Central America (especially Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico) is their main habitat. They are also found in many Caribbean islands. Aquarium fish are found all over the world, especially in Europe, Japan, Singapore, Southeast Asia, etc.
Habitat
They are mainly saltwater warm-water fish of coastal areas. However, they are also found in the bay and freshwater. They do not migrate. They live in water near the bottom of reservoirs (Fishbase, 2014).
Food and feeding habit
In nature, they are omnivorous, that is, they eat both plant and animal food. Their first choice is zoobenthos and detritus. In aquariums, they feed on Tubifex and dry packaged foods (Akhter, 1995).
Lifecycle and Breeding
Its lifespan is 3-5 years (Fishlore, 2014). Males are taller than females. On the other hand, women are shorter in stature than men. The anal fins of mature males are transformed into gonopodium which plays a special role in reproduction. Men are much brighter and more colorful than women.
They are ovoviviparous, meaning that their embryonic development takes place inside the mother's body and at the end of the development, a full-grown baby is born. However, at the time of flowering, the necessary nutrients are not obtained from the mother but from the yolk. They can be easily bred in aquariums. They require four weeks for embryonic development. At one stage mothers give birth to one hundred to one hundred and twenty children.
For breeding, it is necessary to have more than one female in a breeding aquarium as opposed to one male. As the adult fish eat the newborns, the males have to be transferred to a separate aquarium immediately after fertilization and the males after delivery. Babies can eat brine shrimp nauplii or packaged powdered flake and grow quickly.
Suitable Environment
These are cool fish. Since it is not harmful to other fish, it can be kept in the same aquarium with other fish. Aquariums with aquatic plants are good for them.
According to Seriouslyfish (2014) the minimum aquarium size for them is 36 x 12 x 12 inches or 90 x 30 x 30 cm. The water temperature is 60-62 ° F or 21-28 ° C. PH 6-7.5 and hardness 15-30 dH. On the other hand, according to Fishlore (2014), their optimum temperature is 60-62 ° F. Or 21-26 ° C, hardness 10-25 ° dH, pH 7.5-6.5.
They can be accustomed to the fresh water of the aquarium. They also survive in marine aquariums.
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