Some Interesting Habitat info
- Thread starter duanes
- Start date
Awesome info. Finding decent rheophilic habitat and species info is often tedious or difficult.
Thought I would bump this.
It includes info about rapids dwelling Retrooculus, Geophagus altifrons, Cichla piquiti, Crenicichla, and Leporinus among others.
Some of the techno-science jargon in the middle might be skipped by scrolling down to the fish info more relevant to aquarists.
It includes info about rapids dwelling Retrooculus, Geophagus altifrons, Cichla piquiti, Crenicichla, and Leporinus among others.
Some of the techno-science jargon in the middle might be skipped by scrolling down to the fish info more relevant to aquarists.
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Interesting for a variety of reasons, including illuminating some of the granularity of which many are blissfully unaware. Overgeneralizations I commonly see are:
--SA fish all need low pH, soft water. No, SA is a large continent with widely varying cichlid habitat, anything from low mineral, low pH, blackwater to alkaline lakes.
--If a fish comes from river X, it must have X set of conditions. Sometimes true, often not. Many rivers have stretches of varying temperature, water flow, and chemistry. Some rivers see very different terrain (and therefore water conditions) over their course and, as in this study, even the same stretch of river can have niche habitats.
--Species X comes from River X, therefore it must have X conditions. Not necessarily. People frequently don't distinguish between species within a genera (Symphysodon (discus), for example. Heckels and greens do come from warm, soft, lower pH habitat, while blue/brown discus---species name for these seems to vary between experts) can see temperatures down to the middle 70s and pH up to 7.8), are unaware of the wide distribution of some species in varying rivers and water types (meaning they're more adaptable than they assume), or they don't realize that a fish listed as from River X may actually be collected upstream in a tributary with different conditions from the main river.
The other thing is it's easy to read a study, not parse the distinctions in the text, and go away overgeneralizing what they read. For example, in this study only 3 of the nine species are listed as reophilic specialists: Retroculus lapidifer, Crenicichla cametana, Hypomasticus cf. pachycheilus.
Others:
Geophagus altifrons-- "This species is a habitat generalist but is commonly found in shallow sandy areas of stretches of rapids." In other words, the quieter spots. This is the same thing Oliver Lucanus says about the high bodied Geophagus in his Geophagus Guide, frequently apparent in wild habitat videos.
Cichla piquiti-- "This species is usually found in structured habitats, including rapids" (not exclusively rapids)
Leporinus maculatus-- " This species is found in relatively slow and fast water regions of rapids; although it is not a rapids specialist, shows a strong association with rocky substrates."
Leporinus affinis-- " This species is a habitat generalist that is found in both slow and fast water regions of rapids, and also in a wide variety of habitats"
Leporinus desmotes-- " This species is found in both slow and fast water regions of rapids; although it is not a rapids specialist, it shows strong association with rocky substrates."
Leporinus unitaeniatus-- " This species is found in both slow and fast water regions of rapids, and although it is not a rapids specialist, it is a rocky substrate dweller."
All of that said, I've yet to keep a fish that didn't benefit from good oxygenation or was uncomfortable with moderate water flow (though some, like Cyphotilapia, need a spot a bit sheltered from the current to spawn successfully). But a species like Geo alfifrons being found in an area that includes rapids doesn't mean they actually live in the rapids or that they require fast water.
--SA fish all need low pH, soft water. No, SA is a large continent with widely varying cichlid habitat, anything from low mineral, low pH, blackwater to alkaline lakes.
--If a fish comes from river X, it must have X set of conditions. Sometimes true, often not. Many rivers have stretches of varying temperature, water flow, and chemistry. Some rivers see very different terrain (and therefore water conditions) over their course and, as in this study, even the same stretch of river can have niche habitats.
--Species X comes from River X, therefore it must have X conditions. Not necessarily. People frequently don't distinguish between species within a genera (Symphysodon (discus), for example. Heckels and greens do come from warm, soft, lower pH habitat, while blue/brown discus---species name for these seems to vary between experts) can see temperatures down to the middle 70s and pH up to 7.8), are unaware of the wide distribution of some species in varying rivers and water types (meaning they're more adaptable than they assume), or they don't realize that a fish listed as from River X may actually be collected upstream in a tributary with different conditions from the main river.
The other thing is it's easy to read a study, not parse the distinctions in the text, and go away overgeneralizing what they read. For example, in this study only 3 of the nine species are listed as reophilic specialists: Retroculus lapidifer, Crenicichla cametana, Hypomasticus cf. pachycheilus.
Others:
Geophagus altifrons-- "This species is a habitat generalist but is commonly found in shallow sandy areas of stretches of rapids." In other words, the quieter spots. This is the same thing Oliver Lucanus says about the high bodied Geophagus in his Geophagus Guide, frequently apparent in wild habitat videos.
Cichla piquiti-- "This species is usually found in structured habitats, including rapids" (not exclusively rapids)
Leporinus maculatus-- " This species is found in relatively slow and fast water regions of rapids; although it is not a rapids specialist, shows a strong association with rocky substrates."
Leporinus affinis-- " This species is a habitat generalist that is found in both slow and fast water regions of rapids, and also in a wide variety of habitats"
Leporinus desmotes-- " This species is found in both slow and fast water regions of rapids; although it is not a rapids specialist, it shows strong association with rocky substrates."
Leporinus unitaeniatus-- " This species is found in both slow and fast water regions of rapids, and although it is not a rapids specialist, it is a rocky substrate dweller."
All of that said, I've yet to keep a fish that didn't benefit from good oxygenation or was uncomfortable with moderate water flow (though some, like Cyphotilapia, need a spot a bit sheltered from the current to spawn successfully). But a species like Geo alfifrons being found in an area that includes rapids doesn't mean they actually live in the rapids or that they require fast water.
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And I thought all of South American waterways consisted of pieces of driftwood on slate bases and Amazon sword plants 
