Today's Tongue Twister - Cyclocheilichthys janthochir

Freshwater Fish geeks of the world, send us a video of yourself trying to say Cyclocheilichthys janthochir. If we get enough good ones, we'll package them up and make some social content. You can find us on insta @theaquatropic, you can email us at sales@qualitymarine.com and you can hit us up on FB @aquatropic. Remember, there is (almost certainly) no one alive who speaks ancient Latin as a native language, so do your best / worst and don't worry about mispronunciations. We've all done worse at some point.

The curious among you who aren't familiar with that specific binomial nomenclature are wondering, what animal is attached to the name “Cyclocheilichthys janthochir”? You are our kind of people. This is a fish better known as the Borneo Red Fin Shark, and also occasionally gets called the Borneo Red Fin Barb, Redfin Silver Shark, and once and a while we see Redfin Bala Shark. Obviously, as a diminutive freshwater critter, it isn't an elasmobranch, but like most other freshwater “sharks” gets that name from a passing resemblance to their distant cartilaginous cousins. The “Red Fin” part of the name is easy enough to understand. The second (species) part of their scientific name is a nod to this as well, blending two languages into something vaguely meaning “violet hands.”

These are amazing fish, vibrant and active. They originally hail from the slow-moving rivers of Borneo, where their environment is soft, acidic and stained the color of a dark tea with all the peat, leaves and driftwood that cover the bottom there. These conditions are most often dimly lit. Keeping Borneo Red Fin Sharks in a display that mimics this will have them showing their best colors and activity but is not a requirement for some of the specimens we sell which are aquacultured, and very used to a more standardized environment. Wild caught fish should be kept in water more strictly adhering to the wild parameters; really soft water with a pH between 5 and 6 and between 71- and 81-degrees Fahrenheit. They also like very clean water, which seem at odds with the stain, but it isn't. The water can be quite darkly stained and still have a very low level of nitrates. You should strive to keep the nitrates under 10ppm. These fish would be fine in planted displays as long as you chose plants that like the same parameters, like Crypto for example.

These displays will have to be reasonably large, as the Borneo Red Fin Shark can get up to almost eight inches long and the BRFS is a social critter and likes to be kept in groups of at least six, and as with most social fish, more is better when it comes to housing them. We suggest having a tank no less than 110 - 125 gallons for a small group at maturity. They can be kept with a wide variety of other fish, as they are very peaceful. If you're keeping them in a wild type of display, the limits for what tankmates you keep would be more based on what other fish would thrive in these conditions. In other less extreme displays, just avoid overly aggressive tankmates. Very small and timid fish may get scared into hiding during mealtimes so take some caution when choosing these fish to add to your display.

In the wild, these fish eat a variety of small invertebrates, mostly worms and aquatic insect larvae. This means that they do very well on things like Gamma Bloodworm, Mysis, chopped prawn etc. Even the wild caught fish are usually very receptive to taking processed foods as well. The Borneo Redfin Sharks that we offer to our retail clients that are aquacultured are already acclimated to prepared foods. In house they get fed the very high quality, Nutramar Complete Pellets. These are protein dense and offer a full spectrum of nutrients and minerals, making them a perfect all-round diet for the Redfins. We feed them this twice a day. They will gladly and hungrily accept a thawed mix of meaty foods as well.

While we consistently offer our partners a high quality, aquacultured Cyclocheilichthys janthochir, breeding them and raising fry is reportedly difficult and unlikely to be successful in the home aquarium for all but the most advanced hobbyists. Females and males look very similar with the possible exception that the males are usually more starkly colored and mature females may appear more robust and thicker, though we've also seen reports that seem to show both of these assumptions to be of little or no use when trying to differentiate the sex of the fish. Juveniles will be paler than adults but will soon take on the high contrast dark stripe and brightly colored fins as they acclimate and grow. This species will show its best colors when kept in groups and fed a high-quality diet.

Borneo Red Fin Sharks are perfect for a variety of displays, especially if you have these aquacultured specimens from Aquatropic. While the wild caught fish are an excellent addition to stained /blackwater setups too. As long as you have a big enough tank and good water quality, these fish can be a stunning, schooling group in your aquarium for years to come.