Orestias agassizii tschudii, Castelnau 1855
History

The type locality of this species is Lake Titicaca at aprox. 69° 33' W; 15° 42' S.

The name was given after Johann-Jacob von Tschudi, (July 25, 1818 - October 8, 1889) a Swiss naturalist and explorer that was between 1838 and 1842 an investigator of the Peruvian fish- and plant fauna.

Johann-Jacob von Tschudi, (July 25, 1818 - October 8, 1889)

Source photo: Wikipedia.

  
Orestias agassizii tschudii - male. Huatajata, Lesser Lake Titicaca, Bolivia. © Drawing is made and donated by Ruud H. Wildekamp, The Netherlands from his AKA publication "A World of Killies, Vol. 4." The material is being reprinted with permission of both, Ruud Wildekamp and the American Killifish Association. This diagram may not be copied or used on any other web site.

Orestias agassizii tschudii is widely distributed in Lake Titicaca, including Puno Bay and the deeper parts of the mouths of tributing rivers. It is a large species with an upturned lower jaw and smooth on the head and upper part of the body.

When adult both sexes have the same colorpattern, a pale but bright green during mating. The unpaired fins are brown to dark gray with lines along the rays.

Source:

R. Wildekamp, "A world of Killies" , Volume 4, page 257.
return to Top 
Reproduction

Members of this genus have been generally maintained and bred only under controlled laboratory conditions rather than as aquarium fishes. Therefore, information about maintainance and breeding is present here as part of the general information about the genus rather than under each individual species. This information is based mainly on that obtained in the laboratory of the zoological Institute and zoological Museum, Hamburg (Villwock, 1995b)

Keeping and breeding Orestias species in captivity requires that the water is relative cool with temperatures between 10 and 15 C. Optimal water temperatures would be about 13 C.

Today it is believed that the species from the genus Orestias reach sexual maturity when they still display juvenile coloration and morphology. At that stage it is very difficult to recognise the sexes.

 

  

Eggs are deposited one by one or in a small cluster in fine substrate like live plants with fine leaves. Development of the eggs takes about 4 weeks due to the low temperatures the eggs should be stored. Youngs grow slow and can be fed by artemia nauplii and small worms and crustaceans

Remarks :

Because this special treatment the genus Orestias is seldom found in the tanks of hobbyists.

Source:

R. Wildekamp, "A world of Killies" , Volume 4.

 

 
return to Top 
Variations
     
return to Top 
Map
     
return to Top 
Meristics

Max. size 13-20 cm.
Dorsal 13-17,
Anal 14-19,
LL scale count, 32-25

   
return to Top 
Literature
Castelnau, F. (de). 1855. Animeaux nouveaux ou rares receuillis pendant l'expedition dans les parties centrales de l'American du Sud, de Rio de JKaneiro à Lima et de Lima au Para: Poissons osseux. P. Bertrand, Paris: 51-52, plate 27, figure 1.  

Morales, P., Gajardo, F., Valdivieso, C. et al. Genomes of the Orestias pupfish from the Andean Altiplano shed light on their evolutionary history and phylogenetic relationships within Cyprinodontiformes. BMC Genomics 25, 614 (2024).

https://rdcu.be/dOnkA
return to Top