Phalloceros caudimaculatus

[Matteo ITA]

Hi,

my name is Matteo and I'm Italian.
I have read about this fish in an article about Paraguayan fish (but it could be found also in other countries).
It is Phalloceros caudimaculatus, but there are also other species of Phalloceros in the same "biotope". It is a Poeciilidae but it seems that it is widespread in the "wetlands" of Paraguay or Argentina in soft and acidic water.

In the page of Hypessobrycon auca on Seriously fish, for example, it is possible read: "Sympatric fish species included Acestrorhynchus pantaneiro, Aphyocharax rathbuni, Characidium spp.,Hyphessobrycon eques, Serrapinnus kriegi, Apistogramma borelli, A. commbrae, Gymnogeophagus balzanii, Laetacara dorsigera and Phalloceros caudimaculatus".

Other sites instead talk about Phalloceros like other Poeciliidae and they suggest to keep them in basic water...

What do you think about this fish? What is its real "biotope"?

Thanks,
Matteo.

 

[gerald]

I don't know anything about its "real biotope" but being a Poeciliidae I would guess that in captivity it will probably do just as well or better in neutral water with moderate hardness than in soft acidic water. In North & South Carolina (USA) we often find Heterandria and Gambusia in soft acidic water. They live there because they can tolerate it and compete succesfully against other species, not necessarily because they prefer it (physiologically). In captivity these fish live longer and are more disease-resistant when kept in harder, higher pH water, even if they were collected from blackwater swamps. This is also true of Elassoma.

 

[Matteo ITA]

They live there because they can tolerate it and compete succesfully against other species, not necessarily because they prefer it (physiologically).

Hi gerald Thanks for your explanation. I agree with your opinion: probably Phalloceros in nature live also in soft and acidic water but not because they prefer that conditions.

 

[Mike Wise]

I haven't kept this species since the late 1970s. When I did, I just kept them in my tapwater: neutral to slightly acidic and moderately soft. They were very prolific to say the least!

 

[Matteo ITA]

I haven't kept this species since the late 1970s. When I did, I just kept them in my tapwater: neutral to slightly acidic and moderately soft. They were very prolific to say the least!

Thanks for your answer Mike! They can tolerate a wide range of parameters, evidently. Also my tapwater has the same parameters of the yours. I'd like to keep them in my tank but in Italy they aren't common and, moreover, the opinion of gerald is very convincing