This species has become an extremely popular aquarium fish since it first appeared in the ornamental trade during the late 1990s, and it has been sold under various names including ‘Denison’s barb’, ‘denisoni barb’, ‘Denison’s flying fox’, ‘rose line shark’, ‘bleeding-eye barb’, ‘red flash barb’, and ‘Indian flasher barb’. In India it is known locally as ‘Miss Kerala’ and ‘Chorai Kanni’ ( literally ‘bleeding eyes’).

Despite its designation as type species this is among the most frequently-misidentified members of the genus.

This is in part because its natural distribution was earlier considered even more extensive than the still-substantial range recognised today, with populations from the Río Orinoco, Guianas and rio Tocantins now recognised as species in their own right.

This species is traded under various vernacular names including ’ember barb’, ‘banded barb’ and ‘black spot barb’, and is perhaps among the more undervalued small cyprinids in the aquarium hobby being peaceful, relatively hardy, colourful, and of interesting behaviour.

It exists in a number of colour for…

This species was formerly known as Anostomus trimaculatus and this name is still used in much of the available literature. It is now invalid, however. The genus Pseudanos contains 3 other known species, P. gracilis, P. irinae and the recently described P. winterbottomi. Care for these species is as for P. trimaculatus….

This species’ identity was settled and a neotype designated by Knight (2013) who also revalidated the congener P. canius (Hamilton, 1822) and described the closely-related P. aurea.

These three had previously been considered to represent geographic forms of P. gelius, albeit on a tentative basis, with the validity of P. canius having been discussed since the late 19th century.

This species is also referred to as ‘black-anded leporinus’, ‘striped leporinus’ and ‘eight-banded leporinus’.

Young specimens are often traded for aquaria without warning as to their potential size and requirements, and as a result it’s fairly ubiquitous in public aquarium displays.

This species is widely-distributed in the Río Orinoco system in Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela plus coastal drainages in Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana including the Essequibo and Mazaruni.

Type locality is ‘Palital, Estado Guárico, Venezuela’ which appears to correspond to a wetland called Esteros de Palital in the Aguaro-Guariquito National Park of Guárico state, northern Venezuela.

A biotope-style set-up could consist of a sandy substrate, piles of smooth rocks and driftwood roots and branches, some of which should penetrate the water surface.

Aquatic vegetation can be included if you wish but is likely to be eaten.

Abramites spp. are separated from other anostomids primarily on the basis of their relatively deeper bodies and presence of a prominent, post-pelvic median keel, a feature unique to the genus.

At time of writing A. eques is the only other species recognised and is native to the Río Magdalena drainage in western Colombia.

It can be distinguished by possession of 13-14 bra…

Generally very peaceful making it an ideal resident of the well-researched community tank. As it places no special demands in terms of water chemistry it 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.

It’s a schooling species by nature, and at least 6-10 specimens should be purchased. Maintaining it in such…