The Chilodontidae, or headstanders, are a small family of freshwater

characiform Characiformes is an order of ray-finned fish, comprising the characins and their allies. Grouped in 18 recognized families, more than 2000 different species are described, including the well-known piranha and tetras.; Buckup P.A.: "Relationshi ...

fishes found in northern and central

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. This family is closely related to the family

Anostomidae The Anostomidae are a family of ray-finned fishes that belong to the order Characiformes. Closely related to the Chilodontidae and formerly included with them, the Anostomidae contain about 150 described species. Commonly known as anostomids, t ...

and is sometimes treated as a subfamily, Chilodontinae, within Anostomidae. Due to issues of homonymy with two other family-rank names called "Chilodontidae", it has been proposed that the fish family retain the spelling, and the other families will be either suppressed or renamed.ICZN Case 3555
/ref> Chilodontids have colourful markings, making them popular in

aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

s. They are small fish, all less than in adult length, and are distinguished by their habitual head-down postures.

Genera

This family currently contains two genera: * Genus ''

Caenotropus ''Caenotropus'' is a genus of chilodontid headstanders from South America, found in the Orinoco, Parnaíba, and Amazon Basins, as well as various rivers in the Guianas. The currently described species in this genus are: * '' Caenotropus labyrint ...

'' (4 species) * Genus ''

Chilodus ''Chilodus'' is a genus of chilodontid headstanders from South America, found in the Orinoco and Amazon Basins, as well as various rivers in the Guianas. The currently described species in this genus are: * '' Chilodus fritillus'' Vari Vari ...

'' (4 species)

References

Fish of South America Ray-finned fish families Taxa named by Carl H. Eigenmann {{Characiformes-stub