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Pair of Nomorhamphus rex, Vermillion Halfbeak
TOP: H.-G. EVERS; BOTTOM: T. WEIDNER
Nomorhamphus rex
The halfbeak Nomorhamphus rex from central
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Sulawesi, Indonesia, was described quite recently.
These attractive fish have already been imported
incognito a number of times and are now reappearing
under the new species name.
The new species resembles the species N. kolonodalensis
and N. ebrardtii, also from Sulawesi, but differs
in having a longer lower jaw and in the structure of
the male copulatory organ, the andropodium. We now
know 10 described Nomorhamphus species that occur
endemic to Sulawesi.
Nomorhamphus rex Huylebrouck et al. 2012 is
known only from three small river systems in the province
of Sulawesi Selatan. In 2010, my friends Jeffrey
Christian, Peter Debold, and Thomas Heinrichs and
I were able to find these fishes in various clearwater
rivers in the famous Torajaland in South Sulawesi and
bring them back alive to Germany.
These not very aggressive fish are best maintained
in a small group in cool (72–75°F/22–24°C), mediumhard
to hard water. They will eat anything that lands on
the water’s surface. I place gravid
females in small, densely planted
aquariums with a volume of around
10 gallons (30 L) to give birth. I
maintain the group in a 53-gallon
(200-L) aquarium with a number of
bottom-dwelling catfish (Loricariichthys
acutus).
Nomorhamphus rex is not
exactly easy to breed. My largest
brood to date was 12 fry, but they
measured 1.2 cm at birth and
immediately ate small water fleas.
I have often transferred putative
gravid females that unfortunately
became thinner again over the
following days and weeks. Could
it be that the females resorbed the young into their
body cavities because they were over-stressed by being
moved
REFERENCES
—Hans-Georg Evers
Huylebrouck, J., R.K. Hadiaty, and F. Herder. 2012. Nomorhamphus rex,
a new species of viviparous halfbeak (Atherinomorpha: Beloniformes:
Zenarchopteridae) endemic to Sulawesi Selatan, Indonesia. Raffles
Bull Zool 60 (2): 477–85.
Aequidens cf. rondoni
Aequidens have a hard time of it in our aquariums.
Why Probably because half-truths stick
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in our heads better than the courage to question them.
When I received word from Aquarium Glaser that one of
their Brazilian exporters might be sending a small number
of Aequidens, I was not that interested at first. But
then I heard that they had purportedly been brought
in under the trade name “Cachimbo verde,” and my
interest was piqued immediately—I had seen photos of
the PIPES expedition (see AMAZONAS 25) on the Web,
Aequidens cf. rondoni
AMAZONAS
91