Popular name Spraying Characin. Origin Venezuela, Brazil, Guiana. Size 3 inches. Appearance An elegantly shaped slender fish with elongated fins.Feeding Accepts all foods. Water conditions Moderately soft neutral water. Sexing The male has longer fins and there is a white spot at the root of its dorsal fin. Breeding This fish is kept mainly because of its unusual breeding habit. It spawns outside water, e.g., on the surface of an overhanging leaf or on the undersurface of the aquarium cover glass. The conditoned pair are introduced in a 10- to 15-gallon, sparsely planted tank with the water level lying about 1″ to 1-1-1/2 inches below the cover glass. The pair swim side by side and together jump out of the water to the undersurface of the cover glass, where they adhere for a moment, deposit 10 to 15 eggs, and fall back into the tank. This act is repeated until some 100 eggs are laid. When spawning is completed the female should be removed. The male looks after the eggs and prevents them from drying by splashing them with water. This process sometimes dislodges the eggs or newly hatched fry which, when they fall into the water, are devoured by the male. If this is seen to happen, the male should be removed and an aerator stone fixed in the tank so that the spray from the bursting bubbles keeps the eggs damp. By about the fourth day the fry drop into the water and swim about freely. Just before this happens it is best to remove the male and rear the fry in the usual way. Recommended feeding system Aquaze tropical .

Origin Upper Rio Negro. Size 1-1 -3/4 inches.Appearance This fish resembles the Neon Tetra (Hyphessobrycon innesi). It differs from it by being somewhat larger and more colorful, for whereas the red band in the Neon extends from the tail to the middle of the body, in the Cardinal it carries on to the gill covers. Behavior, Feeding, Water conditions, Sexing, Breeding Same as for Neon Tetra. Recommended feeding system Aquaze tropical .

Popular name Swordtail Characin. Origin Trinidad, Colombia, Venezuela. Size 2-2 1/2 inches. Appearance A cream-colored fish with rather long translucent fins. Behaviour, Feeding An undemanding peaceful species of interesting breeding behavior. Will take dried foods but needs a reasonable amount of live or fresh foods. Sexing The male has a peculiar, long, oarlike or spoonlike extrusion from the gill cover which extends halfway down the body. Its fins are longer and the lower lobe of the caudal is elongated. Hence the popular name Swordtail Characin. Breeding This is fairly easy but what happens during the mating act is as yet uncertain. The male approaches the female and extends his gill appendages so that they stand off at right angles to the body. The female sometimes turns around to snap at one of them. It is believed that at this stage the male somehow transfers a package of sperms (spermatophores) into the oviduct of the female. Once the female is fertilized in this fashion she will go on delivering fertile eggs for many months or even the rest of her life without further assistance from the male. This is a fairly easy fish to breed and is not . critical of water requirements. About 100 eggs are laid and the female looks after them and transfers them from leaf to leaf. The male should be removed after spawning; the female when the fry becomes free swimming.Recommended feeding system Aquaze tropical .