Fish Groups

Tetra-Symposium 2024

Dear tetra friends,

the first step has been done: As previously announced, these are the key dates for this year’s Tetra symposium.

The date is the weekend from 30th of August – 1st of September 2024 (with arrival on Friday), the venue is:

Hotel & Restaurant Fricke
Niedersachsenstr. 8
D-31275 Lehrte/OT Hämelerwald
+49 (0) 5175 7796
info@hotelfricke.de
www.hotelfricke.de

A double room including breakfast costs 104 €, a single room between 72 and 82 €, depending on the room type and of course also including breakfast. For single rooms, those who book early get the cheaper option. Please book the rooms as early as possible under the keyword: “BSSW” or “Tetra Symposium”!

As always, we are currently working on a varied programme for tetras, which will be announced soon. We are also happy to accept offers or requests for lectures. Because this is the only way to organise an important part of the event in addition to all the discussions we will share.

Best regards from the organising team
Armin SENGER – Eckhard FISCHER – Achim WERCKENTHIN

The Zebra Otocinclus, a species with two faces

The Zebra Otocinclus is probably the most spectacular and most attractive Otocinclus species for the aquarium hobby. It has been known for some time that there are two forms of the species described in 2004 as O. cocama: one from the lower Río Ucayali and another one from the Río Tigre. Both rivers are tributaries to the Río Marañón, which ultimately flows into the Amazon. While the Ucayali form, on which the description is based, has been exported for the aquarium trade since around the turn of the millennium, it is mainly the Tigre form that has been on the market in recent years, at least in Germany. Both populations can be clearly distinguished by their stripe pattern. The question of whether the populations can also be distinguished morphologically and genetically, and thus also whether they are merely variants of one species or two distinct species, was investigated by Eduardo MEJIA and Roberto E. REIS and recently published. Continue reading