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We have a winner in Fishforums.net
October 2025 Fish of the Month Contest
We had 8 awesome fish entered in this month's FOTM contest but only one could win...
And the winner is.......
October 2025 Fish of the Month Contest
We had 8 awesome fish entered in this month's FOTM contest but only one could win...
And the winner is.......
Let's all congratulate her
Here's the winning fish and its description
This is one of the lesser-known livebearers, the barred topminnow (Quintana atrizona). Unfortunately it's almost impossible to find on the market - I was very lucky to get mine (at a borderline unreasonable price
) from a guy who was getting rid of his stock, and one other breeder (the only one in the country AFAIK). This species is classed as critically endangered according to the IUCN and hasn't been seen in the wild since 2009. It's native to only 2 small areas in Cuba and threatened by the usual suspects - pollution, invasive species, water management etc. I have lofty aspirations (lol) to breed and give away or exchange as many of them as possible so as to hopefully make them a bit more popular, and I'd be happy to donate to any conservationists that will take them. I realise I'm very lucky to have them & want to do everything I can to help raise awareness about this species. These guys may not be as flashy as some other livebearers, but they're adorable, easy to keep and beautiful in their own right. They have splashes of yellow, black & iridescent blue (not really visible here), and are otherwise totally transparent, except for the vertical black bars (usually around 5) on both sides of the body. The fish in the photo is a juvenile male, one of the original stock I got back in August.When it comes to husbandry, they're some of the smallest species available (about the same size or slightly bigger than tiger teddies, which are another criminally underappreciated species imho
) so they can do quite well in nano tanks. They are extremely shy and only suitable for single-species setups (they will get stressed even when paired with similarly-sized and docile species). I keep mine with dwarf & amano shrimp and they seem to get along fine, although the amanos are absolutely *enormous* compared to them, so I'm keeping an eye out for any signs of stress. They don't eat their young, but they also don't breed as prolifically as guppies. I just had my first fry recently (that I've noticed, there may be more hiding in the plants) & am very excited. I currently have just under ~30 individuals split up into 2 tanks. I feed them a mix of dry, liquid and frozen foods (cyclops, daphnia, insect meal, baby brine shrimp, regular flakes), plus microworms. It was a bit challenging to find foods small enough to fit in their tiny mouths, but I think I've figured out a pretty decent combo, at least for now. I've only had them for 2 months and I'm very much still in the process of figuring them out, but keeping my fingers crossed that they establish a happy & thriving population.Interesting fact about them: The males shouldn't really be netted, as their gonopodium has a tiny hook at the end which can get caught & damaged in a mesh, rendering the fish infertile (at least temporarily). Moving mine was a bit of a pain because of that lol
