Blackspotted Toothcarp

About

Found in the upper San Juan River drainage of Costa Rica, Phallichthys tico is a small livebearer that rarely gets much attention in the hobby despite being a genuinely interesting little fish. In the wild it favors sluggish, shallow water, seldom more than a foot deep, with muddy bottoms and dense marginal vegetation, often where streams spill out into marshy backwaters. It swims near the surface in loose groups, picking through the water column for whatever is available, including algae, diatoms, organic detritus, and the occasional insect larva. At under an inch as an adult, this is a genuinely small fish, and its modest size means a reasonable tank setup can comfortably house a group without much space. Its peaceful temperament makes it a compatible neighbor for other small, non-aggressive species. As a livebearer it follows the familiar pattern of the group, relatively straightforward to breed once you have a healthy colony going, and its tolerance for a fairly wide temperature band hints at the variable conditions it experiences across its native elevation range, from lowland edges up into highland streams around 600 meters. A forgiving choice for a keeper interested in less commonly kept Central American livebearers.