Aequidens has long been a group that they have placed fish with three anal spine and had an apperance looking like Aequidens from South America. There have been fish that even amateurs have seen that this can not be right. So when Dr. Sven O. Kullander came with his revision of the Genus Cichlasoma in 1983 he also med a revision of the Genus Aequidens. He split it into several groups which later was new Genus . CLEITHRACARA, Kullander & Nijssen 1989. LAETACARA, Kullander 1986. KROBIA, Kullander & Nijssen 1989. GUIANACARA, Kullander & Nijssen 1989. BUJURQUINA, Kullander 1986. TAHUANTINSUYOA, Kullander 1986.
There is still several new Aequidens that will come and hopefully the different Aequidens sp. will be described.
Well when I find time, I will lay out new informasion about my dear Aequidens. I have collect several Aequidens and with good help from fish friends I have got my hands on several Aequidens. Under here you can click on the names and jump directly to the fish you want to see and read about.
Latest new is; There have been published a new Genus where many of our old Aequidens have moved to. The new Genus is Andinoacara and came out this year 2009. One of our Aequidens sp. have also been described.
If you want to read the description, just follow this link. http://www.vertebrate-zoology.de/vz59-2/02_Vertebrate_Zoology_59-2_Musilova.pdf just cut and paste.
Photo A. Stalsberg
A half grown Aequidens sp. Choco collected out in the Choco province in Colombia. This fish can also remind me of the Aequidens coeruleopunctatus, from Panama.
Photo A. Stalsberg
This is a adult female of "Aequidens" sp. "Choco" who was collected out in the Choco province in Colombia. The photo of the fish was taken in one of my aquariums when she was guarding egg. Photos does many times not give the fish full credit, but I hope it gives you an idea of the fish. This fish is also placed in Aequidens pulcher-group. I hope that in the near future that all Aequidens will get a name, or a new genus. But in the meantime we can keep and enjoy the fish in our aquarium.
Photo A. Stalsberg.
This is an old favorite in the hobby, it's easy to keep, easy to breed, and eat almost every thing you give him, it's also very tolerant when it comes to the water. This fish was first described in 1922 by Eigenmann and was collected in Colombia i Rio Meta riversystem, this have given the fish it's name. The type locality is Barrigon in Cano Carnicera and Cumaral.
Other known places is near Villavicencio and Puerto Gaitàn. The distribution to this fish is bigger than they thought in the begining, so you will find the fish in slightly differ colors etc. The holotype that Eigenmann described was 155 mm. and the paratype was 168 mm., but I've had bigger fish than that. But many fish grow bigger in aquarium, they usually get food every day, and no predators.
They can eat and enjoy themself in the aquarium. People who does not know the fish, will easily think of Aequidens tetramerus when they see Aequidens metae, and there is not that big difference between thes fishes, especially when the are smaller. If you wish to read Eigenmanns description there is a lot of information to get. You just have to visit the Library and ask if they can get you a copy.
Memoirs of the Carnegie Museum, Vol. IX, No 1. "The fishes of Western South America, Part 1. page 241 (Æequidens metæ sp. nov.) By C. H. Eigenmann,1922.
Photo
A. Stalsberg
This fish was fdescribed not so "long" ago, but I kept the fish long before it was described and we used name as Aequidens sp. "Rio Xingu". The fish was brought to Europe from Brazil in !988 by Bernd Kilian, Ulrich Schlieven and Rainer Stawikowski. They had collect the fish in Rio Xingu, near Altamira. So thats why the fish was called Aequidens sp. "Rio Xingu" in the begining.
I got some small fry from my friend Rainer Stawikowski in 1990, if I recall right. The fry was eating good and grew up to some realy nice fish as you can see at the photos. It took some time before they as adult decide to spawn, but in the end they did. They are not difficult when it comes to the food, they eat whatever you give them, and that goes for most of the Aequidens.
Photo A. Stalsberg
Aequidens pallidus is not well known, and when I got them for the first time I thought it was Aequidens metae. I was checking different books and magazines that I had and they said this was Aequidens duopunctata. But I was not agree in this, because the photos showed another fish. They grew up and was more than 15 cm, two of the photos shows the first fish I had. They was changing colors after the mood they was in, and looking at the photos they can differs a lot. The fish is a substrat spawner, that means they spawn on a small stone, or on a bogwood or if they find another material they will use. In older litterature they say that the fish is a delayed mouth brooder, but I did not get any confirmation on that the fish was larvophil when I had the fish. I spent a lot of time in my aquarium room and I think I would have seen it if they was larvophile. But I did not see any indication that they was delayed mouth brooders. So I ment I should keep a better eye on the fish when they was about to spawn, but they did not do that.
So it took many years before I saw the fish again. I got some small fry from my friend Rainer Stawikowski. And when I visit an importer in Sweden, I look thru all his tanks, and came to some big tanks where is was thousend and thousend of Cardinalneon (Paracheirodon axelrodi). And among all these Cardinalneon there was some small cichlids. I asked where the Cardinalneon came from, Colombia or Brazil?? He said the fish came from Brazil and I asked him if it was possible to buy the small cichlids?? He said yes. When I came back home and placed the fish in an empty tank, I could see that it was an Aequidens, but not which one, they was to small. Well it was just to feed the fish and wait for them to grow up. And today the biggest fish is around 13 cm. and I'm the owner of Aequidens pallidus again.
So I just have to be patient and hope that there will be pair among the fish and that they will spawne. I don't know from where in Brazil they are coming from, but the litterature says that the fish is coming from the middle and lower part of Rio Negro, Rio Preto da Eva, Rio Urubu and other rivers and tributaries that belong to Rio Negros riversystem. The fish is not difficult to keep, and eat most of what you feed them. But earthworms is snacks and if you give them all they want, they are laying at the bottom in the end. Temperature between 25 -30 C. degree is good, I've kept plants in the tank too, large Amazon Swordplants, Crinum thaianum, Microsorium and Wallisnera gigantea.
The fish I have now is a little different in the color, and I will try to take some new photos. As I said earlier the fish could change a lot in colors, this you will see at the photos. The fish I have to day does not change that much in colors, but they are very nice fish.
A. patricki female. 
A. patricki male.
Female with egg.
Aequidens patricki is realy one of the nicest Aequidens, and the color on the fish is very nice. Many says tome; Why do you keep all these grey fish??
Colors is not everything when you keep fish, but if the fish has nice colors then this is not a minus, and Aequidens patricki is such a fish.
Aequidens patricki comes from Peru in Rio Aguaytia and Rio Pachitea and was described in 1984. When I read the description with photo (I got a copy from Dr. Kullander) then I thought would take a long time before I had this fish in my aquarium, but I was lucky and got the fish from a German friend and much quicker than I had expected.
The fish grow to about 11 cm. for the female and around 15 cm. for the male. This fish can in my opinion be a little more aggressive than many of the other Aequidens, especially against other Aequidens patrici. But no problems against other fish. The aquarium for this fish ought to be around 160 liter, decorated with rocks and bogwood, then you can keep several fish if they have places to hide. The fish is very tlerant when it comes to the water, but a pH around 7 or lower is good, the hardness on the water can goes from O and up to more than 10 dh.
A young fish of Krobia in the photo tank after capture.
Photo A. Stalsberg.
Krobia potaroensis in the aquarium and it can grow to about 15 cm.
Photo A. Stalsberg
Krobia (Aequidens) potaroensis is not a usual fish in our aquarium, or in the shops, or in the hobby, I'm not sure if I would get the fish an other way of how I did it. I went to Guyana and collect it. It was up in Kamarang in a small tributary to Mazaruni River and the name on the small river/ Creek was Kanawee Creek. As you probably can see if you enlarge the photos, is that the water is rather clear, but it was cool. If you had had this temperature on the water back home, you would probably say it was a nice temperature, but in south america the water is rather cool when it's 21,7 degree celsius. The pH on the water was 6,5 and the hardness was 2 and kH was 1.
Photo Alf Stalsberg
Quisto Cocha type. Aequidens tetramerus (Heckel 1840) is one of the larger Aequidens. It can reach a size up 20 cm. in the Aquarium. Males have a longer dorsal fin and is usually stronger in colors. The fish has a reputation for beeing quarellsome, but my own experience have not noticed that. At least no more than others, they are at least cichlids and not any differnt from other cichlids.
You can't place this fish in a 50 liter tank, if you wish to keep sevearl of the fish of a certain size, and expect they will behave nicely in a crowded tank.
The fish has a large distribution, from Peru in west thru Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia and to Guayana in the East. This gives the fish differences in at least the color. I will show you photos of different Aequidens tetramerus. The first photo is a Aequidens tetramerus from Peru, I got these fish from Dr. Kullander in 1983 and he had collect the fish near Iquitos in a lake called Quista Cocha. Then he said the fish was Aequidens uniocellatus. Later he said that the fish was a synonym to Aequidens tetramerus.
The next one is also a Aequiddens tetramerus from Peru. I had in the begining
two Aequidens tetramerus from Peru, from two different biotopes, but since I
have only one of them now and the photos of one of them, I'm not certain if
this fish comes from Rio Ucayali or from Rio Nanay??
I think the nicest one is the one from Ecuador, I collect it outside Lago Agrio and also in Lago Limon Cocha. Aequidens teramerus, no matter which one is an easy fish to keep and spawn. But, that does not mean you don't have to change water or feed it well. The fish will pay you back with nice color and well behavior.
A pair with egg.
Photo: Alf Stalsberg.
The last one did I collect in Guyana, this one is more greenish in the color. The Aequidens tetramerus is easy to keep, they eat most of what you feed them, also easy to spawn, just give them a good water quality, by changing some of the water every week. They don't eat plants, at least what I have noticed, but they can move them. So I would suggest 5-6 small ones to start with in a 160 liters tank, and when they start to make pairs, then leave the pair alone in the tank and remove the others.
Female in the forground and the head of the male.
A.diadema male.
The A. diadema appears in the hobby from time to time, my fish was just pairing out when it happen. The heater did not work well and I boiled all my A. diadema, so I can't give you any information about breeding. The typesite of the fish is in a small river near Marabitanas in Brazil in the upper Rio Negro close to the border to Venezuela.
Photo A.Stalsberg.
This fish comes from Rio Trombetas in Pará Brazil. I will not try to explain to you the color on the fish, the photo should indicate the colors on adult fish.The fish reach a SL about 12 cm. and prefer fast floating jungle streams with clear water.It prefer also low pH, but I have not been able to breed the fish so far. So you have to settle with the photo of the fish, at least you know how it looks like.
Photo A.Stalsberg.
Here we are going up Rio Inirida to visit som of the lower tributarier to Rio Inirida. One of the first we went up to was Caño Aguajon. The water was a little turbid, but clear enough to snorkel there and catch fish. In the river we find for the first time an undescribed Aequidens, which we also saw in other tributaries and also in Rio Atabapo. So we called it Aequidens sp. atabapo. I took some underwaterphotos but they are not so very good, the water was turbid and the fish very shy, so I could not come very close, but you can see the Aequidens and also Mesonauta insignis.
You can see how the biotop in Caño Aguajon look like. The bottom layer was fine sand and a little layer with mud above. Some places there was also accumulation of leaves on the bottom. Especially used by the small Apistogramma who was hiding under it.
We used a seine to collect the Aequidens sp. atabapo and the fish was just after the capture placed in a phototank.
Aeq. sp. "Atabapo"
It was very dull in the color, but when I came home with the fish and it was settled down in the aquarium, the color start comming and I think you are agree that it is a very nice fish when you look at the photo.
Aeq. sp. "Atabapo"
Rainer Stawikowski and Uwe Werner state in their book,"Die Buntbarsche Amerikas", Band 1. that this fish is a delayed mouthbrooder.I've not bred the fish so I can't tell. My plan was to go to Colombia in March (2005) this year, but I was warned against,to go to Colombia for the moment. I hope it will cool down so I can go to this lovely country again.
Aequidens sp. "Jenaro Herrera" female guarding eggs and you see the male up right. The fish have been in the trade for awhile, coming and going and have been mixed with the Aequidens diadema. It's a beautiful fish when it's adult, but can look rather drab when its smaller.This goes for many cichlids, they does not get the nice apperance before they are adult, and this takes about two years. So if you are not a patient man, find something else. But, I will highly recommend the genus Aequidens, there are a lot of nice fish there, just scroll up this page and be convinced.
DISCLAIMER: Statements made on this page are not herewith made available for purpose of zoological nomenclature under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.
You can reach me by e-mail at: alf.stalsberg@c2i.net