Red Hook Silver Dollar

About

The Red Hook Silver Dollar (Myloplus rubripinnis) is the big sibling of the silver dollar group, and it earns that distinction in a couple of ways. Where the more familiar Metynnis species top out at a modest size, this fish can grow to well over a foot long, making it one of the largest disc-shaped characins you'll encounter in the hobby. The feature that sets it apart visually is the anal fin, which carries a vivid red coloration edged in black. Far more pronounced than anything you'll see on its silver dollar cousins, and a reliable way to tell them apart at the fish store. In the wild, these fish range across the Amazon and Orinoco basins as well as rivers draining the Guiana Shield, where they gravitate toward calmer stretches of water with overhanging bankside vegetation. Their teeth are built for shredding leaves, and they'll apply that same enthusiasm to any aquarium plants you put in front of them. Consider yourself warned. They're gregarious by nature and should be kept in a group of five or more, where they'll cruise the middle and upper water column in a loose school. Breeding has never been achieved in captivity. Given proper space and a diet that meets their herbivorous needs, they're a manageable choice for an intermediate keeper with a suitably large setup.