Spotted Headstander

Geographic Origin and Biotope: Orinoco and Amazon basins. Lives in flooded forests and slow-flowing rivers, grouping among tangles of roots and thick blankets of dry leaves on the bottom.

Taxonomy and Morphology: Spotted Headstander (Chilodus punctatus). Medium-sized characin (8 cm / 3.1 inches). Belonging to the Chilodontidae family. The morphology is unmistakable, but the posture is even more so: it swims and constantly hovers at a 45-90 degree angle head down.

Social Behavior: Shy, reflective and strictly gregarious (6-8 specimens minimum). Spends hours upside down maniacally inspecting the undersides of wood, leaves and substrate in search of micro-food.

Coloration and Sexual Dimorphism: Iridescent pearl-gray background with a large central black stripe and each scale marked with a brown dot ("punctatus"). The fins are transparent with dark maculations on the dorsal. Females are plumper before spawning.

Aquarium Setup: 80 cm (32 inches) aquarium, set up in Blackwater style. Very low lights (or obscured by floating plants) and a fine sand bottom strewn with Indian almond leaves (Catappa) are mandatory. Create large shaded areas.

Diet and Feeding: Omnivorous with strong vegetarian and benthic tendencies. Essential to provide spirulina tablets (often eats upside down nibbling the tablet), boiled zucchini, vegetables and frozen bloodworms.

Water Quality: Requires classic South American waters: acidic (pH 5.5-7.0), soft (GH 1-12) and loaded with humic acids. Intolerant to pollution and bacterial blooms caused by excess decaying nutrients.

Compatibility and Tankmates: Terrible companion for fast, turbulent (barbs, giant danios) or aggressive (cichlids) fish. It would suffer tremendous stress. Ideal together with Discus, Apistogramma, Corydoras and small Tetras (Neons, Cardinals).

Aquarium Reproduction: Difficult. They scatter the eggs amidst bushes of fine-leaved plants. The parents disdain the eggs but the larvae, very slow in development and vulnerable, rarely survive in community tanks.

Risks and Diseases: Suffers from starvation. The aquarist must ensure that the tablets and food are not stolen by other tankmates, as this fish eats very slowly and is reluctant to fight for a meal.