Andinoacara biseriatus

Introduction

Andinoacara biseriatus is a small sized fish its genus, it has a TL(Total length) of 4.8 ".
Andinoacara biseriatus is distributed in Atrato, San Juan and Baudó River basins in Colombia, South America.

Taxonomy

(Click for details of Cichlid taxonomy)

Andinoacara biseriatus was first described by Regan in 1913 as Cichlasoma biseriatum .
It was afterwards placed in genus Aequidens, however in 2009 a new genus Andinoacara was described based on Molecular data.
Andinoacara genus is further spilt up to into two clades, Andinoacara pulcher group and Andinoacara rivulatus group.
The genus name Andinoacara is formed by two words "Andino" and "Acara".
Andino refers to Andes Mountain Chain in South America, these cichlids are found on the slopes of Andes mountains and in the valley formed by three arms of Northern Andes.
The term "Acara" has been used historically for Cichlids.
So the term Andinoacara literally means "Cichlids from Mountain Andes".
The species name biseriatus means "two series".

Description

Shape :-

Andinoacara bisceriatus has a moderately deep body, body depth is 40 % of SL.

Head :-

Head is 25% of SL and snout is 6% of SL, this is same as inter-orbital width.

Eyes :-

• Depth of pre- orbital area is about 1/2 to 3/5 of diameter of eye.

Mouth :-

Jaws are equal, upper jaw extends to below forward margin of eye.

Gill rakers :-

There are 5-6 gill rakers on lower part of frontal arch.

Scales :-

• Cheek area has only 2 series of scales, sometimes there is a third series of 2-4 scales.
  This runs upwards and backwards from behind angle of mouth to below eye.
• Preopercle is scale less.
• There are 23-26 scales in a longitudinal series, 3 from first dorsal spine and 1 or 1.5 from first
  soft ray to lateral line.
• There are 8 rows of scales below lateral line.

Fins:-

• Dorsal Fin :-
Dorsal fin has 15 spines and 9-10 rays, fifth to 12 the spines are unequal.
Dorsal fin is placed 1/3 length of head, and last dorsal spine is placed 2/5 length of head.
Soft Dorsal fin is pointed and extends to front-middle of Caudal fin.
There are no scales in Dorsal fin.


• Anal Fin :-
Anal fin has three spines which is characteric of this genus and 7-8 rays.
There are no scales on Anal fin.


• Pectoral-fin : -
Pectoral fin is nearly as long as head, extending to origin of anal fin.


• Pelvic Fin: -
Pelvic fin reaches anal.


• Caudal Fin :-
Caudal fins is rounded.
Caudal peduncle ½ to 2/3 as long as deep.

Distribution & Habitat

Andinoacara biseriatus It is distributed in Atrato, San Juan and Baudó River basins in Colombia, South America.

Diet

In its native habitat Andinoacara biseriatus feeds on small insects and other carnivorous material.
In aquarium it should be given predominately carnivorous diet.

Colouration

Color on body is uniformly dark or with dark longitudinal stripes or series of spots along the row of scales.
Paler specimens show cross-bars also.
There is a a lateral blotch, and a small spot at base of caudal; a blackish spot or ocellus on dorsal fin between 10th and 12th spine.
There is often another blotch in front of behind it.
Dorsal fin has a pale edge and dark intra marginal stripe; soft dorsal fin is spotted; lower fins are dark edged.

Tank Size and setup:

Andinoacara biseriatus are smaller than other fish of its genus and sized fish and should be kept in a aquarium of about 300 liters with good filtration.
In its native habitat Andinoacara bisceriatus is found in the western part Colombia and reaches up to the border of Panama.
Type locality of the fish is Rio Condoto, a tributary of Rio San Juan.
It is soft water fish and does best in water of ph 5.5 to 6.7 and dh 1-3.

Tank Mates:

it is an mildly aggressive species and can be kept with similar sized fish like Oscars etc.

Breeding:

Andinoacara biseriatus has no obvious external sex differences in fin length or intensity of colour pattern.
However females get very dark, nearly black while spawning.
Andinoacara biseriatus is a monogamous substrate spawner and that both sexes share in all the duties of brood care.
The female, however, is usually the more active partner as long as the pair cares for eggs or larvae, while the male defends the spawning territory against intruders.
Like most other open brooders these cichlids deposit their eggs on a horizontal surface.
At 27 °C hatching occurs about two days post spawning, and the fry attempt swimming seven days thereafter.
The male and female fish practice long-term bi parental defense of their mobile fry.