Astronotus crassipinnis Bumble Bee
The Astronotus crassipinnis Bumble Bee is naturally found in water bodies in South America. This fish is quite new in the aquarium hobby. The distribution area of these fish is the Amazon river basin. The fish probably prefer to stay in quiet pools with sandy bottoms and rocky banks. According to our information, they are imported from Brazil by German fish breeding companies. Taking into account that this is a new fish species and it is extremely rare to find them on the market, it can be assumed that they are very expensive.
The Astronotus crassipinnis Bumble Bee has a beautiful "camouflage" body colouration. At the root of the tail plumage there is an eye spot, a small black spot in an orange border. There is currently no information on what the adult fish look like. The colouration given corresponds to the juveniles. Apparently, as the fish mature the colouration becomes less contrasting and then becomes uniform in tone. It should be assumed that, similarly to other species of astronotus in nature, this species reaches a size of 20-25 cm.
Astronotus crassipinnis Bumble Bee is a very beautiful fish when young. It leads a gregarious life, congregating with peers in large flocks and swimming so close together that from a distance it looks like one big fish, which is likely to mislead potential predators.
It is advisable to keep the fish in a group of at least 8. The tank must be large, with a minimum volume of 250 liters. Use coarse-grained river sand or fine gravel in a layer of at least 5 cm as substrate. Rock caves and large snags should be placed at the bottom. On the surface of the water preferably place bushes of floating plants.
Water parameters: temperature 24-27° C, hardness 1-20°, pH 6,0-7,5. Requires enhanced filtration, aeration and weekly replacement of 1/3 of the aquarium water with fresh. These fish are very high in food, so the water quality must be monitored very strictly.
The menus of fish in nature consist of small fish, snails, insect larvae, shrimps and plant food. Under aquarium conditions, you should aim for the same range of food. Feed the fish 1-2 times a day, avoiding overfeeding.
Reproduction
At this time, there is no information about successful breeding Astronotus shrihoplavnichnyh Bumble Bee in captivity.
Life expectancy of Astronotus crassipinnis Bumble Bee is not known.
