Meet The Xingu Rapids Cichlid - Retroculus xinguensis!

[@twasbrillig33]

their mouths remind me of the xingu pike's mouth. Sad but at 0:17 you can see something burning, presumably rainforest in the far distance.

[@bolborhynchus]

Absolutely phenomenal footage! You must have been happy to find this so close to your campsite. Thank you for sharing

[@belowwater]

yes, the campsites are pretty much all on islands, so as long as the nearby channel is shallow enough it is perfect for filming, but with the dam this place no longer exists.

[@Useruytrw]

These cichlids love you more than you can love them back❤ Sadly they cant speak English to express their gratitude 💐🙏🏻

[@ThawZin-t1v]

World most valuable and precious river 😊😊❤❤❤🎉🎉

[@belowwater]

yes, certainly one of the most beautiful

[@Glutenfreemichele]

Beautiful footage of this specialized habitat. Not an easy species to keep in an aquarium....

[@belowwater]

yes, it needs very high water quality and large tanks

[@michaela-be4le]

Once again a species and region new to me...always a pleasurable learning experience with you Oliver 👍🏻

[@belowwater]

We have a whole "Xingu" playlist!

[@kylekarsten721]

My favorite eartheaters! Retroculus! Never seen any footage of them in the wild. Thanks for the great video!

[@twasbrillig33]

YOU'RE A RETROCLUS!

[@belowwater]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@MujtabaSharif]

Out of words for this beautiful video. Full of knowledge and the last 5 mins of total bliss watching this beautiful pair watching their little ones and building the nest ❤. Nature is amazing and we as humans should strive to take care of it not destroy for little gains.

[@belowwater]

makes you look at every pebble for it's potential!

[@knowsbeans]

A dream aquarium fish for me ever since I saw a lone retroculus lapidifer in a tank. I always assumed they were closely related to geophagus! Great info and great video

[@rara5212]

4:27 what a great view! That could be a inspiration for a new biotope layout...😉

[@belowwater]

hardest to find are those bright yellow round pebbles of silica!

[@rara5212]

Yellow sandstone, or some examples of these Yangtse stones might have a very similar appearance. Furthermore, the Bumblebee stone from Wio could work?

[@rara5212]

Yellow sandstone, or some examples of these Yangtse stones might have a very similar appearance. Furthermore, the Bumblebee stone from Wio could work? postscript: Found them - search for 'Mori Silica stones'😀

[@roncoleman8204]

ABSOLUTELY fabulous! Thank you for posting this.

[@belowwater]

Thank you!

[@ralfpilz5960]

Really enjoyed the video. Thanks Oliver.

[@malawideep7980]

Excellent content as always your work is greatly appreciated

[@belowwater]

Much appreciated

[@piotr9590]

Very nice !!!👌😎👍

[@belowwater]

Thanks ✌

[@felixsimonovich6722]

Amazing video, can’t wait for the next one

[@belowwater]

Coming soon!

[@vitaliyvyntu4566]

Very interesting

[@vitaliyvyntu4566]

Good job!

[@robertforrest7956]

Very unique!!! 🐟

[@belowwater]

Thank you!

[@bigfishlad4847]

Brilliant as always Oliver

[@belowwater]

Thank you!

[@klausoxen6597]

For the Algo ✌

[@klausoxen6597]

Beautiful Vid, thanks Oliver.👍

[@belowwater]

Many thanks!

[@majorbruster5916]

Gorgeous fish. Hope the species survived the impoundment. Definitely needs to be consevered for future generations.

[@belowwater]

it should, because it is found well above the impacted area - which sadly includes the most spectacular sector of the river.

[@paulstingray]

Love your vids!

[@belowwater]

always nice to hear that

[@aquaenthusiast9185]

Wonderful footage! Do you know, why they bring the pebbles? Is it for new biofilms the little ones😊 feed on?

[@belowwater]

I think it is more to build a matrix of gaps that the babies can hide in when there is a potential threat. The babies dive down and hide in the gaps between the pebbles. The babies feed more on small particles brought by the current.

[@roten2902]

fantastic... 😉👍👍👍

[@maryvalent961]

Great video!

[@Spacenow869]

What a awesome fish. had them couple of times but never long enough to do anything with them. Life got in the way. Not too many succeeded breeding them. I do not even see them as an import.

[@belowwater]

Not popular enough, sadly. It is a beautiful fish in full colour!

[@jpemydura4860]

Are any of those Leporinus species in the hobby ? They're awesome looking !

[@belowwater]

yes, i have all of those here and some others that are more specialized (check the _Gnathodolus_ video)

[@livecamtravel8386]

How you find always the places where the fishs are ?

[@belowwater]

Retroculus are/were in every rapid of the Rio Xingu, in the Volta Grande and south to where the rapids end, so they are not that difficult to find in nature. With the impact of the dam, Retroculus may disappear in some of the rapids as the habitat is no longer suitable to them.

[@southsidesky]

What is the dark characin from 4:15 to 4:40 and the dark cichlid from 5:40 to 6:15?????????????

[@belowwater]

an adult _Leporinus tigrinus_ I would say. _L.villasboasorum_ is also very similar... the others: the first darker fish on the right is _Crenicichla_ sp. Xingu II, the big dark fish on the left is _Crenicichla dandara_ , but the smaller one in the center is a female _Teleocichla preta_ . All three of the cichlids are endemics.

[@saneshadow]

At 1:37, can you type out the name of that fish? I can't find info on it, possibly due to incorrect spelling not turning up results in the search

[@belowwater]

the striped fish is Leporinus tigrinus, the spotted is Hypomasticus julii

[@GreenCanvasInteriorscape]

I'd been saying geophagus wrong, always thought it was g like geography, as opposed to g in guy I sat through both commercials, only your channel gets that from me! Was the purpose of the Dam to generate electricity or manage flooding?

[@belowwater]

I think either one works, I would not worry about it too much. Since scientific names have tons of other languages built into them, "XIngu" for example, the pronunciation is not that crucial.

[@KrolPuszczy]