Tag Archives: vulpinus

Macrochirichthys macrochirus

10. May 2019

Everybody should be fooled by this unusual barb from Southeast Asia on some occasion! The wonderful 18-22 cm long specimens from Indonesia were sent to us under the name Rhaphiodon vulpinus, a predatory tetra from South America. Apart from the great shyness, the animals were in perfect condition, which is why we didn’t want to stress them unnecessarily by flattening our noses at the aquarium; so we kept enough distance for the first impression so that they didn’t get excited and thought: very beautiful R. vulpinus, long not seen such good animals, what they breed in Indonesia meanwhile…

But the keeper has to inspect them more closely in order to be able to detect early indications of a possible parasite infestation and so in this case Jan Wessel asked us whether we were sure with the determination. There would also be those predatory barbs from Asia? And Jan was absolutely right! Our new arrivals have neither an adipose fin, as is obligatory for the predatory tetras, nor teeth in their jaws – these are missing in all cyprinids. Got caught! But the similarity is really amazing!

Macrochirichthys macrochirus reaches a length of about 70 cm. Young fish eat insects, adult animals are fish eaters. Unfortunately the widespread species – it occurs from Indonesia to Thailand – like so many larger river fish in the region is threatened by environmental changes and pollution. The animals are peaceful among each other, but one has to take into account their great shyness by aquariums that are as large and rich in cover as possible. For this reason, photographing these fishes, which tend to panic, is hardly possible. It has proved to be very useful to cover the front glass of the aquariums with black foil to a large extent, so that the sensitive animals are not constantly disturbed by passing care personnel.

For our customers: the animals have code 425098 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply wholesalers.

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer

Rhaphiodon vulpinus

3. April 2017

Rhaphiodon vulpinus belongs to the largest of the sabertooth tetras. The species can attain a maximum length of about 80 cm and a weight of up to 2.1 kg. It has a very wide distribution in South America where it is called „Biara“. This predator has, very much alike the close realtives of the genus Hydrolycus, two very long teeth in the lower jaw. With these the fish spears its prey. When the mouth is closed, the long teeth fit in a sheath in the roof of the mouth. Biaras are wonderful subjects for public or very large private aquaria. Currently we have juveniles of different size from Peru in stock. Against conspecifics and other species of fish that cannot be eaten, Rhaphiodon vulpinus is very peaceful.

For our customers: the fish have code 287502 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer