Taxonomy & naming
Roberts described Lepidarchus adonis in 1966 from a small stream near Mpataba in Ghana. It is the only species in Lepidarchus, which Catalog of Fishes places in its own family, Lepidarchidae, among the African characiforms. The hobby name is jellybean tetra.
Morphology
FishBase gives a maximum of 1 in SL. It is a tiny, slender, almost transparent fish; the genus name refers to its scales, which are few and confined to a small part of the body. The atlas holds no further colour description.
Habitat
FishBase lists it as a freshwater, pelagic fish of a tropical region. It is found in small coastal basins of southern Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. FishBase gives a pH range of 5.8 to 6.5, a temperature range of 22 to 26 degrees C and hardness up to 4 dH.
Feeding
Diet is not recorded for this species. A fish this size takes the smallest zooplankton and floating insects.
Mating
Courtship and mating are not described.
Breeding
No breeding record is available to the atlas.
In the aquarium
It is rare in aquaria, known to the atlas from Wet Spot. Keep a shoal in soft, acidic water at 22 to 26 degrees C and pH 5.8 to 6.5, with hardness below 4 dH, and give it peaceful tankmates of similar size. Food has to be tiny: newly hatched brine shrimp, microworms and powdered foods.
Conservation
The IUCN Red List lists Lepidarchus adonis as Vulnerable. Its range is a few small coastal basins in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, where forest streams are exposed to clearing, mining and pollution.