My biotope aquarium

Alestopetersius smykalai (Poll, 1967)

Common names: Blue diamond tetra

Settlement: Imo and Niger headwaters in Nigeria. It is the only species in the family that does not live in the Congo Basin.

Size: up to 6 cm

Water chemistry: Fresh water. Temperature 22 to 28 ° C, pH 6-7 (6.6), 4-19 kH (8)

Difficulty: Moderately demanding (5/10)

Aquarium: 120 liters is enough for fish. It is a shoal fish (10+) and loves medium to strong current with swimming space as it is extremely active. The decor is relatively insignificant and this species will work well in planted aquariums, but it would be ideal for the aquarium to be designed to resemble a flowing stream or river with a base composed of stones of different sizes, sand and fine gravel .

Roots and branches of hanging wood can also be used, but remember to leave plenty of open space for swimming.

This species is sensitive to fluctuating organic waste and should never be introduced into biologically immature aquariums, while weekly water changes of 20-30% of the aquarium volume are mandatory for its long-term well-being.

Feeding: The most varied diet, insects, flies, spiders, worms, mosquito larvae, briquettes, dry food ... addition of plant matter.

Breeding:

Adult males are more colorful and larger than females. Males also develop strongly elongated dorsal, ventral, anal, and caudal fins, whereas females do not.

The species was not bred in an aquarium and only a few details are available.

It lays eggs freely and has no parental care, one of the methods of breeding is probably to house a group of adults in a special aquarium equipped with some kind of artificial egg trap, and only check this regularly. The eggs are removed and usually hatched in smaller containers with an incubation of about 5 days, the first food infusoria, later they take nauplii artemia and the like.

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Description of fish

It has a fully flattened silver body with a black spot on the tail stalk, glows in shades of metallic blue and green - hence its name.

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Notes

Before buying fish, it is imperative to read what the fish requires for its normal and happy life. The irregularities we commit are usually the death of an individual (or other residents). It is important not to overload the aquarium - thus limiting pollution - maintenance will be simplified.

The species is assessed as vulnerable due to the projected decline, which has exceeded 30% in the last fifteen years. This is due to habitat degradation, water pollution and introduced species in the lower Niger River Basin.

Main threats: A. smykalai is threatened by habitat degradation. The Niger Delta has been heavily polluted and the crisis is still ongoing. The Nigra Delta has huge natural resources, especially crude oil, and in addition, Nigeria has the largest reserves of natural gas in Africa. This results in environmental problems due to oil and gas related development activities, oil spills, refineries, oil transportation, gas burning, deepening of canals and land for construction. The construction of dams along the Niger River over the past 25 years has significantly upset the hydrological balance of the lower Niger River (Bustamante 2003). Population pressure and degradation of agricultural land also exacerbate the loss of biodiversity in the region, as they encourage people to expand agricultural production and increase fishing pressure (Bustamante, 2003).

In addition to habitat degradation, it is possible that tetra is negatively affected by introduced species. In Nigeria, nine species have been introduced since the 1970s, mainly for aquaculture.

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