Tag Archives: pictus

Hey, hey, hey, hey, little pirate…

5. April 2019

This is the chorus of a Rodgau Monotones´ song about a small employee who breaks out of his hated everyday life and puts on an eye patch to continue living as a pirate in the future. We had to think of this song when a magnificent Leiarius pictus from Peru arrived on Wednesday. The animal is already a good 30-35 cm long, so it is certainly sexually mature (the maximum length for this species is 60 cm). Of course he will have a completely different and probably much longer and more pleasant life in the aquarium than in nature, but we were reminded of the little pirate when this beautiful fish calmly turned around and presented his side that had been turned away from us until then. Here the eye is missing! No question, the fish lost that in the hard fight for survival in nature. The wound has healed excellently and for fish the facial sense generally does not play such a big role, because they have numerous other sensory organs. So we hope that our little pirate will soon find a new home despite his physical blemish.

For our customers: the animal has code 265307 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply wholesalers.

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer

L168 Zonancistrus brachyurus

18. October 2017

We obtained wonderful L168 from Brazil. In this case the L-number provides a safer information than the scientific name. Due to several misidentifications this fish was in the hobby initially named Peckoltia pulcher, then Dekeyseria pulcher, sometimes also Zonancistrus pictus. But the valid name (this is at least current state of the art) is Zonancistrus brachyurus. Moreover, this species is often confused with the very similar species L52 from the Orinoco basin.

Zonancistrus brachyurus attains a maximum length of about 15 cm.  It originates from the Rio Negro system. L168 is very peaceful against conspecifics and can be kept in larger groups. This makes breeding attempts easier. Anyone who tries to breed the beautiful fish is recommended to use very soft water with an pH of 5.5 to 6 and a water temperature between 26 and 28°C. L168 is a typical cave spawner.

For our customers: the fish have code 26480-L 168-4 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer