They've been in the hobby in the past - I got rid of the last of mine back in Sacramento in 2007. Honestly, no one really wanted them and the LFS acted like they were doing me a favor at $1 each for juvies that I bred.
They're like a smaller, more peaceful version of a Arch. centrarchus or a black spotted Rainbow cichlid without the orange. Kinda cool and share the interesting breeding behavior.
I think that they've pretty much disappeared from the hobby because they're really peaceful fish - I had them in with C. spilurum and they were getting bullied - and probably got owned when people threw them in with other small/medium central americans. They needed their own tank (with some peaceful livebearers, plastic plants, caves, etc.) in order to settle down and breed. They're also not super productive... but I quickly found myself with way more than anyone wanted.
According to CRC, the type locality is at Río Polochic, Guatemala and they're found in Lago Izabal.
Conservation: Archocentrus spinosissimus is evaluated by the international union for the conservation of nature in the iucn red list of threatened species as (LC) least concern (2009).
Lake Izabal, also known as the Golfo Dulce, is the largest lake in Guatemala with a surface area of 589.6 km² (145,693 acres or 227.6 sq mi) and a maximum depth is 18 m (59 ft). The Polochic River is the largest river that drains into the lake. The lake which is only a metre above sea level drains into the Gulf of Honduras of the Caribbean Sea through the smaller Golfete Dulce which is at sea level and the navigable Rio Dulce.
I'd bet that these guys would be found in the marginal areas and weeds / marshes around the lake and tributary streams (along with T. aureus and C. spilurum).
Who going to Guatemala to get some?
Matt
Really cool fish that hangs their fry vertically, I had them spawn at an inch, go to Guatemala and catch your own shouldn't be that hard....