Rivulus chapare, Valdesalici & García-Gil 2017

History

Alternative name Rivulus (Oditichthys) chapare.

Rivulus chapare, from a small stream in the Isiboro River drainage, tributary of Mamoré River, Amazon basin, central BoliviR. It is a member of the R. limoncochae species group and differs from all the other species of this assemblage in its unique colour pattern and morphological differences. Within this assemblage R. chapare seems to be more related to R. christinae and R. luitalimae, both occurring at the Rio Madeira basin, sharing with these species the same caudal-fin shape and a similar color pattern on sides of body, but clearly differing from these species by details of coloration and the number of rays in anal, dorsal and pelvic fins, and also by distinct counts of scales on longitudinal and circumpeduncolar series. Rivulus chapare is the only formally described species of the genus occurring in Bolivia apart from R. beniensis and R. bolivianus both known from the Rio Madeira basin, but clearly differs from R. chapare, and above that belonging to the subgenus Benirivulus if valid.

 
Rivulus (Oditichthys) chapare - male. Image taken from the original description.
Rivulus (Oditichthys) chapare - female. Image taken from the original description.

Reproduction

Keeping and breeding is easy but a tight fitting cover on the aquarium is necessary because their ability to jump, even through the smallest opening, is unbelievable.

This species can, if there is enough space for them, be housed in a tank with more than one male and several females. If separated before and brought together again however, they can be very aggressive towards each other and fight to become the dominant fish. The best way to produce numbers of fry is to put a pair or a trio in a small tank of about 10 litres with a small filter in it or with some aeration. On the bottom of the tank place some peat moss or dark gravel and a floating "mop" to give space for laying their eggs. The fish will, if they are fed a rich variety of live food, spawn during their whole adult life and produce daily between 5 to 15 eggs.

The eggs should be collected by hand and stored for about 14 days in a small container. Eggs are 1.6 mm and amber coloured. It is wise to add an anti fungus to the water you store the eggs in, to prevent fungal attacks.

 

After hatching the young fry can eat fresh artemia nauplii without any problem. It takes 4 to 5 months to raise them to maturity. Often the males far out number females. For some species this can become a major problem for the breeder, as he has to raise many fry to enable distribution of a few pairs to other hobbyists. Recent personal tests found that lower pH levels during the time of hatching gave a higher percentage of females. To achieve this I used some peat moss that I added to the container with the eggs just before they were ready to hatch. This peat moss also is a good way to prevent eggs from being attacked by fungus.

Their lifespan can be up to 3 years in captivity.

 

Remarks :

This species is recently discovered. No detailed breeding reports are written but it is assumed that this species has same breeding details as most other species in this group, given above.


Variations
Rivulus (Oditichthys) chapare - biotope. Image taken from the original description.
 
  The type of habitat is alike this as for so many Rivulus species and consists of shallow waters, often tea colored, with many leaves for shelter and a hard to detact current. They can hide and you never see one if you arrive at the spot. For collecting you just drag the net into the direction of plants and scoop up all what you encounter with it. What you catch is jumping most of the time around and if your net has an undeep shape they are out before you have the time to grab them by hand.

Map
Rivulus (Oditichthys) chapare - map. Image taken from the original descryption.
 
  Distribution map of Rivulus (Oditichthys) limoncochae species group members: R. chapare (1), R. christinae (2), R. elongatus (3) R. erberi (4), R. intermittens (5), R. iridescens (6), R. limoncochae (7), R. lineasoppilatae (8), R. parlettei (9), R. rubrolineatus (10), R. taeniatus (11), R. urubuiensis (12), R. hoetmeri (13), and R. luitalimae (14). 

Meristics

Max. size 36.9 mm.
Dorsal 8-9,
Anal 14-15,
LL scale count (average) 43-44
Pre- dorsal length to % SL 73.0-76.9 %
Depth to % SL – 16.2 %

   

Literature

Valdesalici S., and J. R. García Gil. 2017. Anablepsoides chapare, a new killifish (Teleostei: Cyprinodontiformes: Cynolebiidae) from central Bolivia. In aqua, International Journal of Ichthyology, 23 (1): 11-18.