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Long-finnedcultivated formof thexanthicLutinocultivated formof theNeonTetra, ”MonCherie
Long-finnedcultivated formof theDiamondheadNeonTetra
aringNeons inorder to keep this disease
at bay. And thus aquarists evolvedmain-
tenanceprotocols for the rearingof Neon
Tetras (regular siphoning of the bottom,
frequent partial water changes), using
which theywereable tokeepNeondisease
undercontrol.You thinksuchmaintenance
measuresareobvious?But thatwasn't the
case back then! In those days therewere
stillnumerousdevoteesof "oldwater",who
regarded every last dropofmature aqua-
riumwaterasprecious.Wehaveobservati-
onsandexperiencewith theNeonTetra to
thank for the fact thatweareable routinely
to keep andbreed somany delicate spe-
ample the "Diamondhead",whichexhibits
abrilliantheadandanextensionof the red
coloration of the belly onto the back. Or
the gold-transparent lutinos that have an
almost ghostly appearance. These culti-
vated forms have already beenbred into
the long-finned forms thatprobablyorigi-
natedback in the1980sbutunfortunately
(aswithsomanycultivated forms)without
thisbeingdocumented in the literature.Be
thatas itmay,theaccumulatedoccurrence
of suchunusual deviations from thenorm
isoftenan indication thatdifferentspecies,
subspecies,orpopulationshavebeencros-
sed.
Lexicon
NeonTetra
Hyphessobryconmeans "small Bry-
con";Brycon isanothergenusof cha-
racin.
innesi:named inhonorofWilliamT.
Innes
Paracheirodonmeans "close toChei-
rodon ", indicatingaclose relations-
hip.Cheirodon isanothergenusof
characin.
cies in theaquariumnowadays.
Unexplained family relationships
Nowadays wild-caught Neon Tetras are
hardlyever seenon themarket and99.9%
of the fishes traded are captive-bred.Me-
anwhilenew localities for thesedainty little
fishes have been discovered. Apart from
the traditional locations on the Ucayali,
therearealsocollectingsitesknownon the
Rio Purus and the Rio Putumayo.To date
there has beenno research intowhether
thesewidely-separatedpopulations (up to
1500 km apart) differ genetically, but it
seems likely,as recent yearshave seen the
appearance of a whole series of striking
cultivated forms of theNeonTetra, for ex-
A“golden”parasite
The Golden Neon isn't a cultivated form
and isavailableonlywild-caught.Thegold-
dusteffect isadisease,causedbyaskin re-
action to infectionwith the larval stagesof
parasitic,multi-hostmetacercarians.Nume-
rouscharacinsareaffectedby it.The infec-
tion itself isharmless,but thegold-colored
fishes are probably more susceptible to
predation by piscivorous birds, the final
hostsof theparasite.TheoffspringofGold
Neons are always normal in color, as they
can't be infectedwith themetacercarian.
Infection requires consumption of the
