Genus
Biotodoma
- Species
- 2
- Photographed
- 2 of 2
- Difficulty rated
- 2 of 2
Where the name comes from
from the Greek 'βίοτος', meaning 'living', and 'δῶμα', meaning 'house', in allusion to the adults carrying fry in their gills. This behaviour is not applicable to those species currently in the genus, however.
Biotodoma cupidoCupid Cichlid
Heckel, 1840
Recorded throughout much of the Amazon basin, with its range extending eastwards from the Ucayali system in Peru as far as the Tocantins drainage which flows into the Atlantic alongside the Amazon at its delta. The southern extremity of its range appears to be the Río Mamoré in Bolivia, a tributary of the rio Guaporé, and the northern limit the Essequibo basin, Guyana.
Biotodoma wavriniOrinoco Eartheater
Gosse, 1963
Populations known in the aquarium trade include 'Cuao', 'Orinoco', 'San Antonio', and 'Sipapo Ventuari'. B. wavrini and its congener B. cupido can be separated by body shape and position of the dark blotch on the posterior portion of the flank. In B. cupido the body is relatively compact and the blotch located above the upper lateral line, whereas in B. wavrini the body is noticeably elongate and the blotch on or below the upper lateral line.