If "cute" counts for anything in the world of fish keeping (and in my case cichlids) then I think I have found the cutest of them all. I recently obtained an extremely rare little Indian cichlid from an acquaintance in San Antonio, Texas. He had successfully spawned them (one of only a handful of people ) and I obtained ten of these 8 month old juveniles. Their name is Etroplus canarensis, or commonly the Canara Pearlspot cichlid. It was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered in 1992 and in the last couple of years, small numbers of the fish have made their way into the hobby. Etroplus is a small genus (3 species) of cichlids native to southern India and Sri Lanka, where they are the only native cichlids. My main interest in them is that the Etroplus genus is closely related to the Paretroplus from Madagascar. These two lineages are believed to have separated during the Mesozoic era (the age of reptiles), as Madagascar and the Indian Plate had separated by the end of the Cretaceous period. I am pretty heavily into Madagascan cichlids, presently maintaining 8 species. I also have Etroplus maculatus (Orange Chromide) on the go. They are some of the most ancient cichlid lineages on earth and have undergone little, if any change over the millions of years that they have existed. I just took the one picture once they settled into their 25G species tank. Here it is. In real life they school tightly and are like a little swarm of bees. I'll take a video soon.
