This species is largely unsuitable for the home aquarium given its eventual size and natural behaviour, and we know of only a handful of private aquarists with the facilities required to house it long-term.

Nonetheless juveniles and subadults are sometimes available in the trade although often misidentified as the congener B. maculata.

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.

It also occurs in the río Caura on the Guyana Shield plus the Ventauri and Mavaca drainages in the middle and upper Orinoco where it’s also known from some white water, referring to turbidity rather than turbulence, habitats. To the north its distribution appears limited by the Las Majaguas dam on the Río Cojedes, a tributary of the Apure where a probable introduced population inhabits the res…

At least two colour forms have been traded, one of which is more intensely-coloured and has been referred to as H. sweglesi ‘red’ or ‘rubra’. The bright red pigmentation is retained in long-term captive specimens, suggesting that it is not considered to be an artefact of diet, but we suspect it might reflect conditions at the collection locality with the reddest fish putatively inhabiting blackwater and plainer forms clearwater environments. Zarske (2014) found the two forms to be identical in terms of morphology an…

S. daemon is relatively common in the aquarium trade but is by no means easy to maintain, with particular attention to space, diet, water quality, and chemistry required in order for it to thrive.

It can be distinguished from other members of the genus by possessing two dark blotches on the flank and a prominent ocellus at the caudal-fin base. Among the named species it is most similar to…