Laetacara

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Superclassis/Classis: Actinopterygii
Classis/Subclassis: Actinopteri
Subclassis/Infraclassis: Neopterygii
Infraclassis: Teleostei
Megacohors: Osteoglossocephalai
Supercohors: Clupeocephala
Cohors: Euteleosteomorpha
Subcohors: Neoteleostei
Infracohors: Eurypterygia
Sectio: Ctenosquamata
Subsectio: Acanthomorphata
Divisio/Superordo: Acanthopterygii
Subdivisio: Percomorphaceae
Series: Ovalentaria
Superordo: Cichlomorphae
Ordo: Cichliformes

Familia: Cichlidae
Subfamilia: Cichlasomatinae
Genus: Laetacara
Species: L. araguaiae – L. curviceps – L. dorsigera – L. flamannellus – L. flavilabris – L. fulvipinnis – L. thayeri
Name

Laetacara Kullander, 1986

Type species: Acara flavilabris Cope, 1870; valid as Laetacara flavilabris (Cope, 1870)

Name might be a junior synonym of Parvacara Whitley, 1951
References

Kullander, S. O., 1986: Cichlid fishes of the Amazon River drainage of Peru. Swedish Museum of Natural History. 1-431, Pls. 1-38.
Whitley, G. P., 1951: New fish names and records. Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, for 1949-50: 61–68.
Laetacara and its species (including synonyms) in Catalog of Fishes, Eschmeyer, W.N., Fricke, R. & van der Laan, R. (eds.) 2024. Catalog of Fishes electronic version.

Laetacara is a small genus of cichlids native to freshwater habitats in tropical and subtropical South America, ranging from the upper Orinoco River basin in Venezuela to the Paraná River basin Argentina.[1][2] The genus is also collectively known as the smiling acaras.[3][4] Like all cichlids, Laetacara species have well-developed brood care.

All members of the genus are monogamous, open spawning cichlids.[3] They are popular in the fishkeeping hobby and are frequently kept in aquariums.[2] Laetacara are relatively small cichlids, growing to about 4–12 cm (1.6–4.7 in) in length depending on exact species,[5] and are part of the group known to aquarists as dwarf cichlids.[3]
Species

There are currently seven recognized species in this genus:[5]

Laetacara araguaiae Ottoni & W. J. E. M. Costa, 2009
Laetacara curviceps (C. G. E. Ahl, 1923) (Flag acara)
Laetacara dorsigera (Heckel, 1840) (Redbreast acara)
Laetacara flamannellus Ottoni et al., 2012
Laetacara flavilabris (Cope, 1870)
Laetacara fulvipinnis Staeck & I. Schindler, 2007
Laetacara thayeri (Steindachner, 1875)

See also

List of freshwater aquarium fish species

References

Ottoni, F.P. (2018). "Update of diagnoses, information on distribution, species, and key for identification of Laetacara species (Teleostei, Cichlidae, Cichlasomatini)" (PDF). Vertebrate Zoology. 68 (1): 47–63. doi:10.3897/vz.68.e32224.
Linke H, Staeck L (1994) American cichlids I: Dwarf Cichlids. A handbook for their identification, care and breeding. Tetra Press. Germany. ISBN 1-56465-168-1
Loiselle, Paul V. (1995). The Cichlid Aquarium. Germany: Tetra Press. ISBN 1-56465-146-0.
Kullander, S.O. (1998). "A phylogeny and classification of the South American Cichlidae (Teleostei: Perciformes)". In L.R. Malabarba; R.E. Reis; R.P. Vari; Z.M. Lucena; C.A.S. Lucena (eds.). Phylogeny and classification of neotropical fishes. Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS. pp. 461–498. ISBN 978-85-7430-035-1.
Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2019). Species of Laetacara in FishBase. July 2019 version.