Can be hard to find in aquarium shops, and there has been some confusion surrounding its identity in the past.

Base body colour is either powdery-blue or yellow-green (see ‘Distribution’) and this continues into the caudal-fin, while pinkish-yellow lateral stripes extend from opercle to caudal peduncle.

Not often seen for sale this is a pretty, peaceful little fish that deserves more popularity in the hobby. It is often confused with similar-looking members of the genus Neolebias.

This species is very peaceful indeed and can be combined with many of the most popular fish in the hobby including other small cyprinids as well as tetras, livebearers, rainbowfishes, anabantoids, catfishes and loaches.

As always when selecting a compatible community of…

One of only a handful of Distichodus seen with any regularity in the hobby. This species is undeniable attractive when juvenile, but unfortunately loses much of its colour and patterning as it matures. It is superficially similar to the more commonly seen D. sexfasciatus but has a much smaller adult size and a narrow, pointed head….

Doubts remain whether B. albolineata is representative of a single species or a group of similarly-patterned, closely-related fish, and the form from Chantaburi province in eastern Thailand was revalidated as B. pulchra (formerly Danio pulcher Smith, 1931) by Kottelat (2013). The status of the currently invalid Danio tweedei (Brittan, 1955) from Kedah state, northern Peninsular Malaysia may also be in question, since fish from that area are clearly…

This species has become more common in the trade in recent years, and makes an interesting addition to larger communities. It develops bright red fins as it matures. Some specimens develop a pink sheen on the underside. These variations may indicate different species, as there are several in the genus that superficially resemble D. affinis….

Clypeobarbus was originally put forward as a subgenus of Barbus by Fowler in 1936 on the basis that member species possessed a midlateral row of enlarged, shield-like scales but he only included the type species ‘Barbus‘ kemoensis (now a junior synonym of Clypeobarbus pleuropholis) in the group. Subsequent work by Poll and Lambert (1961), Jubb (1965) and Skelton (1993) resulted in several additional species being placed into the grouping although it appears that little of this work was widely-recognised until the recent study was published.

This is the most common of the few Distichodus species regularly seen in the hobby, and sadly, it is often sold as being suitable for the general community tank. This is clearly not the case in terms of both its temperament and potential size. Do not buy one unless you have the facilities to house it for life. It is usually seen for sale at a couple of inches long, and at this size is a very attractive orange and black striped fish with bright red finnage. Unfortunately, much of this colour and …

Contrary to many reports, including a number of scientific papers, this species breeds in the same way as other cyprinodontids and does not dig pits or exhibit extended parental care.

It’s a fractional spawner with females depositing eggs on a more-or-less continuous basis when a warm temperature is maintained though ideally it should be permitted to breed on a seasonal basis in spring and late summer as it would in nature.

L. taeniata is the largest-growing and second most widely-distributed member of the genus although it’s a rarely-seen in the aquarium trade.

It can be distinguished from all congeners since it uniquely possesses 5 lateral scale rows between the lateral line and dorsal-fin origin (vs. 4 or 6–8 in the remaining species).