As the weather cools and focus shifts indoors, the ‘trop season’ is upon us. Since the last one there’s been some changes to the names of things with Corydoras catfish and now it seems tetras being reclassified. Predictably, it takes suppliers a while to catch up with these name changes and many people will be pleased to hear that common names are pretty much unaffected.

Traditionally there’s a number of species that are bred and sold to us with the wrong names and have been for years, many of these are very familiar and seem to be here to stay. Let’s look at a few examples that generally perform under their stage names.

Pentazona barbs

If you like the vertical stripes of Tiger barbs (Puntigrus) but without the attitude, you may have considered a relative which is a model citizen. Pentazona, or Five-banded barbs are great community fish and are quite shy, thriving in peaceful communities in well-furnished aquaria. The males can be a little competitive at times but you could safely add these fish to any tank where you might add Cardinal tetras. The only thing is, somewhere along the line two very similar species got mixed up and the fish that we buy as pentazona is actually hexazona, the Six-banded barb.

The Six-banded barb (Desmopuntius hexazona) is the fish most commonly seen behind the Pentazona label. https://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/fish/freshwater/cyprinids/six-banded-barb

The real pentazona is usually less colourful and rarely seen, as it’s not bred commercially. It’s a rare gem that wants to be kept in a softwater set up and cherished.

The real Five-banded barb (Desmopuntius pentazona) is a rare sight in captivity.

https://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/fish/freshwater/cyprinids/five-banded-barb-

Corydoras julii

Now complicated by a scientific name change, decades of confusion means that one of the most popular (and beautiful) catfish in the hobby seldom arrives properly identified. It doesn’t matter what you call them, corys are model community residents which only ask to be kept in groups on a sandy substrate with foods that sink to their level. Influential books written decades ago show illustrations or photos of the Three-lined cory (Hoplisoma trilineatum) captioned as julii and even today a Google search will return a lot of misidentified images. Although despised by hardcore cory fans, the previous common name of False julii at least hinted at the identity of this fish in a world where they always came in with the wrong name. Like the pentazona barb, the real julii isn’t bred commercially and is only ever seen as a rare Brazilian import.

The Three-lined cory (Hoplisoma trilineatum) is one of the most popular cases of mistaken identity in the hobby, bred in their thousands across the world.

https://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/fish/freshwater/catfish/false-julii-cory-

At the moment it’s safe to assume that any fish that you see behind a julii label is a three-lined cory, especially if it’s a young fish. Captive bred trilineatum are a common staple and with good reason, they’re beautiful fish and easy to keep. Telling the two fish apart can be challenging – some forms of trilineatum are more spotty than others and julii aren’t always finely spotted. The length of the horizontal mid-body stripe is a more reliable difference and whether spots or squiggles, this feature is more reliable.

The real Julii cory (Hoplisoma julii) is usually a spotted fish with a shorter body stripe and appears only rarely from its Brazilian homeland.

https://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/fish/freshwater/catfish/corydoras-and-relatives/julii-cory

 

Haplochromis ahli

This one’s almost become a common name, as despite the identity of this stunning Malawi cichlid being resolved in the 90s, the old name remains persistent. Of course, everyone still knows what fish you’re talking about but the real name of this species is Sciaenochromis fryeri. As with all of our focused fishes, this one is a case of mistaken identity – there is a Sciaenochromis ahli swimming around in Lake Malawi but it’s not the fish that we know from our aquaria. A Google search will inevitably yield references to the wrong fish with a few images of the right one amongst them. The good news is that fryeri is a more attractive fish, even before being bred into forms such as Iceberg or hybridised to produce an OB/calico form.

Whatever you call it, a mature male Sciaenochromis fryeri is a very attractive fish. https://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/fish/freshwater/cichlids/electric-blue-hap

That’s just a few examples in a rich seam of species that arrive with us on a regular basis. There are plenty more and that’s just part of the challenge of working in an environment with specialist groups of fish that are often supplied by people who don’t always have the resources to identify them properly. Perhaps next time we’ll look at a few more and hopefully spare a thought for the poor staff member who’s on the shop floor at the cutting edge, where approximate labelling from shippers meets changing taxonomy and constantly updated identification.