Have you heard about Aequidens paloemeuensis, the beautiful SA dwarf species endemic to a tributary in Suriname in South America? Though not actually new (it was described in 1989), it has not been a regular fish in the hobby. That may soon change. Oliver Lucanus has acquired a few specimens and hopes to breed them in the very near future.
Lucanus’ Below Water company just released a short YouTube video showing the paloemeuensis habitat as well as Lucanus’ wild caught group that he currently houses in a 180g aquarium. Rather than embed that video here, I encourage you to visit Reef2Rainforest’s site, contains a bit more information about the fish (including the video itself).
If you aren’t familiar with Lucanus, check out the interview I did with him in early 2020. You can also visit his YouTube channel, appropriately called Below Water, where he spotlights various SA cichlids and other fish.
Meanwhile Ae. paloemeuensis has been bred for the first time in march ’23 in austria. A pair has formed out of a group of six specimen (mported from Surinam in january ’23) in a 450 liter tank. The pair has spawned on an oak leaf, The fry hatched after 62 hours and was placed in small pits (covered with leafs) for additional 4 days. Ae. paloemeuensis is a biparental open breeder