The type locality is a karst pool around 30-40 m in length, 10m in width and up to 4 m deep.

It contains still, transparent water, has a single inflow and outflow, is surrounded by rainforest and in September 2010 the water temperature was 21.5°C/70.7°F.

The habitat is used by locals as a bathing pool and sympatric species included a nat…

This species is relatively uncommon in the aquarium hobby but is available on occasion, sometimes mixed in among shipments of the congener C. salivator.

These two can be told apart by the fact that C. salivator possesses a series of distinct dark bars on the head and body in both sexes, a colour pattern unique within the genus.

It is also similar t…

This fish first appeared in the aquarium hobby in 2011 and has been traded under various names including P. sp. cf. paskai, P. sp. ‘red orange neon’, P. sp. ‘neon orange’, P. sp. ‘Irian’ and P. ‘iriani’.

The majority of fish available tend to be male, presumably due to their brighter colour pattern.

It was initially suspected to be a hybrid or sele…

Euryhaline and mostly inhabits coastal floodplains where it’s found in both fresh and brackish habitats, including tidal estuaries and salt marshes. It’s particularly common in swamps, billabongs, and slow-moving streams where aquatic vegetation grows densely, but some populations have colonised upper sections of freshwater streams. Larger individuals may also move into main river channels.

Tappin (2010) gives the following ranges of parameters based on those taken from various localities: temperature 27 – 38 °C, pH 5…

Euryhaline and thus capable of withstanding significant fluctuations in salinity and other water conditions. It’s been recorded in full marine conditions as well as pure freshwater environments, and commonly inhabits coastal mangrove creeks and swamps.

Such changes may occur on a daily or seasonal basis depending on locality, with some habitats influenced by daily tides whereas others become hypersal…

The type series was collected from a blackwater stream in Toh Daeng Peat swamp forest with the fish found in slow-moving or standing habitats among submerged shoreline roots and leaf litter. In the Tapi River floodplain it was collected from stagnant waters, one of which was an oxbow lake approximately 200 m long and 30 m across at its widest point, surrounded by ‘freshwater scrub and swamp trees’. The substrate was composed of mud, woody structures including fallen twigs and branches, and decomposing plant material.

Found in both Caribbean and Pacific-slope drainage basins in Central America, from southern Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, and into Costa Rica.

This species clearly shouldn’t ‚ be considered a home aquarium‚ subject at all given its eventual size and the fact it can live for‚ several decades.‚

Endemic to Cuba where it’s found throughout western parts of the island plus Isla de la Juventud (Isle of Youth, formerly known as the Isle of Pines). It’s endangered across most of this range and captive breeding efforts are well-established.

Known locally in Cuba as ‘manjuari’, it clearly shouldn’t be considered a home aquarium subject…

This species is rare in the aquarium hobby though its name is often misapplied to the closely-related I. crocodilus. It can be told apart from congeners by the following characters: dorsal and anal fins without dark markings, with a light brown bar in breeding males; ventral surface light brown; throat white, occasionally with a few brown spots; ridges of head bones weakly serrated or not serrated, depending on the bone.

The family Indostomidae currently contains just a single genus with three species of which I. paradoxus is the type. It was raised alongside both family…

This species was discovered in 2009 and as far as we know it has only been collected for the aquarium hobby on a single occasion to date, by Jeffrey Christian of Maju Aquarium, Frank Evers and Hans-Georg Evers.

Prior to description it was referred to as O. sp. ‘Kendari’, O. sp. ‘neon’ or O. sp. ‘Sulawesi’.