Nannostomus unifasciatus
Nannostomus unifasciatus was originally thought to inhabit the estuary of the Rio Negro River in Brazil, but it was later discovered that these fish can be found throughout much of the Amazon River basin in Brazil, Bolivia and Colombia, as well as the upper Orinoco River in Colombia and Venezuela and the Demerara River in Guyana. The fish are easy to keep, but they are difficult to breed.
The Nannostomus unifasciatus inhabits slow rivers and their tributaries, as well as wetlands, densely overgrown with aquatic vegetation, the bottom of which is covered with a thick layer of fallen leaves of trees, snags and branches.
The life of the fish is in their constant migration - during the annual rainy season (May to October), the coastal forest and adjacent savannah are flooded and the fish spread across the floodplain. With the onset of drought, water levels drop significantly, forcing the fish back into the main channel.
Nannostomus unifasciatus has a beige-olive body and brownish back. The dorsum is brownish, while the body is beige-olive. In the central part of the body there is a longitudinal stripe of golden coloration starting from the snout and ending at the lower lobe of the tail plumage. Adult males are more colorful and usually slimmer than females. The males have an elongated anal fin is multicoloured, while the females have a shorter and darker fin. The maximum size of the fish is 3.5-4 cm.
Nannostomus unifasciatus fish are peaceful, preferring to stay in the upper layer of water under the bushes of floating plants. Keep one-striped nannostomusov to densely planted aquariums, including floating. The substrate is preferably dark. The bottom can be placed on the branches of trees, snags. In order to bring the aquarium environment even closer to natural conditions at the bottom can be placed a leaf litter of pre-dried oak or beech leaves. During decomposition, the leaf litter will develop bacterial colonies, which provide good supplementary food for the fry.
Keep Nannostomus unifasciatus in a group of at least 10 specimens, which makes them less jittery and, as a result, they display a more natural behavior. Share a tank with other commensurate or smaller peaceloving fish.
Water parameters: temperature 23-28° C, hardness dH 1-10°, pH 4.0-7.0. Filtration and aeration of the water is required, and care should be taken to ensure that the water flow is moderate. Also require a weekly change of 1/3 of the aquarium water with fresh water.
The diet of fish in nature consists of zooplankton and tiny invertebrates. Under aquarium conditions, the fish eat a variety of dry food, live and frozen chum, daphnia and artemia. Feed the fish 2 times a day.
Reproduction
Nannostomus unifasciatus in aquarium conditions can not breed. All information on allegedly successful attempts to breed them, apparently refer to a related species of fish.
