The Oscar (Astronotus ocellatus) is by far the most popular species of large cichlid from South America. This is not only because it is so splendid coloured, but also due to its behaviour: the fish becomes much larger than 20 cm, but is of calm nature and can thus be kept and bred properly in medium sized tanks of 120-150 cm length. Most Oscars in the trade are bred ones from Southeastern Asia and represent colourful sports that do not exist in the wild. This is the reason why the diversity of wild Oscar species is still only poorly understood. Currently seven species are formally described scientifically, but only one of them is widely accepted as valid, namely Astronotus ocellatus. However, this does for sure not reflect the natural conditions.
Now we could import from Brazil some large, 18-22 cm long Zebra Oscars. They are remarkablely more slender than “regular” Oscars and have a unique pattern. First of all the typical, species-specific ocelli under the dorsal fin, which are always present in “real” Astronotus ocellatus, are missing. When we take a look in the scientific descriptions of other species of Astronotus, our new importations fit best to Astronotus zebra, which has been described by Pellegrin in 1908 from Santarém.
For our customers: the fish have code 633418 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade. Available in very limited numbers only!
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
| Angaben zum Tier | |
|---|---|
| Herkunft | Brasilien / Brazil |
| Verfügbare Größe in cm | 18-22 |
