Taxonomy

Weitzman & Kanazawa, 1977

The actual fish is called " - cf. aphanes" because it differs in colors and black markings from "the original".

Synonyms

Distribution and habitat

Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru

I collected this fish in the Rio Shishita-drainage in the Peruvian Amazon, in October 2008.

The water: pH: 5,32,  Conductivity: 21 µS/cm,  T:24,0 °C
(after heavy rain, at the end of the dry season)

Water parameters

PH : 4 - 6
ppm : As low as possible

My Experience

I collected this fish in 2008, and I brought 6 specimens back home.

The males are quite aggressive, and the two males were, in a few weeks, reduced to one.

Later on I added a few wild ones (in 2022), and the group now produce fry and the males co-exist without serious incidents.

They love their daily meals of newly hatched brine shrimp, and they will also eat some brands of dry food as long as it is small.

Breeding

First time I keept them in a tank with loads of Java Moss (Taxiphyllum barbieri) and a few Nannostomus marginatus.
They spawned there (I don't know when or how), as I noticed a few smaller fish (fry).
The group increased from 2 fishes to at least 9.

After I added a few wild ones in 2022, the group now produce fry regularly, sometimes only one or two, other times more. I keep them in a quite heavily planted tank, without any other species, and I regularly add infusoria to the tank.

I have seen sparring between the males and what I believe is courtship behavior, but amazingly I have still not seen them spawn or deposit eggs!

Fry like this show up now and then: