Results for “várzea”

T. hengeli is sometimes seen for sale with the trade name of 'glowlight rasbora' due to the distinctive orange patterning on the posterior part of the body but we've refrained from using that name here because it's also commonly applied to Trigonopoma pauciperforatum. It can be confused with the similar-looking T. heteromorpha and T. espei although on close inspection they're actually quite easy to tell...

T. somphongsi is exceptionally rare both in nature and the hobby and was considered potentially extinct for around a dozen years before a trio were imported to Germany as contaminants among a batch of Boraras urophthalmoides in 2006. Since then it has been successfully bred and distributed to various experts, mostly in Thailand and Germany, in the hope of establishing a sustainable captive population. The possibility of a...

Wallago are fearsome predatory catfish that are fairly widespread in southeast Asia. There are currently five recognised species, W. attu, W. leerii, W. hexanema, W. maculatus and W. micropogon. The latter was described to science in 2004 by renowned catfish expert Heok Hee Ng and was previously considered to be a geographic variant of W. leerii. All members of the genus possess an enormous mouth full of backward pointing teeth, which are used to rip chunks from their prey. Smaller fish or amphi...

This species is a near-exclusive inhabitant of the upper water column and appreciates surface cover in the form of floating or overhanging vegetation. Other décor is relatively unimportant but can consist of a sandy substrate with leaf litter plus some large driftwood branches and twisted roots. Plants which can grow rooted in sand can al...

This fish feeds in a similar way to Geophagus species in that it will sift sand through its gills to extract invertebrates and morsels hidden in the substrate. It was until recently classified in the genus Enatiopus and is still named as such in much of the available literature. There are slight geographical variations in colour but these are not major. Interestingly, the shoals in which these fish live in nature appear to be fixed. That is, that an individual will remain in the same group for ...

Juvenile specimens were first exported for the aquarium hobby during 2009 and have since been available on a sporadic basis with prices generally reflecting its rarity and, hopefully, number of specimens being collected. The striking black-and-white-striped juvenile colour pattern inspired the vernacular name although it's sometimes labelled as 'panda goby' rather than 'panda loach'.

This species is common in the hobby and also sold as 'skunk botia' or 'Hora's loach', the latter in reference to Botia horae Smith, 1931, currently considered a synonym of Y. morleti. It's similar in appearance to the rarely-seen Y. longidorsalis but can be told apart by the fact it has a dark stripe running over the dorsal surface (this giving rise to the vernacular name 'skunk loach') which is lacking in its relative. The two can be further separated...

This species is among the few members of the family to be exported for the aquarium hobby though is by no means common. It can be differentiated from a...

This species isn't especially popular in the aquarium trade but is undoubtedly interesting despite its lack of colour. In addition to its survival ability in the absence of water it's also capable of producing audible sounds though the purpose of these has not been fully-studied. Naturally-occurring xanthic and albino forms have also been recorded. There is considerable confusion as to the taxonomic status of the two species currently occupying this genus, with ichthyologists widely...

A. dispar should only be considered a nominal species as demonstrated by Hrbek and Meyer (2003) who conducted an in-depth phylogenetic study covering the majority of the genus. It was found to represent a paraphyletic grouping meaning it cannot be considered to be a species following the phylogenetic species concept. A. mento, A. sirhani and especially A. ginaonis and A. richardsoni were found to be its closest surviving relatives. Hoedeman (1951) suggested that it should be moved into a separat...

Type locality is close to a waterfall on the Ndian River in southwestern Cameroon, and appears restricted to the coastal plains either side of the border between Cameroon and Nigeria, including the Korup and Cross River National Parks.

This species is not an annual fish, being found in permanent bodies of water in nature. Over 20 different forms of it have been discovered at different localities and a handful have been given subspecific names. The most popular in the aquarium hobby include A. o. ottogartneri and A. o. pyrophore, both of which were initially described as separate species.

B. ruber is among the better known Badis species in the aquarium hobby with trade names including 'Burmese badis' and 'red badis'. It was referred as Badis badis burmicanus for a number of years and will be seen labelled as such in older literature. Among congeners it is most easily confused with...

The genus Barbonymus was erected by Kottelat in 1999 and contains former members of Barbodes from southeast Asia. The type species is B. schwanenfeldii and currently there exist only three other representatives; B. altus, B. collingwoodii and B. gonionotus. The latter two are rare in the hobby although an SF member has kept B. gonionotus in the past so they are worth looking out for if you harbour an...

Despite the ubiquity of its name in aquarium literature, confusion surrounds its true identity. Given it's the only member of the genus occurring on the island, fish from Trinidad do presumably represent C. aeneus (see our image), but the classification of those from other localities appears far from certain. Today the species is accepted to occur throughout much of South America, and indeed similarly-patterned fish do occur across a large portion of the continent. Some of these, such as the gree...

While separating some of the fish that may be found on sale as 'C. siamensis' is a tricky task, C. nigriloba is quite simple to identify. The dark lateral body stripe uniquely breaks up into a series of blotches when the fish are sparring, stressed or sleeping and the lower caudal fin lobe contains dark pigmentation suffused with red. The latter feature has given rise to the trade name of 'penguin flying fox'.

In the aquarium trade this species may also be seen on sale as 'skinhead barb'. As with others in the genus little has been written regarding its captive care but it makes a peaceful and unusual addition to larger aquaria. The best way of obtaining it may be to keep an eye on shipments of wild fishes from Indochina and the Greater Sunda Islands as it's rarely imported in large numbers and most often arrives as bycatch.

It can be distinguished from congeners by possessing one or two pairs of barbels, a black blotch at the base of the caudal-fin, and rows of dark spots along the lateral scale rows. Members of Cyclocheilichthys are characterised by possessing a serrated dorsal fin spine, 9 branched pelvic fin rays, a conical snout, small, subterminal...

This species is also known as 'Gardner's Killi' and 'blue lyretail' and the commonly-available aquarium forms are perhaps among the best choices for those new to keeping killifishes being relatively hardy, colourful and easy to breed. A number of ornamental strains have also been line-bred by aquarists including 'gold' and 'albino'.

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