This species is currently the only described member of its genus although colour pattern and morphology vary considerably across its range.

You may see reference to this species being the only fish species to possess infra-red vision, but other species also possess this ability and we suspect that infra-red plays an important role in the reproductive cycle of many fishes.

Quite widely distributed having been recorded from Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela. It’s been collected from the upper parts of several major river drainages including the Río Negro, Río Orinoco (including the Río Inírida and Casiquiare canal) and Río Solimões.

The type series was collected from ‘Igarapé Préto’, Brazil, said to be 60 kilometres to the south of the Colombian border city Leticia. Populations from Colombia and Brazil tend to be more intensely-coloured, and the Peruvian populations may apparently represent an undescribed species.

The precise extent of this species’ range is unclear. The majority of records pertain to the lower rio Xingu basin in the state of Pará, northern Brazil, including middle and lower reaches of its major tributary the rio Iriri, although the type locality is in Mato Grosso state several hundred kilometres upstream.

There also exist a handful of records from the rio Jamanxim (a major affluent of the rio Tapajós which drain…

This species is relatively rare in the aquarium trade.

It can be differentiated from all congeners by a combination of possessing ctenoid (vs. cycloid) scales on the sides of the head plus lacking a dark spot at the caudal-fin base.

Also known as the Spilotum or Moga, this is a popular and beautiful cichlid that exists in several different colour forms, depending on collection locality. It has also been hybridised with the convict cichlid (Archocentrus nigrofasciatus), although this is not to be encouraged. A study in 2004 found an apparent close genetic association between this species and Neetroplus nematopus, another cichlid found in the same area in nature. The 2 show remarkable similarities strategy, patterning and uni…

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Like many cichlids, members of the genus Herichthys share something of a confused taxonomic past. Erected in 1854 with H. cyanoguttatus the type species, its members were moved into Cichlasoma by Regan in 1905. However following a review of Cichlasoma by Kullander in 1983 it was once again deemed valid. In 1996 Kullander suggested Herichthys should only contain species "sharing a colour pattern of short vertical bars or black spots posteriorly from the middle of the side, and a unique breed…

Recorded throughout much of the Amazon basin, with its range extending eastwards from the Ucayali system in Peru as far as the Tocantins drainage which flows into the Atlantic alongside the Amazon at its delta. The southern extremity of its range appears to be the Río Mamoré in Bolivia, a tributary of the rio Guaporé, and the northern limit the Essequibo basin, Guyana.

An attractive but not often seen species in the hobby. This is quite odd considering how common it is in many of its native habitats, where it is known as sardina. It has very strong pectoral muscles, and uses these to jump from the water to catch flying insects or to escape potential predators. It can make leaps of several metres in length….