It was initially going to be described as Hyphessobrycon cardinalis by Myers and Weitzman (1956) but just before this was due to be published Schultz presented an alternative description in the hobbyist magazine ‘Tropical Fish Hobbyist’ and named the fish after the publication’s founder, Dr. Herbert R. Axelrod.

A significant proportion of the fish available in the aquarium trade are still wild caught or derive from community-led breeding projects such as Project Piaba in the middle Negro region, where this sp…