Chapalichthys encaustis

(Jordan & Snyder, 1900 )

Family Goodeidae Jordan 1923

Chapalichthys encaustus s copy.JPG (24368 bytes)

Synonyms:-  Characodon encaustus  Jordan and Snyder1900
Habitat range:- Lake Chapala, Mexico.
Dorsal fin ray count:- from 15 to 18
Wild Size:- Males 6cm on adverage.  Females adverage 8cm

Description:- Although very slightly larger than the adverage Goodied this species is much the same general shape as most others. Excepts that it is generally slightly slimmer and it's body features can appear very slightly more angular instead of the nice rounded shape that most members of the family has.The body color is a silvery bronze turning to white on the belly. Along it's lateral line there is a row of iregular but largish black blotches, that can vary in intensity with each specimen. Also like a lot of the family, the dorsal fins of the males tend to be larger and more erect than those of the females. And on both sexes these are set rear of center. They tend to be for the most part colorless excepts for a flash of yellow at the end of the caudal fin. However when these fish are in the wild & just occationally in a good aquarium specimen you will find they show a bright yellow flash on the edge of almost all the fins.

Habitat

Habitat Lake Chapala small.JPG (17755 bytes)

 ( Left )

           This is a typical view from a cafe on the shores of Lake chapala.The lake like everywhere else has it's polution problems. A lot of them comeing down from the Rio Lermae and the water levels would generally seem to be dropping here too.. There are many such cafes around it's shores as this lake is probably now one of the bigest lakes in Mexico. and I can recomend the food in quite a number of them.. Here we found. Chapalichthys encaustus, Poeciliopsis infans, and a Gambusia species.

Although a fairly large species C, encaustus is none the less a comparitively peacfull one, yet it still fairs better when kept alone in as large an aquarium as possible. And dispite the polution in it's home waters it does not suffer poor water conditions in an aquarium very well and so should be given good filtration and frequent water changes. Like most Goodied from this area their breeding activity in Mexico would seem.to reduce between November and March when there water is at it's coolest between 19c and 21c approx and while in the aquarium there optimum temparature would seem to be around 23c. And feeding is no problem as they seem to accept Flake, Frozen, Fresh and Live foods without any problems.

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