Wild tetra ID..Help required!!

[ste12000]

Hi all, over the last few months ive been collecting groups of unusual tetras that come in as contaminants amongst wild shipments. Where-ever possible ive been trying to breed these fish and on many occassions have got lucky.

These latest fish were picked up from a exporter of wild fish, they were shipped with cardinal tetras from Columbia so location is going to be Upper Negro, Upper Orinoco area..

My problem is not the keeping or breeding of these fish, its the ID of them.. Despite owning the reference books i still struggle with the ID of these rarely seen tetras. Has anyone seen or kept the species below? ive just had a spawn this morning and it would be good to know what im breeding!

Female(Middle fish)

Male.

 

[tjudy]

No idea... probably a Hyphessobrycon. I like the pretty gold color, and I bet they look good as a group in a planted tank.

 

[Mike Wise]

Like Ted, I have no idea. There are so many undescribed/unpictured tetras out there. Sadly, no more Salmlernetz.de either.

 

[apistobob]

You might try putting up a post at the Anubias Design Yahoo Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anubiasdesign/

There are a number of specialists for most kinds of fish that might be able to help, including some very well known tetra experts.

 

[Chromedome]

Looks more like a possible Hemigrammus or Cheirodon than any Hyphessobrycon, but I would not pigeonhole it in any genus at this point. The closest I see would be He. vorderwinkleri, which is commonly imported with wild Cardinals.

Oh, and according to Dr. Stan Weitzman, these fish are not "contaminants", they are "bycatch"!

 

[Mike Wise]

Or possibly Hemmigrammus levis? I commonly saw them (or something similar) arrive as contaminants/bi-catches with pencilfish, False/Green Neons, and Cardinals from Manaus (Rio Negro).