# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Cyprinids >  Trigonostigma espei

## tcy81

one of my favourite schooling fish.

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## CK Yeo

Ya! Me too! Lovely colour once they settle down...



ck

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## illumnae

one of my favourite schoolers too!  :Smile:  i love their reddish-copper colour once they have acclimitized to the tank conditions

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## hwchoy

there are two populations of this species, one in western Thailand and one is eastern Thailand near the Cambodia border.

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## tcy81

anyway to differential between the 2 populations ?

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## hwchoy

there appear to be some colour differences (yellow orange and reddish orange) and the extend of orange areas. but I haven't looked at enough confirmed collected specimens to be sure.

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## d2sign

mine is yellow orange, hi bro CK Yeo, where *you* bought the reddish one?

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## CK Yeo

When I bought it was yellowish and pale. As it mature, it turned reddish. 

ck

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## d2sign

Got 6 last night to keep with my Galaxy, hope they mix well and settle down soon  :Grin:

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## d2sign

Are they considered rare?

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## Shadow

not rare but probably seasonal.

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## BETTA03

I agree, they are not rare just not much demand for them. You can place special order at better LFS, I am sure they can secure the stock for you.

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## StanChung

They usually look dull in the shops so they are not flying off the tanks. A favourite with aquascapers. [me included] Among the best of the schoolers, almost fearless-swims in mid to high areas of water and fantastic colour to complement plants.

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## BETTA03

I agree, they are not rare just no demand for them. You can place a special order at better LFS, I am sure they can secure the fish for you.

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## aquaSynthesis

Spotted a bagful of Espei while at Colourful just now...

tempted to get..
are they sensitive fishes? any water parameter will do? what do they feed on? Sorry if i'm asking in the wrong thread..

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## Panut

they are very hardy fishes imo

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## illumnae

very hardy and beautiful fish. soft water and lower ph is preferred but they are adaptable. mine have never rejected any food

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## Panut

Mine ate everything, including.. plants and poop (but of course spit out lah)..

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## NOVA

I've seen these beautiful guys at a store today and started collection info from the net as soon as I got home.
That's how I ended up signing up for the forum. Ta-dah!

Anyway, I've witnessed something interesting: Some fish clearly had a red distinct color around their black pupil! They were extraordinary in my opinion. Now the question asked – do these red-eyed (which are clearly Espeis) come from a certain habitat, as hwchoy might have suggested? Or maybe these are just well fed happy males? I'd seriously like to know. Here are a few photos of red eyed Epseis I found on the net for example:

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## Fingerling

Very strong colours these fishes have. They look like red lasers :Cool:

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## apistomaster

As always, I see the work of some expert fish photographers here.
T.espei are often sold as T. heteromorpha in the States. The majority of hobbyists are only casual fish keepers and are OK with the mistaken ID's but as a more knowledgeable fish keeper, what I often have experienced is that when I am looking for T. espei the shops have T. heteromorpha and T. espei when I am not in the market! I prefer T. espei but both of the two species are beautiful. I just prefer the more slender and orange T. espei the prettier of the two, personally.

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## NOVA

I agree. Much nicer when kept in large number.

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## hwchoy

_T. espei_ has two populations from southwestern and eastern Thailand, apparently with some coloration differences. I speculate these two drainages were once connected during the ice age which has now being separated by the Gulf of Siam.

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## NOVA

> _T. espei_ has two populations from southwestern and eastern Thailand, apparently with some coloration differences. I speculate these two drainages were once connected during the ice age which has now being separated by the Gulf of Siam.


 Could you try to describe these differences? It would be super if you could also depict it through images.

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## illumnae

A brief description was given by hwchoy in post #6 on page 1 of this thread  :Wink:

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## NOVA

Thanks.
I've read that.
I was hoping to get an answer for my question (about the red-eye) on the previous page.

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