Fish List Update
Bosemani Rainbows –
Boesemani Rainbowfish male
Boesemani or Boeseman’s rainbowfish (Melanotaenia boesemani) is a species of fish in the Melanotaeniidae family. It is also known as the Boesemani rainbowfish. It is endemic to the Ayamaru Lakes and their tributaries in a mountainous region of the Bird’s Head Peninsula, West Papua, Indonesia.
It is also available in the aquarium hobby, where it is prized for its excellent colors and peaceful demeanor. The colour pattern is completely different from most other forms of rainbowfish, as it has a half orange-red rear and a bluish-grey or purple front which in some specimens is almost defined perfectly.Melantotaenia boesemani will often grow to lengths that exceed 10 cm if given the right food and water conditions. They are kept best in groups due to their community and friendly nature and can be easily kept with many different species of fish, including some tetras. They are a relatively hardy fish that prefer weakly alkaline pH conditions. Good tank mates include other rainbowfish, barbs, and loaches.
Corydoras loxozonus –
Corydoras loxozonus is a tropical freshwater fish belonging to the Corydoradinae sub-family of the Callichthyidae family. It originates in inland waters in South America, and is found in the Meta River basin in Colombia.[1] In the system of “C-Numbers” developed by the German fish keeping magazine DATZ to identify undescribed species of Corydoras in the aquarium hobby, this fish had been assigned numbers “C79”, “C82”, and “C83” until these stocks were correctly identified.
The fish will grow in length up to 1.9 inches (4.9 centimeters). It lives in a tropical climate in water with a 6.0 – 8.0 pH, a water hardness of 2 – 25 dGH, and a temperature range of 70 – 75°F (21 – 24°C). It feeds on worms, benthic crustaceans, insects, and plant matter. It lays eggs in dense vegetation and adults do not guard the eggs. The female holds 2–4 eggs between her pelvic fins, where the male fertilizes them for about 30 seconds. Only then does the female swim to a suitable spot, where she attaches the very sticky eggs. The pair repeats this process until about 100 eggs have been fertilized and attached.
Farlowella gracilus
Farlowella Twig Catfish: Farlowella is a genus of armored catfish native to South America. These fish resemble twigs or sticks, hence the common names twig catfish or stick catfish. They may also sometimes be referred to as whiptail catfish. Twig catfishes are natives of South America.
Taxonomy: Farlowella is placed within the tribe Harttiini of the subfamily Loricariinae. Morphological, molecular, and phylogenetic studies have placed Farlowella as sister to Sturisoma. The genus name of Farlowella is named in honor of William Gilson Farlow, a famous American botanist of Harvard University whose main work was working with algae plants, the favorite food of this slender catfish.
Distribution: The genus Farlowella is broadly distributed in Amazon, Orinoco, Paraná, and coastal rivers of the Guyana Shield. It is absent from the Pacific slope of the Andes and from the coastal rivers of the Brazilian shield.[1]
Appearance and anatomy; Farlowella has a unique body shape that resembles of a thin stick of wood. The body is slender and elongate, often with a pronounced rostrum and a brownish color with two lateral dark stripes beginning at the tip of the rostrum, passing over the eyes and ending at the tail, which are periodically interrupted on the caudal peduncle. Sexual dimorphism includes hypertrophied odontodes along the sides of the rostrum or the head in species with a short rostrum.
There are only slight differences between the different types which sometimes lead to confusion. A very important identification is the presence of ventral scutes on these species which differentiates them from each other. Twig catfishes grow between 10 centimetres (4 in) SL in F. smithi and 26.5 cm (10.4 in) SL in F. nattereri.
Habitat and ecology: Twig catfishes feed primarily on algae in their natural habitat. Species inhabit areas of gently flowing water in submerged dead leaves and sticks, among which it blends in as a form of camouflage.[1] Some specimens can sometimes be found in swift current over rocks and submerged wood. These species appear scarce, but this may partially be explained by their mimicry. These species are open water brooders. The eggs are laid on open vertical surfaces such as submerged vegetation or rocks, in a single layer and are guarded by the male.
In the aquarium: F. acus, F. vittata and F. gracilis are the most commonly exported species for the aquarium. Twig catfishes require clean water with high dissolved oxygen content. Twig catfish are often lost without enough greens to feed upon.
WHIPTAIL CATFISH – Rineloricaria eigenmanni
Rineloricaria (from the Greek, rhinos meaning nose, and the Latin, lorica meaning cuirass of leather) is a genus of freshwater tropical catfish (order Siluriformes) belonging to the Loricariidae family. They are commonly called whiptail catfish because of the long filament that grows out of the tip of the caudal fin that is characteristic of the genus. With the exception of R. altipinnis from Panama, they are native to the rivers of northern and central South America. Some species are regularly seen in the aquarium trade.
Taxonomy: This genus was described by Pieter Bleeker in 1862, with R. lima as the type species. This genus is by far one of the most speciose of the subfamily Loricariinae, containing about 30 species.[2] On the other hand, it is one of the least resolved genera. In 2008, 14 new species were added to this genus. Hemiloricaria, Fonchiiichthys, and Leliella been variably considered synonyms of Rineloricaria; these genera were erected to account for differences in sexually dimorphic traits. However, the traits used to diagnose these genera have been thought to be insufficient
Ron's Aquatics 