Crenuchus spilurus

[diego]

Hello, it does some months buy these interesting enough fish, a few Crenuchus Spilurus, savages. They are 10 individuals and accept all the food that they fact already is frozen or dry, but at the moment they are shy enough.
His origin is South America , in the basins of the Amazonian rivers, is a carnivorous fish, lives in waters with a ph from 6 to 7,2 and measures from 5 to 6 cm.
Some photos:








They live in this aquarium of 300 liters with a pair of pterophyllum altum

[Captain Telecredible]

The scapes look very wild and natural! Altums are very magnificent!

[diego]

Thank you,CaptainTelecredible , now I create a new post in ciclids zone for this fish.
regards

[SCOPE]

Can you tell the males from the females of these? i heard they spawn in caves like the apistogramma

[ranmasatome]

nice fish. used to have these guys. quite tidmid fish but really good eater.

You should try breeding them scope..haha..

[diego]

Hello,
Scope , there are 5 males and 5 females.
True, as spawning is very similar to apistogramas.
True Ranmasatome, fish are very shy and just come out from among the plants.
Let's see if I'm lucky and breed
yhank you
regards

[SCOPE]

nice fish. used to have these guys. quite tidmid fish but really good eater.

You should try breeding them scope..haha..

haha! Yes bro, you speak out my mind.
Saw some of these at ROC.
Maybe buying some to try out.
Just worry if they will attack apisto as they are larger in size.

[barmby]

Looking at their mouth, the size and I don't really categorise them as timid.

[tetroid]

Beautiful fish! I have a group of them in my 32 gallon tank with pencilfish. They are relatively rare in the hobby, which is a pity.

According to most of the sources I read, they are a shy, reclusive fish. However, mine aren't very shy. I think this is because they share the tank with a lot of pencilfish. They may need dithers to feel comfortable, just like apistos.

[Heiko Bleher]

Hi Guys,

this is Heiko Bleher and I just saw this between my many lectures this year. You have a very interesting fish here and maybe most of you do not know, that Crenuchus spilurus is the only freshwater fish we know now, that has infrared perception.
Many years ago I received the order from the Geneve Natural History Musem to collect for the 1200 specimens alive and they studied them for your finding this amazing organ in their head which proved their infrered perception.
I just wanted to let you know how interesting this unique freshwater fihs is.

best regards from a collector

Heiko Bleher
www.aquapress-bleher.com

[diego]

Barmby, in spite of his(her,your) size and aspect they are very timid.

Hello Tetroid, my Crenuchus now are with Hemigrammus rhodostomus and other small fish and they continue timid and very static, though they eat very well.

Hello Heiko Bleher, is a pleasure to read you hereabouts.
Thank you very much for this information, me not it wise this information of the perception infrared and fodder that it wise few people, as you. A very interesting information, thank you very much for this information , and dedicating your time to revealing ourselves.
Thank you
-Excuse me for my english langage I use a translator.
Regards

[tetroid]

That's really interesting that they can see the infrared part of the light spectrum. I knew they were genetically a little odd, but I didn't know about that characteristic. I remember reading that they had an unusual number of rays on their dorsal fin as well. It must have been hard to catch 1200 of them!

Diego, I was thinking that another possible reason yours are shy is the presence of your large angelfish. My crenuchus used to be a little afraid of my keyhole cichlid and SAE, so I had to sell them. Now they spend a lot of time hanging under leaves at a 45 degree angle. I've attached a few pictures. The last picture shows a crenuchus spilurus in quarantine. That's why he's pale. I like it because his eye is so blue.

[SCOPE]

Nice and interesting fish! and great to know their unique ability too!

[barmby]

Guys, thanks for sharing. Very interesting. and nice pictures.

[diego]

Tetroid , a very nice specimens ,and very nice photos .

I have separated the crenuchus of the altums and now already they are seen more, at the moment they prove to be very pacific, now his(her,your) companions are small fish.
It(He,She) wanted to know everything on these fish, if someone can give information I am grateful for it to him(you,them) very very much
regards

[tetroid]

Hi diego. I'm glad your crenuchus are showing themselves more. You've probably noticed already that there isn't a lot of information about them online. Even the information you can find online is questionable. I think a lot of it is based on a subspecies of Crenuchus spilurus from Guyana. That type was first exported in the 1930s. The type that we have is a little different, and is probably native to the area around Iquitos, Peru. I'm new to them myself, but I can tell you that...

- they aren't aggressive with small fish. I keep mine with various small pencilfish, and there have been no problems
- they aren't aggressive with each other; the males establish dominance with displays, but they don't bite or harass each other, and as far as I can tell, they don't establish territories
- sometimes they like to swim together, and sometimes they like to swim apart; generally, they aren't very active, but they aren't loners and they aren't particularly shy, either
- they will eat flakes, but mine especially like cichlid pellets. As for frozen foods, they love bloodworms. They need larger food because of their large mouths
- they prefer soft water
- they seem to be smarter than the average fish, although I can't prove it
- they are very tough. When my pencilfish got sick, none of my crenuchus were affected. Some crenuchus spilurus have been living at the fish store for almost six months, and they are still ok. I would buy them all, but I don't have room.

The only site I know of that explains how to breed them is this one. The site isn't working right now, so if you can't access it, just PM me and I'll send you an archived copy. According to the article, you have to fake a dry season by hardening the water and feeding them very little for a few weeks, and then suddenly do a big water change and trick them into thinking it's the wet season by softening the water and giving them lots of food. Apparently, that starts the breeding process.

For miscellaneous information, you can check the FAQ on crenuchine tetras at wetwebmedia. It's actually just an e-mail exchange between me and Neale Monks, who is their characin guru. They posted some of my pictures as well. Here's a good article in German. If you decide to try to breed them, let us know how it goes!

[diego]

Hey Tetroid , thank you very very very very..... much
wow!!! very good information and very interesting.
Thank you

some photos

[tetroid]

I'm glad the information was helpful, diego, and thanks for the lovely photos! Your fish look very happy in that setup. As you've probably noticed, I'm a big fan of this species. If they breed for you, take pictures!

[SCOPE]

Very good information for such an unique fish! i will buy some this week to try out.

[Heiko Bleher]

Hi guys,

just came back from another field trip (foothills of the Himalayas) with great discoveries.

Please note: Crenuchus spilurus exist (so far) only 1 genus and 1 species - there is no subspeices described.

But I found them much wider distributed then what is written elsewhere, unfortunately would take to long to mention all locations here now, where I found the a nd collected them. Last November I found some very interesteing variants (or species) in the Inirida region and in the Boca de Cano, in Colombia, soon on my website some photos.

And, if they look more intelligent, again, then because their ability for infrared ...

All the best and keep up the good (Crenuchus)work,

always

Heiko Bleher
www.aquapress-bleher.com