This classic species has also a long history. Many articles are written and a lot of confusion is created by the many opinions about the Genus by scientists all over the world. Fact is that the species has a wide range of distribution and a scala of colorvariations. Probably the colorvariations are due to the isolated "spotlike" spreading of this fish. It was first reported from a collecting- locality in Santarem, Amazon River, Para - state in Brasil. The first discovery was accomplished by D. Bourget, member of the Nathaniel Thayer expedition in August 1865.

The range the species can be found is large from the lower Amazon basis to the Pantanal in the north.

The name longipinnis refers to the long unpaired fins that males have. (Latin for long = "longus" and Latin for fins = "pinna".)

Breeding Pterolebias is for specialist in SAA's (South Amercan Annuals) relatively easy. For new hobbyist it is good to know some rules for the proper breeding set-up and the way of storing the eggs.

The species of the genus are rather large and productive and if live food is always given in rich varity and quantity the number of eggs is huge during their schort lifetime. Under Aquarium conditions the fishes can live over one year. You can keep several individues in one tank as they are not very agressive to each other. Both, male and female, dive into the soft soil to burry their eggs. To give good accomodatation for them they need also a high container. The best you can do is fill a high container with lid on top and drill a hole of about 5 cm diameter in the side, a little bit above the 15 cm line. Fill it with about 10 cm high layer of peatmoss that was boiled well before and put it in a tank of approximately 25 liters (6 gallon). Use one male and 1 to 4 females.

Once in the 2 weeks you can change the peat in the container and store the outcoming peat after squeezing it and drying until it has the humidity of fresh tobacco.

The hobbyist need to have some patience as it can take up to 3 to 6 months before the eggs are ready to hatch. It often depends on a combination of humidity, temperature and type of peatmoss. The higher the temperature and the more moist the peat, the shorter the incubation time. On the other hand is the loss of all the eggs possible if the peat is to wet. So, keep the average way of storage and keep the peat at 24 - 28 degrees Celcius. It is wise to rinse the peat intensively before drying and storing as it can happen that detritus of the fishes or remains of food can fungus the eggs during the long period of incubation.

If you breed them the way described above all Pterolebias are stunning beginnerfish that will give you lot of fun.

Remarks:

Pterolebias phasianus however is a bit more problematic in reproduction as eggs often disappear without any good explanation.

Max. size 12.0 cm.
Dorsal 9.2,
Anal 18.8,
D/A 11.0,
LL scale count (average) 29.8
Pre- dorsal length to % SL – 79.3 %
Depth to % SL – 25.6 %

Garman, S.W. 1895. The Cyprinodonts. Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard, 19 (1): 142, pl. 3 (fig. 14).

Costa, W.J.E.M. (2005):
The Neotropical annual killifish genus Pterolebias Garman (Teleostei: Cyprinodontiformes: Rivulidae): phylogenetic relationships, descriptive morphology, and taxonomic revision.
Zootaxa 1067: 1-36