ElVenado Area, Amazonas, Venezuela E
Above Left: Dicrossus filamentosus are not as
common in the wild as people may think. It’s also very
rare to see them in large or adult sizes.
Above Right: Cichla orinocensis is one of the most
common species of Cichla in Venezuela. The color of
their spots varies depending on their location. When
they have yellow spots, they come from north of the
Orinoco River; when they have blue spots, they come
from south of the Orinoco River.
Middle: A chocolate cichlid Hypselecara coryphaenoides
poses motionless in a vertical position for the picture, while a
school of Paracheirodon axelrodi swims in front of the camera.
Chocolate cichlids get into this motionless vertical position
when they feel threatened; this only camouflages them well
when they are in between aquatic plants, but I don’t think
anyone taught him that! In the wild, cardinal tetras seem to
be bottom-dwellers, compared to Hemigrammus stictus (top),
which are always schooling near the surface.
Below: In nature it is very rare to see a half-black genetic
strain. The half-black cichlid in this picture—which seems like
an Acaronia nassa to me—shares the picture with a chocolate
cichlid Hypselecara coryphaenoides (middle), pike cichlid
Crenicichla sp. (right), and either a Cichlasoma sp. or Laetacara
sp. (bottom left).
