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Encyclopedia of FISH FAMILIES

Alest, or African Titles (Ales t idae)

African tetras can be regarded as the complete opposite of American ones. The family is divided into two subfamilies, the first of which (Alesti d ae) includes the most famous aquarium fishes, and the second include tiger predators (Hydrocyninae). Predators of this family with their terrible jaws are not suitable for keeping in an aquarium , and therefore they are rarely brought.

004.jpg (88714 bytes). Alestes dentex

The most famous African alestids are distinguished by large scale. These include representatives of the genera Brycinus , Micralestes, Phenacogrammus and A rn oldichthys. Brycinus longipinnis, B.imberi, B. humilis and B are much more often imported than others. Nurse. In general, about 30 species belong to the genus of britsins , and those in turn are divided into 5 forms. These species are distributed over the vast expanses of Africa, and import them - with the exception of the above - is extremely rare. To distinguish them in appearance is rather difficult, so that the possibility of accurate classification is questionable.

006.jpg (119684 bytes) Phenacogrammus interruptus
007.jpg (41913 bytes) A rn oldichthys spilopterus
008.jpg (39333 bytes) Brycinus longipinnis

There are at least a dozen species to the genus of the miracles , but only a few are exported. Sometimes in shipping cartons are M. storms i (similar to M. humilis) and M. acu t idens.

The genus of phenacograms includes the most famous of the hara-like : the rainbow phenacogram, or the beauty of the Congo ( P. interruptus): along with it, the genus includes about 20 species, some of them very interesting by their coloration. According to four types of forms this genus differs, and from the point of view of aquaristics, the most magnificent species belong to the same group as P. interruptus: among them the rainbow phenacogram is particularly good, but P. aurantiacus is almost as glorious, as well as R. major and P. urotaenia .

Other genera are: hemigrammopterosius , Hemmigrammopetersius , Peters i us, Ladigesia , Lep i darchus, C l upeo charax, Tricuspidalestes and Arnoldichthus . The latter is monotypic, that is, it is represented only by one species ( A. spilopterus). Arnoldicht is one of the most famous aquarium fish; It is regularly imported from all imported tetter tetraxes. Long- bellinned bricin ( B. longipinnis) - 14 cm is the longest of the imported tetris. Congo beauty even in large aquariums rarely grows longer than 8 cm. The aquarium for African tetras should differ in design from the aquarium for their related South American species . Plantings along the edges should be rich and dense, but in the center you need to leave plenty of free space, separated only by chunks of the root. In the home of these fish, the water is soft and slightly acidic. These fish are omnivorous, although they prefer live food. The larger the aquarium for the hara-like, the better they develop; In particular this concerns the amazing beauty of the fins of P. interruptus - the rainbow fenocogram, or the beautiful Congo.