The real headstander Anostomus anostomus is one of the most beautiful characins in South America. It looks like the big brother of the three-banded pencil fish, Nannostomus trifasciatus. Anostomus anostomus grows to a length of 15–18 cm. Unfortunately, there are currently hardly any exports of ornamental fish from Guyana, which is why the Anostomus anostomus has become a rare sight in aquariums.
Now we can finally offer captive-bred specimens of these magnificent fish. At a length of about 3–4 cm, they aren’t quite as beautiful as the adults yet, but they’ll get there. The last wild-caught specimens we were able to import in 2018 were young adults and 9–12 cm long; we’ve included photos of these fish in this post for comparison.
As the first volume of the Aquarium Atlas so aptly puts it: “Anyone who hasn’t kept this fish isn’t a true aquarist!” There’s nothing more to add to that….
For our customers: the animals are listed on our stock list as wild-caught (currently unavailable!) with codes 205501 (3–4 cm) through 205507 (10–12 cm) and as captive-bred (3–4 cm) with code 205521. Please note that we supply exclusively to wholesalers.
Text & Photos: Frank Schäfer
