Tag Archives: paradoxus

Exodon paradoxus

24. December 2020

For many aquaristis the Bucktooth tetra, Exodon paradoxus, is simply the most beautiful tetra from South America. The splendid fish glitter and glimmer like diamonds and they never stay still. They hunt and hit their conspecifics permanently and an uneducated watcher may become quite concerned that the fish will eventually hurt each other. But this doesn´t happen. In the wild, Exodon paradoxus feed almost exclusively on scales of other fish. Their highly specialized teeth enable that. Like a flash they attack their prey and the victim doesn´t understand what actually happened. The game of the Bucktooth tetras has two purposes. First: the game fools the potential victims and makes them „believe“ that the Bucktooth tetras are not interested in them. And second: for sure this permanent swimming is a perfect training for the small predators.

The species has a very wide distribution in South America. It can be found in Guyana and the whole Amazon and Orinoco basins. E. paradoxus attains a maximum length of about 7.5 cm. Keeping this fish is not complicated, but the tank should be large and the fish should be kept in a school as large as possible. Any type of usual fish food will be accepted readily. However, in respect of eventually planned tankmates one must be very careful. Best choice are catfish, for they have no scales at all and so they don´t fit the prey scheme of the Bucktooth tetras.

For our customers: the fish have code 253502 on our stocklist. Pleae note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer

Acrossocheilus paradoxus

9. November 2020

Only rarely does the pretty barbel Acrossocheilus paradoxus reach us, which is native to China and Taiwan. It is a medium sized species; in the wild you usually find specimens up to 12 cm total length, but the record for this species is 22.5 cm. Such large animals look different, the head is longer and the banded pattern gives way to a uniform green-golden shine.

In nature this subtropical species lives in boulder-filled rivers, which resemble smaller alpine rivers in their structure. The mouth of this barbel has a horny layer at the front edge, which probably serves to rasp off growth from the rock. In addition, A. paradoxus also has two well developed barbels, which are used for detecting small animals in the sand.

In behavior Acrossocheilus paradoxus resemble other algae-eating barbels, like Garra or sharks (Labeo and allies). Among themselves they can be a bit quarrelsome. Regarding the water composition A. paradoxus is undemanding. Since the water-temperatures in the home-waters of the species can sink under 15°C  in the winter, one should maintain it occasionally cool with reduced lighting. Then also the breeding should be possible, about which was not reported yet. One can assume however that it is a free spawner without special brood-care.

For our customers: the animals have code 361903 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply the wholesale trade.

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer

Indostomus paradoxus

27. February 2020

The Burmese Dwarf Stickleback or Paradox Fish, Indostomus paradoxus is a tiny species, it becomes only 2-3 cm long and originates from the northern parts of Burma. The charming creature should be kept in single species tanks, so called nano-tanks fit perfectly. Indostomus are very peaceful against conspecifics, but they are too weak to compete with other species. The Paradox Fish feeds exclusively on small live food.

The species should be kept best at room temperature (18-22°C), the water should be medium hard to hard and the pH should be around 6.5 – 8. Despite its diminutiveness the fish is rather hardy and can live for a long time in aquaria. It has been bred occassionally already, females become larger than males, otherwise the sexes are difficult to distinguish. The Burmese Dwarf Stickleback breeds in caves like bamboo stems etc..

For our customers: the fish have code 421713 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.

Lexicon: Indostomus: means about “with a very tiny mouth”. paradoxus: means “very strange, paradox”.

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer

Exodon paradoxus

6. April 2018

For many aquaristis the Bucktooth tetra, Exodon paradoxus, is simply the most beautiful tetra from South America. The splendid fish glitter and glimmer like diamonds and they never stay still. They hunt and hit their conspecifics permanently and an uneducated watcher may become quite concerned that the fish will eventually hurt each other. But this doesn´t happen. In the wild, Exodon paradoxus feed almost exclusively on scales of other fish. Their highly specialized teeth enable that. Like a flash they attack their prey and the victim doesn´t understand what actually happened. The game of the Bucktooth tetras has two purposes. First: the game fools the potential victims and makes them „believe“ that the Bucktooth tetras are not interested in them. And second: for sure this permanent swimming is a perfect training for the small predators.

The species has a very wide distribution in South America. It can be found in Guyana and the whole Amazon and Orinoco basins. E. paradoxus attains a maximum length of about 7.5 cm. Keeping this fish is not complicated, but the tank should be large and the fish should be kept in a school as large as possible. Any type of usual fish food will be accepted readily. However, in respect of eventually planned tankmates one must be very careful. Best choice are catfish, for they have no scales at all and so they don´t fit the prey scheme of the Bucktooth tetras.

For our customers: the fish have code 253502 on our stocklist. Pleae note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer

Lepidosiren paradoxus

29. March 2017

The South American Lungfish is a very interesting fish, but it has only very drab colours. The usual pattern is mudcolour, eg brownish, greyish, sometimes a bit blackish. But why should an animal that lives in swamps and feeds on snails show bright coloration? On the other hand: astonishingly enough, very young specimens, like the ones we obtained recently from Peru (6-9 cm long) are very pretty! The fish are pitchblack and have golden-yellow dots. Against conspecfics the youngsters are very peaceful. This cannot be said about the adults! Pictures of adult specimens can be seen here: http://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/fish-archives/lepidosiren_paradoxus_en/

For our customers: the fish have code 265501 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer