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Fish Archive Aquarium Glaser GmbH |
Yunnanilus: after the Chinese province of Yunnan, where the first discovered species appear. Yasuhikotakia in honour to the Japanese scientist Yasuhiko Taki Xiphophorus: from ancient Greek, meaning „the one that bears a sword“. Xenotoca: means "with strange young", refering to the "umbilical cord" (the correct term is "trophotaenia") of the newborn youngsters. winemilleri: in honour of Kirk Winemiller whitei: in honour of “E. A. White, of the city of Mexico, in recognition of many favors received through his courtesy“. vulgata: from Latin "common". victoriae: refers to Lake Victoria, where the species occurs. vespa: Latin for wasp. variatus: Latin, means "variable". variata: means "changeable". urophthalmoides: somewhat like urophthalma urophthalma: from ancient Greek oura: tail and ophthalmos: eye, refering to the tailspot of the species. Umbra: Latin, means "shadow", refering to the dull coloration. Typhlonectes: ancient Greek, "typhlos" meaning "blind", "nectes" meaning "swimmer", eg "blind swimmer". The namebearing specimen, usually deposited in a museum collection. It forms the basis of the scientific defintion of a species. Tylomelania: from ancient Greek " Melania wird calluses". Melania is another genus of snail. tukano: after a tribe of indigenous people tuberculata: Latin "with small humps". trifasciatus: Latin, means "with three stripes". Trichogaster: ancient Greek, means "filamentous belly". translucida: Latin, means "shining through", due to the transparency of the fish. Trachelyopterus from greece trachelia = extreme and pteron = fin, eg „the one with an extreme fin“ Toxotes: ancient Greek, means "archer". testudineus: Latin, means "turtle-like". temporalis: Latin tempus means "temple"; refers to the dark stripe behind the eye. Telmatochromis: means "swamp dwelling perch"; Boulenger, the first describer of the genus, obviously had wrong information on the biotope, because Telmatochromis are rock-dwellers. Tatia: dedicated to Charles Tate Regan, who was ichthyologist at the British Museum. Tanichthys: „fish of Tan“, dedicated to Tan Kam Fei who discovered the species. Takifugu: composed from two Japanese words: Taki meaning "waterfall" and Fugu, which is the name of the puffer which causes deadly poisoning when prepared for food in a wrong way; the term has multiple meanings, one can read it in a way that the fish shou Taeniolethrinops: ancient Greek, means "striped Lethrinops". Lethrinops is another genus of cichlid. Synonym: Synonyms are different words with identical meanings. If a species is named scientifically twice or more often, the eldest available name is the vaild one. The other name(s) are considered to be synonym(s) without validity. Synodontis: an old name for an undetermined fish from the Nile. Sturio (latin) means sturgeon, soma (latin) means body stuebelii: after Alphons Stübel (1835-1905), surveyer of South America, geologist, founder of vulcanology Strophidon: not explained in the original description, but probably from ancient Greek, meaning "with teeth turned backwards". stoliczkanus: dedicated to the collector of the species, Ferdinand Stoliczka (1838-1874). stiktos: ancient Greek for „spotted“. stalsbergi: in honour of Alf Stalsberg. Splendida: latin: shining splendens: Latin for „splendid“. Spatuloricaria: Latin, means "Loricaria with spatula". Loricaria is another genus of whiptail catfish, spatula refers to the very special and genus-specific shape of the teeth. sp. aff.: Latin, abbreviation of "species affinis", which means "similar species". snijdersi: dedication name smaragdina: Latin for „emerald colored“. Sidthimunki: named in honour for Sidthimunk, the collector of the species siamensis: means "originating from Siam". Research ongoing. Most probably a dedication name for a Mr or Mrs Sewell. Serrasalmus: from Latin, means „salmon with a saw“. Refers to the saw-like arranged scales along the keel of the breast. Septaria: the Latin word septaria is used for a cementlike mass (the term cement derives from it). The generic name could also refer to the Latin word septum, which means "thin wall". scomberoides: similar to a mackerel schwartzi: in honour of Willy Schwartz, an exporter of ornamental fish schleseri: dedication name for D. M. Schleser, who dicovered the species in 2002 together with M. Weitzman. scalare: from Latin "scalarum" = ladder, refers to the stripes. Scabies = throatiness, itch (due to the shell structure) sathete: after the vernacular name of the species in Bengal. rugosus: Latin, means "wrinkled, rugose". Derives from robustus, -a, -um (latin): strong, robust, sturdy rivulatus: Latin, means "originating from a brook". Riesei: dedication name, dedicated to W. Riese, who cellected the type specimens together with H. Axelrod. Rheophilous: loving current reynoldsi: dedication name rexi: dedication name. retrocaudatus: Latin, retro means "backwards", caudatus means "tailed", referring to the characteristic shape of the caudal fin. rerio: basing on a Bengali term for these fishes. Rasbora – the native bengali name for Rasbora rasbora Pyrrhulina laeta means: Merry little bullfinch Pyrrhulina means: Little bullfinch Pygocentrus: from ancient Greece, meaning is „rumpthorn“. Most likely this name was chosen because initially it was thought that the existence of fin rays in the adipose fin would be a genus-specific feature in contrast to Serrasalmus species, where fin r pygmaea: Latin, means "dwarfish". Puntius: from the Bengal term "Punti" for such barbs. punctatus: Latin, means "spotted". punctatum: from Latin for "spotted". pulcher: means "beautiful" pugnax: Latin word for "martial". Pterophyllum: from ancient Greek, means "finleaf" or "leaffin". Pseudorinelepis: from ancient Greek, means "false Rinelepis" (Rinelepis is another genus of Loricariids). Pseudorasbora: ancient Greek, means "false Rasbora". Rasbora is another genus of fish. Pseudomystus: Ancient Greek, means "false Mystus". Mystus is another genus of catfish. Pseudocrenilabrus: from ancient Greek, means "false Crenilabrus". Crenilabrus is another genus of fish. Pseudobunocephalus: ancient Greek, means "false Bunocephalus". Bunocephalus is another genus of banjo cat. The name was chosen because in the past members of Pseudobunocephlus often have been mistaken for juveniles of Bunocephalus. Pseudeutropius: ancient Greek, means "false Eutropius". Eutropius is another genus of catfish. Pseudacanthicus: from ancient Greek, means "false Acanthicus" (Acanthicus is another genus of Loricariids). Potamotyphlus: from ancient Greek, "potamon" meaning "river" and "typhlos" meaning "blind", eg "blind river dweller". Poropanchax: means "Panchax with pores", referring to the genus-specific arrangement of sensory pores on the head of the fish. Panchax is another genus of fish. Polychromatism: means "with many colours". The term is used when within one species different colorations are observed. Placidochromis: Latin, means "calm Chromis", referring to the swimming behaviour. The suffix -chromis is widely used for African perch-like fishes. It is an old fish name which is used in a scientific way nowadays for the damselfish, Chromis chromis from Piraya: after an indigenous name for these fishes Practocephalus: from ancient Greek "armour head". phenochilus: ancient Greek, means "with shining lips". petricola: from ancient Greek, meaning "rock dweller". peruvianus: means "originating from Peru". perugiae: dedication name for A. Perugia, who was ichthyologist at the Trieste museum. peruensis: means "comes from Peru". Perca means "Perch" Patella: name of a small, shallow pan that was used in ancient Rome; refers to the shape of the shell. pastazensis: after the Rio Pastaza in the Pastaza province, Ecuador, where the species is found. parva: Latin, means "small". Parotocinclus: ancient Greek, means "alike Otocinclus"; Otocinclus is another genus of catfish. Parauchenoglanis: Latin, "par" means "same as, corresponding", Auchenoglanis is another genus of catfish. Parasphaerichthys: ancient Greek, means "similar to Sphaerichthys". Sphaerichthys is another genus of fish. parallelus: allusion to the two black parallel stripes on the flanks parae: means „coming from Para“. Para is a Brazilian state. Pangasius: from a native name of the type species of the genus, Pangasius pangasius, which lives in the Ganges river in India. Pangasianodon: ancient Greek, means "with teeth like a Pangasius". Pangasius is another genus of catfish. pando: after the Bolivian department of Pando, where the species has been collected. panchax: from the Bengal name for the species. Paleatus: from the latin word palea: chaff, eg „chaff-like colored“. Paedocypris: ancient Greek, means "childish carp", in allusion to the larvae-like morphology of the species. Otocinclus: ancient Greek, means "with latticed ear"; referring to a bone in the skull, which is visible externally and placed where in humans would be the ear; this bone has a latticed structure. osgoodi: dedication name. Orthospinus means "erected spine" which refers to a spine placed before the dorsal fin. ortegai: dedication name. ornatus: means "splendid" orcesi: dedication name in honour of Gustavo Orcés-Villagomez. orbicularis: from Latin "orbiculatus" meaning disc-shaped. Opsodoras: from Opsis (Greek): Eye, Seeing, Face and Doras: another genus of thorny catfish; the name refers to the genus-specific round eye during the development, during growth omnivorous: a species that feeds on anything, without specialization. oenolaemus: ancient Greek for "with vine-red throat" ocellatus: Latin for "with an eyespot". obesus: Latin, means "thick". Nothobranchius: from ancient Greek "nothos" = false, untrue and "branchion" = gill, referring to the gill anatomy. Nomorhamphus: from ancient Greek, means "with regular jaws"; this refers to the almost equally long upper and lower jaw, which is the difference to all other halfbeaks. Nigrolineata: latin „with black line“ natans: Latin, meaning "swimming, drifting". narcissus: after the Greek half-god Narcissus, who fell in love with his own mirror image. Nannostomus: from ancient Greek, means "with a tiny mouth". Nannacara: means "small Acara". Acara is an Tupi word for cichlid. nana: Latein for "dwarfish". multicolor: Latin, means "with many colours". Mugilogobius: latin, means "mullet-goby". Morleti: named in honour for Morlet, the collector of the species moolenburghae: dedication name for Mrs Moolenburgh who supplied together with her husband a large collection of fishes from Sumatra to Weber and de Beaufort for their epochal work on the fishes of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. Moema: a city in Brazil. Modesta: latin: undemanding, modest (due to the modest coloration of preserved specimens) mimulus: Latin, means "little actor", referring to the mimikry of this species with Corydoras diphyes. micros: from anciet Greek „mikros“ meaning „small“. Microrasbora: from ancient Greek, means "tiny Rasbora". Rasbora is another genus of barb. Micropoecilia: means „small Poecilia“. Poecilia is another genus of livebearers. Microphis: from ancient Greek, meaning "little snake". Microdevario: from ancient Greek, means "tiny devario". Devario is another genus of barb. Micagemmae: from latin micare „sparkle“ and gemma „gem“, eg. „sparkling gem“. Metynnis: ancient Greek, means "in between the share"; this refers to the spine before the dorsal fin. Mesoaphyosemion: the prefix "meso" means "in between" and was chosen to make clear that the systematical status of the members of this subgenus remains unresolved. merah: after the indonesian word for „red“; allusion to the ground colour of the species. melanzonus: means „with black zones“ according to the two horizontal black stripes. Melanoides: from ancient Greek "similar to Melania". Melania is another genus of snail. meklongensis: originating from the Meklong river. megistus: probably latinized form of the ancient Greek word megistos, which means "the greatest". megasema: ancient Greek, means "with a big sign". This is referring to the large lateral spot. marginatus: Latin, means "bordered". maculatus: Latin word for „spotted“ from macrolepis (Greek): with large scales Macrognathus: from ancient Greek, means "with large jaws". macrocephalus: Latin, means "with big head". Macrobrachium: from ancient Greek, means "with a large arm". luxophthalmus: from ancient Greek, means "with luminescent eye". lucipinnis: from Latin "lucidus" = bright, clear and "pinna" = fin, referring to the clear window at the base of each dark triangle on the fins (exception: the caudal fin), which is species-specific for S. lucipinnis. Loricaria: from the Latin word „lorica“which is the chest protector of the Roman legionnaire, eg „one that wears a chest protector“. loretoensis: after the Loreto province in Peru. Longipinnis: from latin, means „with long fins“. longibarbis: from Latin, meaning "with a long beard", referring to the barbels. llanero: after the Llanos in Venezuela where the species occurs. lippincottianus: dedication name. lineatus: Latin, means "lined", referring to the pattern. liemi: dedication name leveretti - dedication name Leucaspius = white Aspius (another genus of the carp family) Lepomis means "with scaled operculum" leopardus: Latin, means "looks like a leopard", referring to the pattern. lentiginosa: from the Latin word for „freckled“. lennoni: in memory of the murdered musician John Lennon. Leiocassis: Ancient Greek, means "with smooth helmet". laubuca: from a vernacular name of the fish larvophilous: mouthbrooders that take the larvae, but not eggs in the mouth for broodcare. Lamprologus: means "the one that wears gloss"; refers to the shining spots on each scale of L. congoensis, the type species. Lampiella: to remind of the grandmother of the describer of the genus, Isaac Isbrücker, Céline Lampie. She was murdered in 1943 in Poland in the Sobibor concentration camp by the nazis. She was „a small woman with a small hump“. Lamontichthys: dedication name (ichthys is ancient Greek and means "fish") for Francesca La Monte. Laetacara: from Latin "laetus" = cheerful and the indigenous name "acara" for cichlid. Refers to the pattern on the snout which suggests that the fish is smiling. derives from the Latin word laetus: merry labiosa: Latin for „with lips“. kyathit: after a burmese word for „leopard“, refering to the coloration of the spotted variety. kuehnei: in honour for Jens Kühne. kubotai: dedication name for Hitochi Kubota, a collector and exporter of ornamental fishes. krameri: dedication name. kaupii: dedication name. Kalochroma - from greek „with beautiful colours“ jumbo: refers to the unusual size of the species compared with other members of the genus. jaculatrix: Latin word for a female hurler. Ivanacara: after "acara" and Ivan the Terrible, the first Tsar of Russia. The authors refer to the unpredictable temper of the fish which they have observed. According to them the species can be extremely aggressive and extremely peaceful. imbellis: Latin for „peaceful“. Ilyodon: from ancient Greek „with a flat tooth“ in respect of the dentition. hypostomus: from ancient Greek, means "with inferior mouth". hypophthalmus: ancient Greek, means "goggle-eyed". Hyphessobrycon: ancient Greek, means "small Brycon". Brycon is another genus of tetras. Hydrolycus: Waterwolve Horae: in honour for Sunder Lal Hora, an important Indian ichthyologist Hoplosternum: from ancient Greek, meaning "with a shielded breast". Hemiloricaria: hemi is ancient Greek and means "half", loricaria is another genus of whiptail catfish. hemiliopterus: from ancient Greek "with half-smooth fin". Hemigrammus: ancient Greek, means "with half line", referring to the incomplete lateral line, which is genus-specific. hellerii: in honour for K. Heller, an Austrian botanist. Haplochromis: ancient Greek, means "simple Chromis". The suffix -chromis is widely used for African perch-like fishes. It is an old fish name which is used in a scientific way nowadays for the damselfish, Chromis chromis from the Mediterranean Sea and the Gymnorhamphichthys: from ancient Greek, means "naked Rhamphichthys". Rhampichthys is another genus of knifefish. guttata: Latin, means "speckled". Gobiopterus: ancient Greek, means "goby with wings". gibbosus means "humped" Gibbosa: latin word for „humpy“. Geophagus: from ancient Greek, means "eartheater". genibarbis: from ancient Greek, means "with a hairy cheek". gatesi: dedication name for Gordon E. Gates, a zoologist specialized in earthworms, who worked at the Judson College in Rangoon and helped Albert W. C. T. Herre, the discoverer and describer of M. gatesi during his visit in Rangoon. Garra: an indigenous name for those fishes in Bengal. Galeatus: latin word for helmet, eg „the one that wears a helmet“ furzeri: in honour for R. Furzer. fulvipinnis: from Latin fulvus: orange and pinna: fin, eg "with orange fins" frankei: in honour of H.-J. Franke, an extraordinary keeper and breeder of ornamental fishes. franciscensis: refers to the origin of the species, the Rio Sao Francisco. Fossochromis: ancient Greek, means "burrowing Chromis". The suffix -chromis is widely used for African perch-like fishes. It is an old fish name which is used in a scientific way nowadays for the damselfish, Chromis chromis from the Mediterranean Sea and foerschi: in honour for Walter Foersch. fluviatilis means "living in rivers" flavatra: Latin, means "yellow-black", referring to the coloration. fasciatus: Latin, means "striped". fasciata – Latin for „striped“ Etroplus: from ancient Greek, means "with armoured belly"; this refers to the spines of the anal fin. Ernstichthys: dedication name, means "Fish of Ernst"; A. Ernst worked at the Universidade Central de Venezuela. eriocheirum: from ancient Greek, means "with a hairy hand". eques: Latin for rider or knight; it is unknown why the species was named so. Ephippicharax: means "saddled Charax", which refers to a special feature of these tetras. They have a spine embedded in muscles in front of the dorsal fin, which is directed to the head. Enneacanthus: ancient Greek, means "with nine spines". This refers to the structure of the dorsal fin. endemic: this means that a species is found only there and nowhere else in the World. duplicareus: Latin for doubled; refers to the extreme similarity to C. adolfoi. dracula: after Count Dracula, a character in a novel created by Bram Stoker. Dracula was a bloodsucking vampire; in allusion to the fang-like "teeth" in males of the species. diphyes: anicient Greek, adjective meaning "of double nature", in reference to the variation in body patterns, eg striped and blotchy. digrammus: ancient Greek, means "with two stripes". Dianema: from ancient Greek, meaning "with two filaments", referring to the barbels. diabolica: diabolical; refers to red shining eyes of the species. delineatus = without lines, refers to the incomplete lateral line Danionella: diminutive of Danio; Danio is another genus of fish. Danio: basing on a Bengali term for these fishes. Curimatopsis means similar to Curimata which is another genus of tetras. crispata: wrinkled Corydoras: from ancient greek, means „with helmet and spear“. This refers to the strong armor and fin spines. Copeina: Dedicated to E. D. Cope, an ichthylogist with worldwide reputation. conchonius: from a common name for the fish in Bengal. Colisa – from a Bengali term for these fishes. cobojius: after a Bengal name for the species. Clibanarius: Latin term for a heavily armoured cavalryman. chuno: after the vernacular name of the species in Bengal. Chela: from a vernacular name of the fish chatareus: from a popular name for the fish in Bengal, India. cf.: from Latin „confer“ which means „compare with“. It is used when it is not sure that the species in question represents really the one named after cf. Centromochlus: from ancient Greek "with lever arm", referring to the pectoral spines which can be a locked by a special mechanism. Celiae: named in honour for the discoverer, Celia Epie from Menja, western Cameroon cacatuoides: means "looks like a cockatoo". The author of the species was reminded by the dorsal fin of the males in the hood of an cockatoo. Bunocephalus: ancient Greek, means "with hilly head". Bujurquina: after the Peruvian popular name "Bujurqui" for cichlids Breviventralis: with short ventral fins brasiliense: means "coming from Brazil". brachyurus: ancient Greek "shorttailed". brachypopterus: ancient Greek, means "with a short fin". Brachychalcinus: means "short Chalcinus". Chalcinus is another genus of tetra. Boraras: anagram of Rasbora, referring to the reverse ratio of abdominal and caudal vertebrae in Boraras compared with Rasbora. bocourti: in honour for Marie Firmin Bocourt (1819 – 1904), a french zoologist and artist. blockii: dedication name. bimaculata: Latin for "with two spots". bifasciatus: Latin, means "with two stripes". Betta: after an indigenous Indonesian term for one of the species. beni: named after the Rio Beni in Bolivia where the species occurs endemicly. bejeus - from a Bengali term for these fishes. Beaufortia – dedication name Barbus: Latin, means "the bearded one", referring to the barbels. Barbucca: means „with a bearded cheek“; this refers to the tuberculate cheek patches of the males. Derives from barbatus, -a, -um (latin): bearded Balitoridae: derives from the genus name Batlitora which is an indegenous name for a fish species in India. Axelrodia: dedication name, dedicated to Herbert Axelrod. Australe: from latin, means „southern“ in respect to the distribution of the species. Auchenipteridae from the greece auchen: neck and pteron: fin, because of the postion of the dorsal fin. Astronotus: ancient Greek, means "with stars on the back", referring to the coloration. Astacus: latin name for the Noble cray armatus: Latin for armoured; refers probably to the extremely long dorsal fin spine. araguaiae: coming from the Araguaia Aplocheilus: means "with a simple lip", refers to the mouth structure. Aplocheilichthys: from ancient Greek, means "fish that is similar to Aplocheilus". Aplocheilus is another genus of fish. Apistogramma: ancient Greek, means "with unreliable line". It is not known wether the lateral line organ or the pattern is meant. Aphyosemion from ancient greece, means „small fish with flag-like fins“. Apholebias: from the anterior part of the word Aphyosemion and from Lebias; Aphyosemion is a genus of killifish from Africa, which is somewhat similar to Aphyolebias. Lebias is an ancient fish name, which was formerly used for what is now Aphanius. The wo Andinoacara: means "Acara from the Andes". Acara is another genus of cichlid. Ancistrus: from the ancient Greek word for "fishhook". This refers to the hooked spines that are placed on the movable Interoperculum (a bone between the gill-covering bones), called interopercularodontodes, which are spread in case of danger. Anabas: ancient Greek, means "the climber". amazonicus: after the Amazon river, where the species occurs. altae: etymology not known (alta, Latin, means "high"). Lexicon: Tanichthys: „fish of Tan“, dedicated to Tan Kam Fei who discovered the species. Albonubes: latin for „White Clouds“, refers to the White Cloud Mountains in China, where the species was discovered. Akysis: from ancient Greek, mens "without bladder", which refers to the lack of the swimming bladder. agulha: after a popular name given to the species in the region of the Rio Madeira, the type locality. africanus: Latin, means "comes from Africa". Aequidens: Latin, means "with equal tooth". This refers to the set of teeth. adolfoi: in honour for Adolfo Schwartz. adoketa: from ancient Greek, means "unexpected". This refers to the natural range of the species which lies far from the distribution of the other members of the genus. aculeatus: Latin "prickled". Acanthophacelus: means „cluster of needles“; in respect of the microstructure of the male´s sexual organ, the gonopodium.
Nannostomus anduzei |
For the first time ever we were able to import this tiny fish in larger numbers. Until now the fish was available only by accidental by-catches. Please read more about this new jewel for nano tanks:
Within the family Lebiasinidae, sixteen scientifically accepted species of the genus Nannostomus are known. Still, in aquatic specialist shops only seven different species are offered: N.beckfordi, N.harrisoni, N.marginatus, N. mortenthaleri, N.trifasciatus, and the two 'head-ups' N.eques and N.unifasciatus. occasionally N. digrammus, N. espei and N. limatus are also available.Until today, one other species, N.britskii, is completely unknown to the aquatic world.
Hardly anything can be said about colouration or appearance in general. All other species are fairly known to aquarists but not available in the shops because there is no demand for them. Every now and then, some specimens of the species N.anduzei FERNANDEZ & WEITZMAN, 1987 come as accidental catches to Europe.It can sometimes be found in catches of the Blue Neon, Paracheirodon simulans.Very often, the fish are ignored due to their smallness: they only reach a maximum length of 1.8 cm! With this maximum length, N.anduzei is the smallest species of the genus. By the way: the genus type is N.beckfordi. The authors FERNANDEZ and WEITZMAN named the pretty dwarftetra in honour of Dr Pablo Anduze who supported their research of the fish world of southern Venezuela in every possible way.The reference specimens of this fairly 'new' species come from a collection of a freshwater lagoon that is about 15 km north of Puerto Ayacucho, in the upper regions of the Rio Orinoco. The water temperature in the lagoon was nearly 30° C, the pH differed from 5.0 to 7.0. A second place where N.anduzei was found is in northern Brazil. Dr WEITZMAN was asked to identify a collection of fish from this particular place; several specimens of N.anduzei were among them.The fish had been collected in the waters of a savanna in the Rio Negro area. These stretches of water belong to the Rio Ererê which comes from the North and flows (about 250 km northwest of the mouth of the Rio Branco) into the Rio Negro, near the Rio Padauari which came to our knowledge through exciting catches of Dwarf cichlids.This particular place is one of the socalled 'black water' regions. Interestingly, the fish caught there have the same colouration as the specimens caught in Venezuela but the males of the Brazilian form have a much longer anal fin. N. anduzei differs from all other Nannostomus species in the lacking of dark spots or bars in night colouration. In night colouration these fish seem to be transparent and display a golden shine while the red in the anal fin and the caudal base is hardly recognizable. The fish that are imported as accidental catches probably come from the Rio Ererê region. For keeping them one needs only a small aquarium with a volume of about 10 to 30 litres. At water parametres of 27° C, pH 7 or slightly below and 10°dH hardness the precious little fish are absolutely unproblematic to keep. For feeding one should use (due to the smallness of the fish) very fine, sieved Cyclops, sometimes small Grindal Worms or artemia nauplia.Occasionally they also enjoy fine dry food. If you keep a swarm of N. anduzei under the conditions mentioned above you will soon observe the first courtship rituals of the males.Now, the dominant males display a blood red caudal fin base and anal fin. The golden horizontal bar shines in a light green and the brown back as well as the brown horizontal band below the gold-green bar turns grey-brown. After this impressive courtship display one of course hopes for numerous offspring of this pretty and rare fish. But although I very often watched courtship rituals the fish never spawned. So I decided to try to breed with a swarm of four males and six females which were all animals that I had picked out from several Blue Neon imports. I set up an 8 litre breeding tank; 2/3 of the bottom were cushioned with Java-moss, the surface was covered by Ceratopteris. The spring water I used had pH 6.3 and 2° dH hardness.The swarm was kept like this for ten days; artemia nauplia were fed daily.The food remains accummulated in the light front part of the tank and were carefully sucked out every two days.Afterwards I filled up the tank with fresh spring water. Three days after I had removed the adults from the breeding tank I could see tiny zygotes that stuck to the panes.This way it was easy to measure them: they were three milimetres long, grey-white in colour and very thin. The head with the clearly visible eye was thicker than the rest of the body. Every two days I carefully added two drops of Liquifry to the tank water. At the beginning of the third week I gave some artemia nauplia into the tank but I could not see whether they were eaten or not. After three weeks I removed all plants from the tank.To my disappointment, there were only six young fish. Still, those six were now 4 mm long and had put on considerable weight.As the plants were removed, I could now watch the fry eating the nauplia. At this stage I dared to suck out some mud and fill up the tank with spring water. For eating food remains I put in several Posthornsnails. Although this very first breeding of N. anduzei was not too successful regarding numbers, it still showed that it is possible to breed the dwarf species in the aquarium. It might be possible that the species is (like many of its relatives) a predator of its own eggs. If this is the case it could be wiser to breed only in pairs. It will surely be possible to improve breeding results so that the pretty species can be part of its owner's life for a long time.
Text & Photos: Dieter Bork
Reprint from AqualogNews No 7, actualized 4/2009
Archived on 04.2009
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| Maximum size | | 1.8 cm |
| Size available | | 1-2 cm |
| Origin | | Venezuela |
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