Hyphessobrycon procyon ( Racoon Tetra ) not much out there on them

looks like it was 1st described in 2016... anyone played with these, or know more about them... I can't find a listing on Seriously Fish...

Magnum Man said:

looks like it was 1st described in 2016... anyone played with these, or know more about them... I can't find a listing on Seriously Fish...

Click to expand...

This is what my AI says:
The Hyphessobrycon procyon, also known as the Raccoon Tetra, is a relatively new freshwater fish species in the aquarium hobby. It was first described in 2016 and is native to the Rio Aripuanã, a tributary of the Rio Madeira in Brazil.
They are peaceful fish that are easy to care for, making them a good choice for beginner aquarists. They are also relatively small, only reaching a maximum size of about 2 inches, so they can be kept in a 20-gallon tank.
Here are some things to keep in mind if you are considering getting Raccoon Tetras for your aquarium:
Water: They prefer soft, slightly acidic water with a pH of 6.0 to 7.0.

• Temperature: They do well in a temperature range of 73°F to 82°F (22°C to 28°C).
• Tank Mates: They are peaceful fish and can be kept with other peaceful community fish. However, you should avoid keeping them with larger, aggressive fish that could prey on them.
• Diet: They are omnivores and will eat a variety of foods, including flakes, pellets, and frozen brine shrimp.
• Breeding: They are egg-scatterers and can be bred in a planted aquarium. However, they are not as easy to breed as some other tetras.

They are nice looking..

It's your basic, nice, sweet little tetra. Easy to keep,easy to feed and the last time I saw them, brutal to pay for! The 'new' tetras can cost, because they have to be transported for good distances to get to the shipping centres. Getting to them is not as easy as the better known species.

They land quite expensive to begin with, which can be hard for sellers.

It actually seems strange that they are still finding new species suitable for the aquarium... I can understand that in Africa, but I would think South America should be pretty close to having most fish described by now???

The Amazon and its tributaries go through incredibly remote territory.

Magnum Man said:

It actually seems strange that they are still finding new species suitable for the aquarium... I can understand that in Africa, but I would think South America should be pretty close to having most fish described by now???

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We've scratched the surface of fish life in the Amazon region. Just the surface. We're making the research easier though, by destroying the habitat and eliminating the species before science has seen them. We humans are good at that. The fires in the Pantanal are probably making a lot of unknown creatures extinct.

Even in relatively populated areas, fish that aren't pretty (commercial...) are often undescribed. And there is no solid infrastructure to travel and explore in the remoter Amazon.

It's destruction that is perversely making it possible for collectors to get into previously unknown areas. But if you find a lovely new tetra, you might need a few days in a motorboat to get it to an airfield where a small plane can take it to a connection to take it to a large city for export. So the cost is high for new discoveries, and the farther they are from the well studied habitats, the more it costs to bring them out.

In Central Africa, it's the really destructive logging companies that make exploration possible. They make roads to remove trees, and researchers use the roads to get to new water. When the area is logged out, the jungle takes the roads back really quickly, and a lot of fish have only been found once, with no way in to find them again.

In the Amazon, travel is by small plane, and by boat. Outboards on canoes are used a lot. If there's a rapids or a long shallows, who knows what's beyond it? If it's in the jungle, it can be very hard to get to.

Well, I have 6 of these coming... order went through today... they are small & I think I can find some room in my South American Tetra tank...

Got my 6 babies today, out of the bag, pretty hard to tell from the additional 6 platinum Rummies I added, and both are so small my angel’s mouth is watering… right now the Rummies, pristella’s, and Raccoon’s are all schooled up in a cloud of 24 fish… the new fish are all quite small ( neon tetra size ), so well within the size of the cardinal’s that the angel ate previously… I’m sure the little cardinal’s color helped the angel see them, it doesn’t seem to be able to see all the new babies as well, not being colored up, out of the bag… hopefully several of the Raccoons will survive, as they are harder to get, and more expensive

Raccoons are mostly with the pristella’s now, and are quite a bit bigger than the new rummy’s

… and may develop blue eyes???

About half the group

Well, by sunset last night, the pack of little raccoons had schooled up amongst them selves, and realized that while similar looking at this point of their development, they were different than the pristella’s… at 1st light, the personality differences are plain, as they were out and about, with the early risers… the pristella’s don’t become active, for a couple hours after first light…

The new baby Rummy’s have colored up… it took several hours after coming out of their bags for their “noses” to start getting any color… now by morning light, it’s easy to tell they are rummy’s from my spot 6 feet away from the tank, even though they are still tiny… and I’ve not witnessed the angel hunting them at all…

The raccoons are slightly bigger, being closer to the same size and the baby palmeri’s that have been here for a couple months…

Saw a glint of blue eyes again this morning, on one raccoon, at this point it’s not like a “lamp eye” but flashes blue ( no blue LED’s on the lights, on right now ) I’ve looked at quite a few pictures of these on line, and not really seen any with blue eyes… the fish looks the same as the others at this point, kind of a plain silver, with a black dot towards the tail… but the flashes of blue eyes makes me wonder if there is another species mixed in… especially if these are wild caught??? There isn’t anything significantly different on the one that flashes blue, same size, same color, same pattern

Most dominant male raccoon, after a couple days… color and filaments starting, blue eyes for sure on this one…