Headstanders

Abramites spp. are separated from other anostomids primarily on the basis of their relatively deeper bodies and presence of a prominent, post-pelvic median keel, a feature unique to the genus. At time of writing A. eques is the only other species recognised and is native to the Río Magdalena drainage in western Colombia. It can be distinguished by possession of 13-14 bra...

A biotope-style set-up could consist of a sandy substrate, piles of smooth rocks and driftwood roots and branches, some of which should penetrate the water surface. Aquatic vegetation can be included if you wish but is likely to be eaten.

This species is widely-distributed in the Río Orinoco system in Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela plus coastal drainages in Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana including the Essequibo and Mazaruni. Type locality is 'Palital, Estado Guárico, Venezuela' which appears to correspond to a wetland called Esteros de Palital in the Aguaro-Guariquito National Park of Guárico state, northern Venezuela.

Omnivorous and will accept most foods offered, with the stomach contents of wild specimens varying on a seasonal basis but mostly comprising insects and insect larvae (orders Trichoptera, Hemiptera, Homoptera) plus some terrestrial fruits and even scales of other fishes (Sánchez et al., 2003). In the aquarium offer live Daphnia, Artemia, Moina, bloodowrm, etc., vegetable matter in the form of blanched spinach, lettuce, cucumber, fruit, algae wafers, etc., and good quality, sinking dried foods.

L. taeniata is the largest-growing and second most widely-distributed member of the genus although it's a rarely-seen in the aquarium trade. It can be distinguished from all congeners since it uniquely possesses 5 lateral scale rows between the lateral line and dorsal-fin origin (vs. 4 or 6–8 in the remaining species).

Type locality is given simply as 'Amazon River, Brazil' and according to current thinking this species has a huge natural range encompassing the Amazon River system in Brazil and Peru plus the Paraná-Paraguay drainage in southern Brazil and Paraguay and rio São Francisco basin in southern Brazil. Specimens in our images were collected fro...

Type locality is 'Tukeit, Guyana', and this species is known from various river drainages of Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana including the Orinoco, Essequibo, and upper Courantyne (aka Corantijn) basins. Additional records exist from the upper Amazon basin in Guyana, these presumably corresponding to the Takutu river basin, itself part of the upper rio Branco.

Décor is relatively unimportant and maintenance simple provided sufficient space is available. A natural-style arr...

Type locality is giev as 'Rio Parahyba and tributaries at Mendez; Juiz de Fora; River Doce; River São Matheos; Rio Jequitinhonha; Rio Quenda at Santa Cruz', all of which pertain to localities within the Paraíba do Sul and Doce river systems in Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo, rio de Janeiro and São Paulo states, southeastern Brazil.

This species is also referred to as 'black-anded leporinus', 'striped leporinus' and 'eight-banded leporinus'. Young specimens are often traded for aquaria without warning as to their potential size and requirements, and as a result it's fairly ubiquitous in public aquarium displays.

This species was described from Suriname but no specific locality was given. It's currently accepted to occur throughout much of the Amazon river system in Brazil, Peru and Bolivia with additional records from coastal drainages of Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana plus the island of Trinidad (Trinidad and Tobago).

This species was described from a single specimen and included in the genus Leporinus until 2011 at which point the holotype was examined and recognised as corresponding to the fish described as Synaptolaemus cingulatus (Myers & Fernández-Yépez, 1950).

This species was formerly known as Anostomus trimaculatus and this name is still used in much of the available literature. It is now invalid, however. The genus Pseudanos contains 3 other known species, P. gracilis, P. irinae and the recently described P. winterbottomi. Care for these species is as for P. trimaculatus....