Care
A familiar food fish in its homeland, this is a captive bred form of a green wild fish. 'Pink Kissers' are not suitable for the peaceful community aquarium on account of their large adult size and moderately aggressive nature. This species gets its common name from the way it appears to lock jaws or "˜kiss"™ other fish during aggressive interactions. Owing to their disposition, their keeper has plenty of opportunity to observe this behaviour in captive groups. An aquarium that is 150cm/5ft in length really is considered the bare minimum for this species, and tankmates should be robust with large barbs such as Tigers (Puntigris) a good choice, although this practically toothless fish isn't much of a predator. A small gap must be left between the waters"™ surface and the coverslides in order for the fish to breathe atmospheric air from time to time. Plants should be chosen with care, as all but the most robust species (e.g. Java fern, Anubias sp. etc) will suffer from being browsed as the fish forage for biofilm. Green and marbled varieties are also available, together with a Balloon form that stays smaller thanks to missing vertebrae.
Farmed extensively in pools below pig pens, Kissers thrive in these conditions thanks to the rich blooms of plankton that they strain from the water. Although we wouldn't advise recreating this style of husbandry, it's clear that these are fishes that benefit from being fed large volumes of small foods, even as mature adults.
Feeding
Those lips are specialised to graze hard surfaces as well as helping to process plankton. As mentioned above, it prefers small particle foods. Will accept all kinds of aquarium food including a good quality flake food, green flake food, pellet foods, frozen foods such as mosquito larvae, brineshrimp, Mysis, krill etc. Will also eat soft-leaved or fine-leaved plants and graze on algae within the aquarium. Offer vegetable matter such as lettuce leaves and cucumber.
Breeding
Rarely bred in the home aquarium. Known to scatter up to 1000 eggs in open water, which rise up and adhere to floating vegetation. The parents are ironically free of any parental affection and take no care of the eggs, which typically hatch after 48 hours.
