Leporinus sp. “Strawberry”

13. October 2010

Currently we were able to import the most beautiful species of Leporinus we have ever seen from Brazil. As the determination of juvenile Leporinus is almost impossible in many cases we decided to adopt the exporter ´s name given for the fish on his stocklist.

Without any doubt, however, the new fish belongs to a group of Leporinus closely related to (or identical with) Leporinus granti, a species known so far from the Guianas only. It is mentioned in the elder aquarium literature also under the name of Leporinus “maculatus”. The good news is that so far no species of this group is known to grow larger than 15 – 20 cm, most stay even smaller. Another positive announcement from an aquarist´s point of view is the fact that L. granti (or a very close relative of it) is the only Leporinus species that has been bred successfully in aquaria so far. The fish are egg-scatters that do not care for their brood in any way.

Like all Leporinus, L. sp. “Strawberry” is a plant eater and has a very vigorous pecking order. Thus it is much easier to keep two fish of different sizes together than animals of equal size. In specimens of differnt size it is quite clear who is the stronger one and so there is no need for fighting. In specimens of equal size they fight every day to find out who is the stronger and this results in ruffled fins.

For our customers: the fish have code 265892 on our stocklist.Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.

Lexicon: Leporinus: Latin, means “hare-nose”. granti: dedication name for “Mr. William Grant, my most efficient Indian guide on the Potaro, who later made additional collections, which among other new species contained this.” (Eigenmann, 1912). maculatus: Latin, means “spotted”.

Text & Photo: Frank Schäfer

Angaben zum Tier
Herkunft Brasilien / Brazil
Verfügbare Größe in cm 4 - 6