''Thayeria boehlkei'' is a species of characin

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endemic to the Amazon river basin and Araguaia river, in

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and

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respectively. The species is popular with aquarium hobbyists where it is traded under a variety of common names including blackline penguinfish, blackline thayeria, hockey-stick tetra, penguin fish and penguin tetra.Axelrod HR, Vorderwinkler W (1995) ''Encyclopedia of tropical fishes''. 30th edition. Tropical Fish Hobbyist Publications, USA. The fish is named in honor of James E. Böhlke (1930-1982) of the

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, because of his interest in and contributions to the knowledge of South American characids.

Location and habitat

Thayeria ''Thayeria'' is a genus of tetras from the Amazon Basin, and the Approuague and Maroni Rivers in tropical South America. It includes three species, including the blackline penguinfish, ''T. boehlkei''. Members of this genus, among other chara ...

'' inhabits small streams and the margins of smaller rivers in the lowland Amazon basin, where it is part of the highly diverse Neotropical fish fauna.

Misidentification

The species was previously misidentified as ''Thayeria sanctaemariae''McInerny D, Gerard G (1958) All about tropical fish. 2nd Edn. George Harrap & Co. London. p. 276-277. and '' Thayeria obliqua''. ''T. obliqua'' is a superficially similar, but different species of ''

'', while ''T. sanctaemariae'', is a synonym of ''T. obliqua''.

Diet

The species feeds on worms, small insects, flake food and crustaceans.

Reproduction

In captivity, this normally

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species forms pairs that scatter their many adhesive eggs amongst plants. Clutch size is very large and may be up to 1000 eggs, the embryos of which are black in colour The eggs hatch in about 20 hours and are free-swimming after 4 days.

In the aquarium

The species is best kept in groups, to allow the species to school, in tropical freshwater community aquaria with other peaceful, non-predatory fishes. This fish tolerates a fairly broad range of water pHs, but prefers acidic water for breeding.

References

External links

Penguin Tetra Fact Sheet
Tetras Pristellini Fish of South America Taxa named by Stanley Howard Weitzman Fish described in 1957 {{Characidae-stub