Genus
Biotodoma
- Species
- 2
- Photographed
- 2 of 2
- Difficulty rated
- 2 of 2
Where the name comes fromEdit
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
The cupid cichlid, Biotodoma cupido, is a geophagine cichlid from much of the Amazon basin, north to the Essequibo in Guyana and south to Bolivia. Also traded as the 'green-streaked eartheater', it varies in colour pattern and shape by locality, and most traded fish come from around Santarém in Pará state. Unless breeding it is surprisingly peaceful. Its relatively compact body and a dark flank blotch above the upper lateral line separate it from B. wavrini.
Biotodoma wavriniOrinoco Eartheater
Gosse, 1963
The Orinoco eartheater, Biotodoma wavrini, is a geophagine cichlid from the Orinoco and rio Negro basins of Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil. One natural habitat is the Río Cinaruco, a low-nutrient blackwater tributary of the Orinoco. It can be told from B. cupido by its noticeably elongate body and a dark flank blotch on or below the upper lateral line. Unless breeding it is surprisingly peaceful, and trade populations include 'Cuao', 'Orinoco', 'San Antonio' and 'Sipapo Ventuari'.