutteri. As is over the identity of C. spilurus complicates
typically the case with Mesoamerican the task of unraveling the history of these
cichlids, the color pattern of parental
compact cichlids as aquarium fishes.
fish emphasizes strongly contrasting
black elements at the expense of
brighter hues.
Banana plantation discovery
What is clear is that Cryptoheros cutteri
made simultaneous scientific and aquaristic
debuts. This species was described in 1932
by Henry Fowler, who named it in honor
AMAZONAS

of Victor M. Cutter, then president of the

of their new genera were such as to elicit raised eyebrows United Fruit Company. The type material was collected
from classically trained ichthyologists. Happily for them, from the Rio Lancetilla, a stream flowing through one
molecular genetics has provided solid evidence supporting of the United Fruit Company’s banana plantations in

54
 Amphilophine Phylogeny Schmitter-Soto (2007) gives
dark red coloration on the head,
Mayaheros breast, and fins as one of a suite
of diagnostic characteristics of C.
Amphilophus cutteri. In his description of the
life colors of the original aquarium
strain of this species, Stoye (1935)

Talamancan Clade
Archocentrus describes a fish with an orange
throat and chest. According to Rusty
Talamancaheros Wessel (pers. com.), who has col-
lected C. cutteri from its type locality
as well as over most of its extensive
Isthmoheros
range, while some riverine popula-
Panamius tions have reddish unpaired fins,
all of them have orange rather than
red throats and chests. In his entry
Darienheros dealing with C. cutteri, Artigas-Azas
(2009) features a photograph by
Petenia Jacques Blanc of a sexually quiescent
individual from Lago Yojoa with a
dusky red chest. Cryptoheros cutteri
Chortriheros
San Juanian Clade
does have an extensive range on the
Atlantic slope of Central America,
Parachromis where it is found from the Rio Mo-
tagua in Guatemala eastward to the
Cryptoheros Rio Patuca in Honduras, inclusive of
Lago Yojoa. It has also been recorded
Hypsophrys from the Pacific slope of Honduras
in the Rio Choluteca basin (Mat-
amoros et al. 2009). This extensive
Neetroplus range may explain the discrepancies
between Schmitter-Soto’s diagnosis
Amatitlania of this species and the known col-
oration of the topotypical and other
riverine populations.
Because they were not recog-
nized as separate species prior to
the town of the same name in Honduras. This probably publication of Schmitter-Soto’s revision, an unavoidable
explains why Fowler chose to name his new species in degree of uncertainty surrounds the aquaristic debuts
honor of the company’s president. Live fish must have of Cryptoheros chetumalensis Schmitter-Soto 2007 and
landed in the United States the same year, as this spe- C. spilurus. The range of C. chetumalensis extends from
cies was exported from New York to Germany in 1933 the Laguna Kana in Mexico’s Chetumal region to Black
(Sterba 1966). The conflation of C. spilurus and C. cutteri Creek in Belize, inclusive of the Lago Peten basin in
might have been avoided, had Miller had access to living Guatemala. Schmitter-Soto gives the Sarstun River in
specimens of the latter. Regrettably, by the 1950s, C. southern Belize as the southern limit of this species’
cutteri had disappeared from the very limited selection of range. However, the highly colored Cryptoheros from the
cichlids available to aquarists on both sides of the Atlan- upper reaches of the Sarstun that made its aquaristic
tic. North American cichlid enthusiasts can thank Rusty debut in 2010 under the name Cryptoheros chetumalen-
Wessel for returning this species to the now consider- sis Rio Chahal resembles topotypical C. spilurus from
ably deeper ranks of available Central American cichlids. Lago Yzabal far more than it does C. chetumalensis from
Rusty brought a group of founder broodstock back from northern Belize. As Greenfield and Thomerson (1997)
Honduras in 1989 and continued to do so on subsequent and Hanneman (2010) have pointed out, the Maya
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trips until 1995. The fish bred freely for him, and the Mountains extend almost all the way to the coast near
cichlid hobby owes the present availability of this attrac- the town of Dangriga, effectively dividing Belize into
tive species in large measure to his generous distribution two distinct ichthyofaunal regions. The Rio Chahal lies
of F1 fry. in the upper reaches of the Sarstun basin, which is situ-

55
 A fry-tending pair of the Lago Yzabal ated to the south of this dividing line. It would thus appear that, as it does
population of C. spilurus. Note the for Chuco intermedius and Vieja synspila, Dangriga represents the southern
conspicuous black spot on the caudal
range boundary of C. chetumalensis.
peduncle, which impressed Gunther
sufficiently for him to bestow the specific
The range of C. spilurus thus extends from the Sarstun River in southern
epithet spilurus (= spot-tail) upon this Belize to the Rio Dulce and Rio Polochic basins in Guatemala, inclusive of
compact cichlid. Lago Yzabal, the probable type locality of this species. The first fish marketed in
North America in the late 1960s under the name C. spilurus were the progeny
of fish collected by the late Ross Socolof from the Belize
River (Socolof, pers. com.). The subjects of at least some
of the published accounts from this period dealing with
the aquarium husbandry of C. spilurus (Loiselle 1977,
Wilson 1979) were thus actually C. chetumalensis. Thanks
Create nature. to the kindness of the late Al Castro, I was able to keep
and breed a pair of C. spilurus collected from Lago Yzabal
in Guatemala in 1979, but the possibility of earlier impor-
tations of this species cannot be excluded. Photographs
of topotypical C. spilurus published by Stawikowski and
Werner (1986) attest to the roughly contemporaneous
availability of this species to European cichlid-keepers.
Aquarium Zen
Aquarium husbandry
Seattle’s source for Cryptoheros species are undemanding aquarium residents.
aquascaping inspiration.
Surface waters in Central America tend to range from
neutral to somewhat alkaline and soft to moderately
www.AquariumZen.net
hard—pH values of 7.0–7.5, hardness to 10°dH. However,
in captivity Cryptoheros species will do quite well at pH
values as high as 8.0 and up to 20°dH carbonate hard-
ness. As they do not appreciate acidic conditions, the
addition of crushed coral or dolomitic limestone gravel
to the substratum of their aquarium is recommended in
areas with naturally occurring soft tap water. An efficient
biological filter and a program of regular partial water
changes are essential adjuncts to their successful mainte-
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nance, for like most Mesoamerican cichlids, they also do

not appreciate elevated nitrite or nitrate levels. Unlike the
Convict Cichlid, a highland species that can survive brief

56
Top: A courting
male of the fish
introduced to the
hobby as Cryptoheros
chetumalensis Rio
Chahal. As a glance
at the pair on the
opposite page suggests,
its coloration argues
that this fish is actually
from a highly colored
population of C. spilurus.

Middle: A courting
male of the Belize
River population
of Cryptoheros
chetumalensis.

Bottom: A ripe female

of the Belize River
population of C.
chetumalensis. Its light
blue iris has led this
species to be marketed
as the Blue-Eyed
Convict Cichlid.

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57
 Parental females of the
Belize population of C.
exposure to low temperatures, Cryptoheros are low-altitude species that do not tolerate
chetumalensis are much chilling. They will prosper over a temperature range of 72–78°F (21–25°C), with an in-
more strongly banded and crease of a few degrees to stimulate breeding. In nature, Cryptoheros are omnivores, feed-
darker overall than those of ing upon organic detritus and small aquatic invertebrates. In captivity, these cichlids are
C. spilurus. The rectangular equally undemanding and will enthusiastically devour a wide range of prepared, frozen,
black spot in this individual’s
spiny dorsal fin is a prominent
and live foods of an appropriate size.
feature of all female As their inclusion with the compact group implies, these are among the smaller
Cryptoheros species. Mesoamerican cichlids. Males can grow to 4 inches (10 cm) SL in captivity, with females
typically reaching 2.5 inches (6.5 cm) SL. Although a pair can thus be housed success-
fully in a 29-gallon (110-L) tank, keeping these species in a larger cichlid community
aquarium precludes any possibility of interspousal violence. Compared to many repre-
sentatives of the related genus Amatitlania, Cryptoheros can be legitimately described
as “safe” cichlids. Given their relatively laid-back personalities, care must be taken
when choosing tankmates if one decides to house these species in a cichlid community
aquarium. More aggressive tankmates, regardless of size, are contraindicated. Most Ama-
titlania species are poor choices, as they tend to bully Cryptoheros. These cichlids have no
difficulty fitting into a community that includes the smaller substratum-sifting species of
the genera Cribroheros and Thorichthys. Rather surprisingly, Cryptoheros species also do
quite well when housed with robust herbivorous Central American cichlids, for example
Chuco, Vieja, or Maskaheros, which behave as if their smaller tankmates are beneath their
notice! Given that Mesoamerican cichlids are known to hybridize when not afforded
access to conspecifics of the opposite sex, an abundance of caution would argue against
housing several Cryptoheros species together.
These species also pose minimal risk to non-cichlid tankmates too large to make a
comfortable mouthful. The larger danio, barb and tetra species, silver dollars, and me-
dium-sized Australasian rainbowfishes are all suitable tankmates for Cryptoheros. These
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cichlids have very little use for catfishes, and their intolerance increases to a significant
degree with the onset of reproductive activity. Such behavior is understandable, given the
threat that Ictalurus and Rhamdia species pose to Mesoamerican cichlid fry in the wild.
Loricariid catfishes are relatively cichlid-proof, but housing smooth-skinned catfishes with

58
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59
 A fry-tending pair of the
Rio Chahal population of
C. spilurus. All Cryptoheros
species are exceptionally
diligent parents. This pair
were still aggressively
defending their fry when I
chose to remove the babies
from their care two months
post-spawning!

these—or any other Central American cichlid species—is Their small size and mellow temperament make Cryp-
thus a very bad idea. Cryptoheros do not have a well-de- toheros excellent “starter” species for hobbyists who wish
veloped appetite for plants, but as a prelude to spawning to expand their horizons to include the Central Ameri-
they are less than ideal residents for a planted aquarium. can representatives of the Family Cichlidae. Although
Cryptoheros are biparentally custodial cave-spawning both C. spilurus and C. cutteri are commercially bred in
cichlids. Pairs will spawn in virtually any enclosed space Florida and often appear on wholesalers’ price lists, they
or, in the absence of such a retreat, on the rear corner glass show up in local retailers’ tanks less frequently than one
of their aquarium. A 3-inch (7.6-cm) diameter flowerpot might expect in light of their obvious virtues. It may thus
laid on its side represents a conveniently available spawn- be necessary to go online to find a source for these most
ing site acceptable to breeding fishes. Hygienic behavior desirable “compact” cichlids. By virtue of their rather ex-
towards the eggs and wrigglers is exclusively a female re- tensive ranges, the I.U.C.N. classifies all three Cryptoheros
sponsibility, while the male keeps intruders well away from as Species of Least Concern. This is reassuring but, given
the pair’s territory. The fry are typically free-swimming a the increasing human impact upon aquatic habitats in
week after spawning. They are large enough to take Artemia Mesoamerica, there are no guarantees that the conserva-
nauplii and finely powdered flake food for their initial tion status of these fishes will remain unchanged indefi-
meal. While they are vigorously defended by both parents, nitely. It thus behooves serious cichlid enthusiasts to do
the female appears to exercise executive authority over the a better job of maintaining viable captive populations of
enterprise. Parental care can persist for up to two months these fishes than their predecessors initially did with C.
in captivity. If housed in a large aquarium,Cryptoheros cutteri. As the cichlid hobby today is far better organized
pairs can bring a surprisingly large number of fry to inde- than it was 70 years ago, I am encouraged to believe that
pendence in a community setting without doing serious vi- they will rise to the challenge of keeping these exemplary
olence to its other residents. As William T. Innes observed aquarium residents available to future aquarists.
(1948), such an feat requires an unusual degree of firm-
ness and tact! With due attention to water quality, the fry Dr. Paul V. Loiselle is Emeritus Curator of Freshwater Fishes
are easily reared. They can be reliably sexed on the basis of at the New York Aquarium, a founding member of the American
differences in coloration by the age of four months. Young Cichlid Association, and a lifelong aquarist.
AMAZONAS

females typically show a dark spot in the spiny dorsal fin.

They have been known to breed as young as eight months REFERENCES ONLINE
of age, but it may be several months more before they pull https://www.reef2rainforest.com/neotropical-cichlids
off a successful spawning.

60
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61
 REPORTAGE

Four-Eye Fishes:
AMAZONAS

ALL: F. WANG

62
 Anableps anableps is a typical
surface dweller.

Genus Anableps
by Hans-Georg Evers • Every experienced aquarist has heard
of four-eyes, those strange surface fishes that can see both
above and below the water at the same time.

Miracle eyes
As surface-dwelling fishes of the open water, these 12-inch-long (30-cm) livebear-
ers (order toothcarps, Cyprinodontiformes, family Anablepidae) must always be
on the lookout for danger, both above and below water. To achieve this, the eyes
of these nimble fishes are adapted for their surface-dwelling lifestyle. They are po-
sitioned on the top of the head and divided by a transverse septum, and there are
two pupils, connected via the iris; the top pupil is designed to see well in air, the
Opposite page: bottom one in water. The large top lens is mildly curved, and the lower one (used
Top: The part of the eye that is above underwater) has a more pronounced curve. The fishes use these “four eyes” to
water is larger and the lens is only locate approaching predators (birds from above, fishes from below) and prey items
slightly curved.
that land on the surface, such as terrestrial insects.
Far left: In this picture you can see
that the fishes can see above and Habitat
below water.
AMAZONAS

The three species of the genus Anableps live in similar New World biotopes from
Left: The submerged part of the eye southern Mexico to northern Venezuela. They colonize the free-water zones in the
of Anableps anableps, the Largescale lower regions of large coastal rivers, sometimes in large groups, and penetrate the
Four-Eye.
estuaries of these rivers. They have also managed to move into the ocean and can

63
 The divided eye of Anableps
microlepis: two corneas, two
pupils, one oval lens, and one
retina split into two sections.

sometimes be observed near estuary beaches. I observed knowledge, there are no imports of the Pacific Four-Eye,
them in the estuarine delta of the Orinoco, but they can Anableps dowei, from Central America, but A. anableps,
also be found near the beach at Paramaribo (Suriname) the Largescale Four-Eye (the type species), and A. micro-
and in large freshwater rivers on the Caribbean side lepis, the Smallscale Four-Eye, sometimes appear in the
of Costa Rica, a few kilometers from the sea. It can be trade. Some aquarists have been able to breed several gen-
assumed that they travel long distances, and they seem erations of these fishes, so they have been kept off and on
to easily manage the transitions between these different for the last few decades.
bodies of water. The main challenge of keeping them is their almost
These fishes feed on food that falls onto the surface proverbial skittishness. They are classic inhabitants
of the water. In the mangroves of the Orinoco delta I of open water that flee at the slightest sign of danger.
saw them lurking near the big trees a few meters from During the first few weeks, hectic movements near the
the shore, waiting for insects to fall, but as soon as they aquarium, people entering the room at night, or even
noticed me they immediately fled. Capturing these fishes strangers standing in front of the tank can cause them
with a cast net is a difficult task. According to the local to bang against the aquarium glass at full speed. After
fishermen who collect them for the aquarium trade, the a while, though, they get used to the limited space of
best way to catch them is to encircle them with very large the aquarium. Their tank should be at least 6 feet (2 m)
nets, but they must be removed carefully because they are long—bigger is better—so a large show aquarium is the
accomplished jumpers. only option for keeping a group of 8 to 12 animals.
AMAZONAS

In the past it was believed that four-eyes should be

Aquarium care kept in brackish water and would only propagate in pure
Now and then, the South American representatives salt water, but today we know of fairly large juveniles
of the genus Anableps appear in the aquarium. To my (0.8 inch/2 cm) that were born in lightly salted tap

64
An Anableps anableps pair. The smaller
male (above) is characterized by the
anal fin that has been transformed into a
gonopodium.
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65
 Top: This chart depicts the differences
between Anableps anableps (top left
and bottom) and A. microlepis.

Middle: The gonopodium of Anableps

anableps.
Bottom: Anableps microlepis

Anableps anableps Anableps microlepis

Valid species of the

genus Anableps and
their distribution

ANABLEPS ANABLEPS
(Type species)
Coastal waters of north-
ern South America (fresh,
brackish, and salt water)

ANABLEPS DOWEI
Central American Pacific
drainages from Mexico to
Nicaragua

ANABLEPS MICROLEPIS
Coastal waters of north-
ern South America (fresh,
brackish, and saltwater);
Venezuela to Brazil
AMAZONAS

66
Anableps anableps has four or five dark longitudinal
stripes on the sides of the body. These athletic animals
require room to move, so their tank should be at least 6
feet (2 m) long.

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67
 Anableps microlepis has much smaller
water. The water temperature should scales and a single narrow, dark
be between 80 and 86°F (27–30°C) to longitudinal stripe on a light gray
match natural conditions. Similar large background.
species, such as Scatophagus or Monodacty-
lus, would make good company.
Anableps microlepis occurs in the
same distribution area as A. anableps, but
a common occurrence has never been
reported. Anableps microlepis is approxi-
mately the same size but can be distin-
guished from A. anableps because of its
much smaller scales.
Anableps are viviparous, bearing live
young that are said to be easy to feed.
Males have a typical livebearer’s gonopo-
dium, and females have a protective flap
of tissue called the foricula that covers the
genital opening. According to Seriously
Fish, gestation lasts about 12 weeks, and
females require good nutrition to produce
healthy fry without birth defects. Brackish
water may be needed for optimum health.
These are very interesting fishes and Four-eyes watch their surroundings, even
a challenge to keep. Now that lots of what’s outside the aquarium, very attentively!
aquarists are setting up large aquariums,
will we be seeing more of these bizarre
creatures?

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68
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69
 HUSBANDRY & B R E E D IN G

The Rio Araza in

the Peruvian Andes.

Search for the

missing barbels:
A new mountain river loricariid
by Andrew and Jeanette Blumhagen • Does this new species have the genus-typical
barbels on its snout or not? To find out, we needed patience—which ultimately
AMAZONAS

paid off when we succeeded in breeding this bizarre loricariid catfish.

H.-G. EVERS

70
LAST SPRING, OUR FRIEND Michael Barber
asked us to look through a shipment of
unknown ancistrine catfishes imported
from the Madre de Dios region in Peru and
classify them. In exchange for our help, we
were offered the opportunity to buy a group
of these fishes—if groups could be identi-
fied. Anyone who has ever tried to sort
unidentified Ancistrus species knows that
they are almost impossible to distinguish.
Luckily, some distinctive features make
this easier with some groups. The speci-
mens of the group we chose for ourselves
have a very broad, spoon-shaped snout and
a blue tinge over the entire animal, with
densely spaced, regular light gray spots. We
chose this group because the exaggerated
snout makes them look very strange—a
plus for loricariid fans like us, who ap-
preciate bizarre-looking species. In total
we found six specimens, the largest almost
6 inches (15 cm) long and the smallest
about 2.4 inches (6 cm) long. They looked
like Ancistrus, but had no barbels.

Male Ancistrus cf. megalostomus

“Inambari” seasonally develop
relatively small barbels on the
edge of the snout.

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71
 Origin and habitat Chaetostoma and Andeancistrus, but this fish doesn’t have
These fishes were collected by a team from GoWild- the bony plates on the snout seen in Andeancistrus and
Peru, a company based in Puerto Maldonado, Peru, that has neither the blunt snout nor the arched head of Chae-
organizes guided aquarium fishing trips. GoWildPeru tostoma. Because it had no barbels at the snout, it did not
was founded a few years ago by Ian Fuller of the United seem to be Ancistrus.
Kingdom and Michael Barber of the United States. They Fortunately for us, specimens of the same species
chose to base the company in Peru because of the great from the same place were conserved during a subsequent
diversity in the region, especially among loricariids, and collection and sent to Dr. Nathan Lujan, an ichthyologist
because the area is much less explored than the Rio Ne- who specializes in loricariid catfishes. He found that the
gro and Amazon regions around Iquitos, in northeastern animals resembled another fish he had caught elsewhere
Peru. Undescribed or unknown catfishes regularly end up in the Madre de Dios region: Ancistrus cf. megalostomus.
in their nets when they go fishing. That species closely resembles a described species, A.
Our fish came from a small tributary of the Rio megalostomus. Although our catfish are not identical to
Araza at about 2,493 feet (760 m) above sea level in the the species that were collected and described, they are so
foothills of the southwestern Madre de Dios region. The close to each other (N. Lujan, pers. comm.) that, for the
Araza flows into the Rio Inambari, a major tributary of time being, we are calling them Ancistrus cf. megalosto-
the Madre de Dios. The habitat of our Ancistrus is a rela- mus “Inambari”.
tively narrow river full of stones and boulders, with a fast Ancistrus as a genus is well known to aquarists, and
current. Three other Ancistrus species are native in the cf. is the abbreviation for the Latin for “confer” and is
Rio Araza (H.-G. Evers, pers. comm.). The area is in the used to refer to the nearest related species when describ-
cloud forest, so everything is often covered in haze. ing an unknown or unidentified species. The specific epi-
The armored catfishes were caught in the strongest thet megalostomus is composed of “mega” (very large)
currents of the river by turning over stones and netting and “stoma” (mouth); “Inambari” refers to the water
the catfishes sitting under it with a dip net. After a series system in the Madre de Dios region where the animals
of mishaps, all of the fishes from that location (at least were collected. But if these are Ancistrus, where are the
three different species) ended up mixed in the shipment barbels on the snout?
that we were sorting (I. Fuller, pers. comm.). There are
reports that “our” species may have been caught earlier, Maintenance in the flow aquarium
but almost certainly none of the catfishes had entered At the time of collection the water temperature was 77°F
the aquarium trade before we brought our group home. (25°C) and total dissolved solids (TDS) were 61 ppm.
The stream was described as “pretty fast, small waterfalls,
What should we call them? and powerful bottlenecks between rocks.”
One of the biggest challenges with “new” fishes is figur- The fish were collected at the beginning of the rainy
ing out what to call them. We did not want to just invent season in October 2015, when the water level and cur-
a name that wouldn’t help identify the species or could rent were relatively low (I. Fuller, pers. comm.). Now
even confuse the issue. The body resembles those of they are kept in an aquarium that measures approxi-

Ancistrus cf. megalostomus “Inambari” in the

photo cuvette shortly after being caught. The
pretty golden color of the dots changes to gray
in the aquarium.
AMAZONAS

H.-G. EVERS

72
The GoWildPeru team caught Ancistrus
cf. megalostomus “Inambari” in the strong
current of this fast, narrow river.

mately 35 x 13 x 20 inches (90 x 33 x 50 cm) and is and there was no clear sexual dimorphism, as we would
equipped with a large, air-driven sponge fi lter and a flow have expected for Ancistrus. However, we did not get to
pump (almost 1,849 gallons/7,000 L per hour) of the see the fish much at all, because they always hid among
type that is normally used in coral reef aquariums to the stones—not unusual for plecos. Hoping to be able to
generate strong water movement. The current is huge! observe them more often, we removed most of the stones
An air stone oxygenates the water. and turned off the flow pump.
We do not use a heater because the aquarium is in A few weeks later, we noticed that one of the fish had
our kitchen, where the room temperature ranges from finally formed barbels! We saw a small pair on the tip
64.4 to 75.2°F (18–24°C). We do not change the values of its snout and some on the sides of the snout, halfway
of our tap water. It comes out of the tap with a pH of between the tip and the odontodes on the cheeks. The
about 7.5 and is medium hard (164 ppm). The tank barbels were very small, measuring barely 1.25 mm, so
contains a lot of small to medium-sized stones to rep- they were far less spectacular than the magnificent “bou-
licate a rocky river bottom. We also added a few small quets” that Ancistrus often show in the aquarium. Our
pieces of driftwood and some closed pleco spawning observation was still exciting, because it suggested that
caves. Apart from the Ancistrus, there are no other fishes we had at least one male in the group and that the fish
in the tank. We offered the catfish some vegetables, had responded to changes in aquarium conditions.
such as chopped zucchini and thawed cabbage leaves,
but they showed no interest in them. Successful reproduction
AMAZONAS

We also noticed for the first time that the male with the
The case of the missing barbels fresh barbels had begun to claim one of the spawning
After a few months, we were convinced that we only caves. About two weeks later we found a larva about 3.7
had females. We had observed no reproductive behavior mm long on the aquarium glass. We noted that the male

73
 was caring for a considerable number of larvae in one of the
spawning caves. When we emptied the cave we found over
100 larvae and a small lump of what we assumed were unfer-
tilized, fungal eggs from which no young had hatched.
The mating probably happened as it does with all An-
cistrus: until oviposition, the male “trapped” a female in a
closed cave and then guarded the eggs and newly hatched lar-
vae until they were removed. Keeping the female in the cave
must have been quite a challenge for our male, because the
largest female is significantly larger than he is. At the time
this male was about 4 inches (10 cm) long and the largest
female was almost 7 inches (17 cm) long. Although we never
saw that female in the cave with the male, we suspect that it
was she who had spawned because of the high number of off-
spring. Since this species has not been kept in the aquarium
before, we do not know if these females grow larger than the
males or if our male is younger and therefore smaller than
our females. In most other Ancistrus the male eventually
surpasses the female in size; if he does he will certainly be a
very impressive specimen for an Ancistrus, since the female
is already huge compared to most other species. The larvae
developed well and grew up like other Ancistrus. They were
eating algae chips and other sinking food.

Here and there

About two weeks after oviposition, we noticed something
very strange: the male’s barbels had disappeared! At first we
thought that the lack of barbels in all our specimens was an
indication that they were not yet sexually mature, and when
the barbels did appear we thought that the male had now
grown and matured enough to develop tentacles and would
breed shortly thereafter. Looking through the first photos
we took of the fish in October 2015, however, we saw that
one of the animals was indeed showing a little mustache at
that time. After that, the mustache disappeared for over a
year—until shortly before the catfish reproduced at the end
of December 2016. Four months later, while I was writing
this article, the male again developed these snout tentacles.
In hopes that the Ancistrus will spawn again, we will soon
switch off the circulation pump.
Loricariids, including Ancistrus, from South America
spawn seasonally, as the conditions under which these fish
live change drastically over the course of the year. The rainy
season brings high water levels, clean water, larger habitats,
and more food. The dry season, on the other hand, means
scarcity of all these resources, sometimes even extreme scar-
city. The fish spawn when conditions are ideal for the survival
of their offspring.
Several Ancistrus species in which the males had snout
tentacles in the rainy season, but not in the dry season, were
collected from mountainous waters in the Andean foot-
hills all the way from Colombia to Bolivia (S. Linder, pers.
AMAZONAS

comm.). Now we have the first observations of this reproduc-

A. BLUMHAGEN

tive seasonality of Ancistrus cf. megalostomus “Inambari” in

the aquarium. Of course, further observations are needed to
confirm this. It would be interesting to stimulate the rainy

74
 The wild specimens
from Peru live in this
aquarium.

and dry seasons in the aquarium by alternating periods

of stagnant water and low feeding with periods of clean
water and generous feeding. However, we do not want to
go to extremes with our specimens—at least not until the
aquarium population is truly secure.

Barbels—what are they for?

This seasonal pattern also raises the question of the pur-
pose of the fleshy barbels of Ancistrus. Sabaj et al. (1999)
assumed that males mimic larvae as a selective adapta-
tion to reproduction. Other theories suggest that barbels
may help to sense water currents, smells, or food. Howev-
er, none of these hypotheses can explain exactly why, in
most species, there is such a big difference in the length
of the barbels of males and females. Females strongly
prefer males who already have eggs or larvae (Sabaj et al.
1999). We have also been able to observe this preference
in aquaristically known species—one male dominates the
spawning behavior of the entire group with several other
males, even to the point of throwing clutches of eggs out
of the cave if he has too many to care for. The reason for
this is that the females of the group prefer the dominant
male with the most barbels. It is easy to imagine that a
female in the dark cave might confuse the male’s barbels
with the tails of larvae from previous matings.
The rearing aquarium. Genus representatives from larger rivers with more
AMAZONAS

stable conditions can keep their barbels throughout the

year and grow them to an extraordinary size. But for sea-
sonally spawning Ancistrus from habitats with alternating
periods of abundance and scarcity, there is no point in

75
 keeping the tentacles outside of the breeding season. And
in species from mountainous waters, such as Ancistrus cf.
megalostomus “Inambari”, the barbels may remain small,
These 1.2-inch (3-cm) juvenile fish are even during the reproductive phase, because of the large
gray; later they will develop the pattern amount of resources needed to develop and grow them.
seen in their parents.
The fact that the barbels apparently appear or disappear
depending on reproductive behavior supports the hy-
pothesis that these structures are largely related to sexual
selection and are unlikely to serve any other purpose.
It is always fun to work with new species, especially
when there is no verified information that can help us.
Ancistrus cf. megalostomus “Inambari” are wonderful
fish, both enjoyable to keep and helpful for teaching us
more about Ancistrus as a fascinating group of catfishes.
They also remind us that patience pays off with cat-
fishes—in this case, as far as the initially absent barbels
were concerned.

Acknowledgments
Many thanks to Ian Fuller, Shane Linder, Nathan Lujan,
and Michael Barber for their help with this article!

REFERENCE

Sabaj, M., J. Armbuster, and L. Page. 1999. Spawning in Ancistrus

A. BLUMHAGEN
(Siluriformes: Loricariidae) with comments on the evolution of snout
tentacles as a novel reproductive strategy: larval mimicry. Ichthyol Explor
Freshwaters 10 (3): 217–29.

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77
 XINGU
THE EARLY
AFTERMATH
•

RAFAEL SALAZAR / AMAZON WATCH; INSET: AMAZONWATCH.COM

Background: This is what the future holds for the once-mighty Middle Xingu:
long stretches of the river are drying up because its flow has been diverted to
generate power at the huge Belo Monte Dam.

Inset: A tribal leader at one of many futile protests by native peoples, who are
trying to stop construction of the world’s fourth-largest hydroelectric project.
AMAZONAS

78
 REPORTAGE

article & images by Michael J. Tuccinardi • Just over two years

ago, I boarded a small plane bound for the Brazilian city of Al-
tamira on the middle Xingu River, where a contentious struggle
between indigenous groups, conservationists, and a massive energy
conglomerate had recently come to a head. The construction of
the Belo Monte Dam, one of the largest hydroelectric projects in
Brazil’s history, had just been completed despite years of protests
and court battles, and I was planning to travel behind the dam
a few days after the first of its many floodgates was raised. My
experiences in Altamira and along the rapids of the Xingu’s Volta
Grande (Big Bend) in the wake of the dam were recounted in the
May/June 2016 issue of AMAZONAS (“Xingu Rising,” page 50).
AMAZONAS

79
 MIDDLE XINGU
BEFORE
Satellite image
shows the mighty,
meandering Xingu
River in 2011, before
the Belo Monte
hydroelectric project
stopped its flow.
From the US
Geological Survey
(USGS), whose
Landsat satellites
took these images:
"In northern Brazil,
the Belo Monte
Dam complex on
the Xingu River,
a major tributary
of the Amazon,
has changed the
course of the river
and surrounding
landscape.
Construction
began in 2011,
and the complex
began producing
hydropower in
2016. When fully
operational in
2018, it will have a
maximum capacity
of 11 gigawatts and
be the world’s fourth
largest hydropower
plant. However, its
annual average will
be lower, about 4.5
gigawatts, because
of seasonal low river
flows."

TODAY, TWO YEARS LATER, THE DAM STILL STANDS, but some of tion has become even more fraught. Many key leaders
the worst anticipated impacts on the people and wildlife in the Brazilian government who once enthusiastically
upriver have been averted—at least for now. The complex supported its construction have been indicted, and even
legal and political situation that has plagued Belo Monte jailed, in a wide-ranging corruption investigation that
since long before the first ground was cleared for its con- ended in a prison sentence for former president Luiz
struction shows little signs of letting up, and although Inácio Lula da Silva and impeachment for then-presi-
the Xingu’s incredibly biodiverse Volta Grande has been dent Dilma Rousseff.
granted a temporary respite from complete destruction,
its future is by no means certain. Sediments and species
The dam’s historic cost overruns and human rights The city of Altamira is irreparably damaged; almost one-
AMAZONAS

issues (over 20,000 indigenous people are estimated to third of its original area is now inundated. Its populace,
have been displaced by its construction) continued to comprised of displaced indigenous peoples and migrant
sour public opinion on the project even while it was workers lured there by now-dormant construction jobs,
ongoing, and since its completion in 2016 the situa- is forced to deal with the inevitable consequences of

80
 MIDDLE XINGU
AFTER
Satellite image shows
the crippled Xingu River
in 2017, after the start
of water diversion to
feed Brazil's new mega
generators. Yellowish-
brown areas indicate
loss of green vegetation
and tree cover, where
the river is drying
up or deforestation
and development are
occurring.
The primary dam at
Pimental creates a
reservoir along the river
course, and a canal
from that reservoir
diverts 80 percent of the
Xingu’s flow into another
reservoir. The Belo Monte
Dam and hydropower
turbines are at the north
end of this reservoir. Belo
Monte is the fourth-
largest hydroelectric
project in the world.
These dams have caused
the Xingu's original flow
path to dry out, affecting
fishes and turtles unique
to that stretch of the river.
The thousands of native
people who live along
the river and depend on
fishing for food and the
aquarium trade for their
NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY IMAGES BY JOSHUA STEVENS, USING LANDSAT DATA FROM THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

livelihoods have also been

affected by the river’s
redirection.

being a former boom town: rampant crime and little op- had a high impact on the supply of ornamental fish,”
portunity. The dam, although operating at a fraction of said Janne Ekström, who manages one of the largest
its touted capacity (only a few of its turbines are up and export companies in eastern Brazil. Among the primary
running so far), has still slowed water flow significantly issues caused by the dam is massive sedimentation of the
through much of the Xingu’s once-powerful rapids and once-clear river, which has prevented collectors (who rely
caused vast flooding in the area slated to be its reservoir. on visually spotting most kinds of plecos) from finding
Since my visit to this region, I’ve kept in touch with local and collecting commercially important species. This be-
aquarium fish–trade stakeholders, and as this year’s fish gan with the construction of the main dam at Pimental
import season came to a close in eastern Brazil, I reached and has only abated in recent months.
out to a few of them for information on how the now “From 2016 until recently it was not possible to col-
AMAZONAS

mostly operational dam has impacted the river and the lect small sizes of L014 (Scobinancistrus aureatus) and
substantial aquarium fishery it once supported. L025 (Pseudacanthicus pirarara) because the area they
The news from on the ground, admittedly far from used for reproduction [has been] destroyed by sedimen-
heartening, is a mixed bag. “The Belo Monte dam has tation,” Ekström explained. “Both these species are very

81
 The stunning Goldie Pleco (Scobinancistrus
aureatus), known in the trade as L014, is one of the
species that have been impacted by the dam. Juvenile
fish, once plentiful from April to July, have been
scarce since major construction began in 2016.

important for the industry during their season, April we received was half normal.” The dam’s impacts on the
through July.” He characterizes them as “higher value spe- ornamental trade have not been entirely negative, how-
cies where all involved received a good amount of money.” ever, as water levels during the rainy season, when they
Ekström estimates that the scarcity of small speci- would typically rise quickly and the rapids would become
mens of these two species alone—whether due to dif- choked with sediment, have been moderated by the dam,
ficulty in collecting or to the fact that the dam has actu- allowing fishermen to collect more fishes than before.
ally disrupted their normal breeding grounds—had cost
local fish collectors in the area almost 50,000 Brazilian Uncertain impacts
reals (approximately $15,000 USD) per month for two From a conservation perspective, the long-term ramifica-
consecutive collecting seasons compared to pre-dam tions of the dam, even running at its somewhat limited
numbers. And the impact has hardly been limited to capacity, remain unclear. A recent paper published in
these two species. “We also have big problems collecting Biological Conservation is the first to compare surveys of
Baryancistrus xanthellus [L018, L081, and L177 in the fish fauna pre- and post-dam, and the results, like the
AMAZONAS

trade nomenclature] during the rainy season,” Ekström reports from trade stakeholders, are mixed. The sedimen-
continued, “as the dam keeps water levels too high and tation that has made fish collecting difficult in the short
fishermen can’t collect the same amount as before. term is likely to endanger the food sources of many of
From the end of January until May 2017 the quantity the river’s Loricariids and vastly decrease the complex,

82
rocky habitat that has shaped their evolution, while news on the horizon for other major Amazon tributar-
reduction in the normal dry/flood seasonal changes is ies. The Brazilian government announced a pause in the
likely to impact the breeding cycles of many species. The development of new major hydropower projects earlier
stark reality is that we simply don’t know the full extent this year, and the Sao Luis megadam, planned for the
of the impacts of the hydroelectric complex, which will Rio Tapajos, appears to have been permanently shelved.
certainly continue to impact the region’s fauna over the Fishes continue to be collected from the region, and
course of decades. immediate impacts on the populations of most hobby
Sadly, despite the social and environmental devasta- favorites seems to be limited. Sedimentation behind the
tion Belo Monte has caused already, worse may be in dam, which had peaked in mid-2017, seems to be on the
store in the near future. An almost 620-square-mile decline—most of the silt and sediment is confined behind
(1,606 km2) tract of land in the already embattled the main dam and within the reservoirs it created, ac-
Volta Grande is slated to become Brazil’s largest open- cording to collectors in the area. And proposed bans on
pit gold mine in a project funded by Canadian mining the export of several popular species, including Scobinan-
consortium Belo Sun. Gold mining, an activity that's cistrus aureatus (L014), Scobinancistrus pariolispos (L048,
notoriously harmful to aquatic (and human) life due to L133, L253), and Parancistrus nudiventris (L031, L176),
its toxic byproducts, is among the largest threats to the was recently shelved after researchers in Brazil presented
fish fauna of the Amazon as a whole, and if allowed to a sustainable management plan for these species, indicat-
become operational this mine would likely be the final ing that continued collection for the ornamental trade
nail in the coffin for many of the species endemic to the posed no significant threat to their populations.
Xingu’s rapids. This project has been temporarily shelved
due to a court ruling, but it remains to be seen whether Belo Monte: A monument to greed
this will be merely a temporary setback (like the dozens As always, conservation and politics have been insepa-
of court rulings to impact the Belo Monte) or will finally rable in Brazil. Given the ongoing political turmoil the
represent a ray of hope for the threatened aquatic life and country continues to face, it is conceivable that the mid-
human inhabitants of the middle Xingu. dle Xingu’s precarious hold on life may be curtailed at any
Although it now seems as if the wild, mighty Xingu moment. As aquarists, we may continue to enjoy its fishes
will never again flow unimpeded, there is some good in our home tanks for generations—and the recent spate

AMAZONAS

83
 A young boy helps sort the day’s catch outside his fishing village
in the Xingu’s Volta Grande, where collecting plecos and other
aquarium species has provided livelihoods for families who have
lived along the river for generations. Today, these families face an
uncertain future as fishes become scarce and the altered flow of
the river leaves their communities high and dry.
AMAZONAS

84
 85
AMAZONAS
 of breeding successes with Xingu endemics makes this more likely than ever—but the gradual
destruction of their sole remaining wild habitat should give all of us pause to consider the
A family fish-collecting consequences of humanity’s ongoing encroachment into the world’s last few wild places.
team proudly displays The Belo Monte Dam, although no longer making headlines, will continue to impact
the results of just a few
daily life along the Xingu for the people and the irreplaceable wildlife who live there for
minutes worth of fishing
during the author’s visit to
decades to come. It should serve as one of the great environmental cautionary tales of our
the region in 2016. With time, illustrating the destructive effects of greed and corruption on marginalized people
sediment-choked waters and unprotected wildlife.
and permanently reduced
flow, it’s hard to imagine
Acknowledgments: Special thanks to Janne Ekström of Arapaima Brazil for his insight into the dam’s
that today’s collections
would be so successful.
impact on the aquarium trade in the Xingu and eastern Brazil as a whole.

F U RT H E R R E A D I NG / WATC H I NG :

Fitzgerald, Daniel B. et al. 2018. Diversity and Community Structure of Rapids-Dwelling Fishes of the Xingu River:
Implications for Conservation amid Large-Scale Hydroelectric Development.” Biol Conserv 222: 104–112.
AMAZONAS

Anderson, M. and Elkaim, A.V. 2018. Belo Monte legacy: harm from Amazon dam didn’t end with construction. https://
news.mongabay.com/2018/02/belo-monte-legacy-harm-from-amazon-dam-didnt-end-with-construction/
Southgate, T. and Amazon Watch. 2017. Belo Monte: After the Flood (documentary film). http://amazonwatch.org/
news/2017/0314-watch-belo-monte-documentary-today

86
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 AQ UA R I U M

CALENDAR
compiled by Janine Banks and Ray Lucas

JULY 12 Missouri Aquarium Society 16 Circle City Aquarium Club

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Society Swap Meet

Gladstone, MO For a more complete listing of upcoming events, visit
kcfishclub.org www.reef2rainforest.com/events. To submit your event, contact:
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 SP EC IE S SNAPSHOTS
➊ SCLEROPAGES FORMOSUS ALBINO ➋ NANOCHROMIS MINOR
➌ AC ARICHTHYS HECKELII ALBINO ➍ GOBIOMORPHUS HUTTO-
NI ➎ GOBIOMORPHUS BASALIS ➏ CARIDINA SP. “ORANGE TAIL”

Albino Asian Arowana, Scleropages formosus

Scleropages formosus, Albino Asian Arowana Oliver Lucanus finally brought some Nanochromis minor
into the hobby, and some of them are making their

1| Albino mutations make for attention-grabbing

animals, and such striking variants have a
slim chance of survival in the wild, being easy targets
way into the hands of rare-cichlid enthusiasts. This is,
indeed, a valid species, and it is very small—probably
the smallest known cichlid ever. Adult specimens of
for predators. In the aquarium, however, they may be both sexes grow to just 0.9–1 inch (2.5–3 cm) long in
regarded as rare treasures. the aquarium, where they are likely to be larger than
Albino Asian Arowanas of the genus Scleropages is they are in the wild.
no exception, and they are always treated with special The color is similar in males and females: brownish
esteem, especially in Asia. I recently saw an albi- with a greenish luster on the front of the body. Some-
notic variant of S. formosus at Maju Aquarium in Java times a dark longitudinal band is visible. The male has
(Indonesia), an albinotic specimen of the form that bright rows of dots on a reddish-brown background in
was described several years ago from the drainage of the caudal and anal fins. The female does not have
the upper Kapuas (Borneo) as S. legendrei. This taxon these, and her caudal fin is red-brown with a clear ex-
is now considered synonymous with S. formosus. The tension of the dark longitudinal band and bright edges.
pictured specimen and several additional ones are be- Gravid females are also rounder, and the small genital
ing used to start a breeding project, so in a few years papilla is usually easy to see.
these albinos will probably appear more frequently in These fish need soft water of good quality. It is
the aquarium trade. likely that they, like other representatives of the genus,
—Hans-Georg Evers would react negatively to nutrient-heavy water. The
pH should be slightly in the acidic range, the water
Nanochromis minor, Congo Pygmy Cichlid temperature about 78.8°F (26°C). The fish are shy
and prefer to stay close to caves or roots or to shelter

2| First described about 50 years ago, this spe-

cies has been on many people’s wish lists for
under dense plant stands. A species tank is therefore
the best solution. Intraspecific aggression is quite
AMAZONAS

a long time and represents a mystery for us hobbyists. high, so only a single pair can be kept in a 15–20-gal-
We did not know how it looked alive or whether it was lon (60–80-L) aquarium. They do take flake foods, but
H.-G. EVERS

a small species, as described, or just a youngster of only hesitantly; they clearly prefer live food, especially
a different species. Last year, the Canadian importer Artemia or Cyclops.

92
 A Nanochromis minor pair, displaying male at right.
This pygmy is the smallest known African cichlid.

Typical for its genus, this species is a pair-forming form’s colors and long filaments make these large cave
cave breeder. In Canada and the United States, some breeders (7.9 inches/20 cm) very attractive. Appar-
have already managed to breed them; we hope that ently, breeders in Taiwan agree—they have selected
breeding efforts are able to establish this interesting an albino form that is sometimes seen in the trade
and rare species more widely. in Germany. Fortunately, these animals have retained
—Anton Lamboj some color in addition to the beautiful finnage of adult
males. Depending on the individual, they still have
Acarichthys heckelii, Threadfin Acara Albino orange tones and the beautiful golden spots of the wild
form on the flanks and fins. In fact, in some specimens

3| I think Acarichthys heckelii is one of the most

beautiful cichlids in South America. The wild
the original gray body color of the wild form is gone,
and the orange colors contrast even more strongly.

Albino Threadfin Acaras, Acarichthys heckelii

TOP: A. LAMBOJ; BOTTOM: H.-G. EVERS

AMAZONAS

93
 Although it took me a while to get used to them, I think
they have more appeal than many other albino fishes.
—Hans-Georg Evers

Gobiomorphus huttoni, Redfin Bully

4| Gobies are an evolutionary success story.

They represent the most species-rich group of
fishes and have spread into the rivers and lakes of
many islands—especially where there were few or no
secondary freshwater fishes, including the islands of
New Zealand. The genus Gobiomorphus from the family
of sleeper gobies (Eleotridae) currently contains nine
described species. Two of them live in Australia; the
rest are in New Zealand, where they are called Bullys.
The prize of the genus—and one of the prettiest
fishes in New Zealand—is Gobiomorphus huttoni (Red-
fin Bully). The intense red fins of the males make this
goby very attractive. It grows up to 4.7 inches (12 cm)
long and inhabits fresh waters near the coast. It can
be found on all the islands of New Zealand, up to 124
miles (200 km) inland. They need to be near the sea to
reproduce: oviposition takes place in fresh water, but
the hatched larvae drift into the sea. They feed on the
abundant supply of zooplankton, develop into juvenile
fish, and eventually return to fresh water.
—Andreas Wagnitz

Gobiomorphus basalis, Cran’s Bully

have a yellow to orange tinge in the first dorsal fin

5| New Zealand’s northern island is also home

to Gobiomorphus basalis (Cran’s Bully). While
Gobiomorphus huttoni only inhabits rivers near the
and a blue and yellow tinge at the bases of the pec-
toral fins. My animals are about 2 inches (5 cm) long
and as the males grow, their head profile becomes
coast, G. basalis lives further inland. The larvae of increasingly bullish. The females have much narrower
this species should be significantly larger than those bodies and smaller, more pointed mouths.
of G. huttoni directly after hatching, and develop in Gobiomorphus gobies live in rivers and lakes and
pure, fresh water. The final size of the male fish is are relatively land-based, and the males are quite terri-
about 3.5 inches (9 cm); females are smaller. Males torial, which is why they should be kept in well struc-

TOP: A. WAGNITZ; BOTTOM:

AMAZONAS

Male Cran’s Bully,

Gobiomorphus basalis

94
 unheated tank. Currently, my specimens
(from Johannes Graf) only respond to live
food, such as mosquito larvae, water fleas,
Cyclops, and small worms, but may eventu-
ally be trained to accept frozen food.
—Andreas Wagnitz

Caridina sp. “Orange Tail”

6| On an October 2017 natural history

trip to Cenderawasih Bay on the
Bird’s Head peninsula, in the Indonesian
province of Papua Barat, my friend Jeffrey
Christian of Maju Aquarium Cibinong and I
found what we presumed was a new dwarf
shrimp of the genus Caridina. No shrimp
finds had yet been reported from this corner
of New Guinea. We discovered Caridina sp.
Male Redfin Bully, “Orange Tail”, as we named the species
Gobiomorphus huttoni (because of the striking orange-yellow
stripes on its tail fin), in a narrow clearwater
creek near the coast (123 μS/cm, pH 8.0,
79.5°F/26.4°C). The creek runs through
dense, still intact rainforest. While we were
catching the species, we heard birds of
paradise calling nearby. The Indonesian
name for these birds is Cenderawasih—a
wonderful coincidence, we thought.
tured tanks with many stone structures or roots as Whether or not these dwarf shrimp, which appar-
territorial boundaries. A moderate flow can be achieved ently are migratory propagators that lay many very
with air-operated foam filters, which also supply the small eggs, are a scientifically new species has yet to
fish with fresh oxygen. The climate in New Zealand is be verified. Preserved material has now been sent to
mild and subtropical. The water temperatures fluctuate a specialist, and the first live specimens have been
from 39.2 to 68°F (4–20°C) during the year, and July imported to Europe.
is the coolest month, so the fish should be kept in an —Hans-Georg Evers

Caridina sp. “Orange Tail”, a

newly discovered Bee Shrimp
from Indonesia.
AMAZONAS
H.-G. EVERS

95
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A DV E RTI S E R S

INDEX
101 Best Freshwater Nano Species Book . . . . . . . . . . .97 Fluval Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . inside front cover, 37
www.amazon.com www.fluvalaquatics.com
American Cichlid Association. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96 Hikari . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
www.2018ACACares.com www.hikariusa.com
AMAZONAS Magazine Back Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97 Nautilus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
www.reef2rainforest.com www.NautilusMarineWholesale.com
AMAZONAS Magazine Retail Sources . . . . . . . . . . .90, 91 Ocean Nutrition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61
www.Reef2Rainforest.com/source-directory www.oceannutrition.com
AMAZONAS Magazine Subscriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76 OmegaSea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
www.AMAZONASmagazine.com www.omegasea.net
AMAZONAS Magazine Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76 Pleco Feeder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
www.reef2rainforest.com www.theplecofeeder.com
Apet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91 Poly-Bio-Marine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87
www.apetinc.com www.poly-bio-marine.com
Aquariumfishsale.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 San Francisco Bay Brand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
www.aquariumfishsale.com www.sfbb.com
Aquarium Münster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Sera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
www.aquarium-munster.com www.sera-usa.com

Aquarium Zen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 Swiss Tropicals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85

www.SwissTropicals.com
www.AquariumZen.net
TAAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51
Aquatic Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89
www.commodityaxis.com
www.aquaticexperience.org
Tunze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Aquatropic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 www.tunze.com
www.aquatropic.com
Two Little Fishies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13, 83
Boyd Enterprises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 www.twolittlefishies.com
www.chemi-pure.com
The Wet Spot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68
Brightwell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . back cover www.wetspottropicalfish.com
www.brightwellaquatics.com
ZooMed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9, 10, 11
CaribSea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . inside back cover www.zoomed.com
www.caribsea.com
Catfish Convention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 For an AMAZONAS Media Kit please contact:
www.CatfishCon.com
Mike Tuccinardi, Advertising Sales Director •
Dr. Tim’s Aquatics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67
[email protected]
www.drtimsaquatics.com

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 U N D E RWAT E R EYE by Uwe Neumann

TIGER BEE SHRIMP

Foreground: Caridina cantonensis
var. “Gold Tiger” with var. “Red Tiger”
at rear. These captive-bred dwarf
crustaceans can provide fascinating
behaviors and useful scavenging
services for planted aquariums with
carefully selected tankmates.
AMAZONAS

98
[email protected]
 The Clean Team

Razor Freshwater : Unique freshwater systemic cleaner designed to target and clean the surfaces of decorations, driftwood, rocks, gravel and tank walls. Gently loosens
ugly accumulations, coatings and debris making vacuuming easy. Flocculates leftover food and clears the water.

FlorinBacter: Complete bioculture designed for planted freshwater aquariums. Excellent suspension of nono-pathogenic aerobic and anaerobic microbes and natural
HQ]\PHVWKDWTXLFNO\HVWDEOLVKELRORJLFDOȴOWUDWLRQDQGGHJUDGHRUJDQLFZDVWHOHDYLQJDPRUHSULVWLQHDTXDULXP

Redoxiclean:ΖPPHGLDWHO\R[LGHVXQZDQWHGOHIWRYHUIRRGSDUWLFOHVDQGRWKHURUJDQLFZDVWHFOHDULQJWKHZDWHUDQGSURYLGLQJDEHDXWLIXOHQYLURQPHQW6DIHIRUDOOȴVK
plants and invertebrates.

Organit R: Regenerable high tech resin that clears brown stains from the water, removes dissolved organic materials and raises the redox potential of the aquarium.
Will also remove many dyes and medications, similar to carbon, but is regenerable many times

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