Generally
speaking, wild forms of livebearers are only rarely seen in the hobby.
However, aquarists who specialize themselves in these fishes are most
often that fascinated that they never give them up anymore. One of the
most beautiful species is Brachyrhaphis roseni, which originates from
brooks running through woodland in Panama and Costa Rica. Keeping these
fishes is not difficult at all. Females attain a maximum length of about
6 cm, males stay always much smaller. But breeding these livebearers is
really tricky and not many persons are successful. One of the reasons
is the fact that the species is extremely cannibalistic against the fry.
Trying to keep them in breeding boxes always fails, because the females
are much too nervous for that.
But
one of our breeders finally has solved the problem and so we can offer
now for the first time ever a good number of these rare and beautiful
fishes.
One
should keep B. roseni in schools. The species prefers to swim near the
water surface. Tankmates can be smaller cichlids, fast swimming species
of tetra, catfish, etc.. Other species of liverbearers should be
avoided, because B. roseni can be quite rough against similar fishes.
Half
grown females look almost like males and are much ore colourful than
fully grown females. A “gravity spot” is present in both sexes.
For our customers: the fish have code 408123 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.
Lexicon:
Brachyrhaphis: means “short needle”; this refers to the mating organ of
the males. roseni: dedication name for Donn E. Rosen (1929-1986).
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
