This variation was imported from Indonesia by Nano Tanks Australia in our June 2024 Shipment
Poecilia: from the Greek poikilo, meaning ‘variable, variegated’.
reticulata: from the Latin reticulatus, meaning ‘reticulated, having a network-like pattern’.
Distribution
Native to northeastern South America and the southern Caribbean with its original range considered to cover Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana plus the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda and the Netherlands Antilles.
Type locality is ‘Guayre River, Caracas, Venezuela’.
Wild examples are relatively rare in the aquarium hobby, most fish being commercially bred.
Habitat
An incredibly adaptable species that occurs in almost every imaginable biotope, from high-altitude streams to turbid swamps and ditches.
Some populations also exist in brackish conditions.
However it does tend to thrive best in habitats with lush growths of algae, marginal vegetation and/or aquatic plants.
Maximum Standard Length
2.5″ (6cm)
Water Conditions
Temperature: 17 – 28 °C
pH: 7.0 – 8.5
Hardness: 143 – 536 ppm
