Trinidad and Tobago

The two spot astyanax, Astyanax bimaculatus, is a characid ranging from Panama through most of the Amazon and Orinoco basins. It lives in a wide variety of biotopes, from swiftly-flowing rivers and streams to ponds, ditches and reservoirs. The name is currently applied to what is considered a species complex of at least four taxa, and aquarium fish most often arrive as contaminants among shipments of other species.

The keyhole cichlid, Cleithracara maronii, is a small cichlid from French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, the Orinoco delta in Venezuela and Trinidad. It is told apart from relatives by the keyhole-shaped marking on each side of the body, and is one of few fishes whose generic name derives from its aquarium common name. It inhabits slow-moving blackwater streams, is naturally shy and sensitive to deteriorating water quality, and most fish on sale are commercially farmed.

The banded puffer, Colomesus psittacus, is a large puffer of coastal waters from Colombia and Venezuela through the Guianas to northeastern Brazil. It also occurs in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean islands, and inhabits mangrove swamps, estuaries and the lower reaches of rivers. Growing to 290 mm SL, it is the largest of its genus and has six dark bands across the back. Likely to prove aggressive in all but the largest systems, it is not a popular aquarium fish.

The swordtail characin, Corynopoma riisei, is an unusual tetra from northern Venezuela, the Villavicencio area of Colombia and the island of Trinidad. Males have caudal glands that release pheromones to attract females, plus gill glands found in only a handful of glandulocaudinids, and females are inseminated by the males. Mainly a surface dweller, it needs open swimming space and a group of at least 6-8, since males can squabble.

The one-lined pencilfish, Nannostomus unifasciatus, occurs in the upper Amazon and upper Orinoco basins in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia and Venezuela. A popular aquarium fish, it swims at an oblique angle, a trait shared only with N. eques. It differs from that species in lacking dark brown spots on the body scales and normally having an ocellus in the upper caudal-fin lobe.

The bronze cory, Osteogaster aenea, long known as Corydoras aeneus, is an armoured catfish described from Trinidad and accepted to occur across much of South America. That range looks more like a complex of similar, distinct species than a single one, and fish from outside Trinidad are of uncertain identity. Aquarium fish are almost all commercially farmed, and the names C. schultzei and C. venezuelanus are routinely misapplied to them.

The blue acara, Andinoacara pulcher, is a cichlid native to Trinidad and Tobago and parts of Venezuela. It occupies a variety of habitats, from murky still waters to clear streams. A mainstay of the hobby for many years, it is one of the easiest substrate-spawning cichlids to breed. Captive breeding has narrowed the gene pool, so most fish in the hobby are pale imitations of wild ones, and some are hybrids with related species. It was previously known as 'Aequidens' pulcher.