• Scientific name: Anostomus anostomus
• Synonyms: Salmo anostomus, Mormyrynchus gronoveii, Anostomus salmoneus
• Common name: Striped headstander, Striped Anostomus
• Group: Characins
• Habitat: South America; Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, Guyana in the Amazon and Orinoco river systems.
• Size: 18-20 cm
• Biotope: Found along rocky shores of fast-flowing rivers where there are lots of algae on the rock surfaces.
• Social behavior: A quite peaceful schooling fish, that best kept with similarly-sized fish. It can be kept either in groups or alone, but when kept in a too small groups, fish may fight and become quarrelsome.
• Diet: Omnivorous; Their main diet should be vegetable matter and algae, but they accept dried foods and other small live and frozen foods too.
• Breeding: Very rare in aquarium
• Tank: Minimum 200 litres
• Population: 6-8 fish for 250 litres
• Decoration: Create rocky background, and a strong current with the filter and also use bright lighting to encourage the growth of algae. The tank should have a dark substrate of fine gravel or sand. They might eat the aquarium plants. Cover their tank as they are excellent jumpers.
• Temperature: 20-28 °C
• pH: 5.5-7.5
• Hardness: 2-18 NK°
• Lifespan: 3-5 years

Description: Anostomus anostomus has a cigar shaped and elongated brown to black colored body with three yellow horizontal stripes. The dorsal fin and the caudal peduncle are red while the pelvic and anal fins have red striping. Striped headstander has a pointed head and an upturned mouth. It is very similar to Anostomus ternetzi, but can be distinguished by the presence of red tinting on the fins. As with the other headstanders, Anostomus anostomus normally swims with its body inclined at an angle of 45° or even more. If kept in smaller groups, they may become aggressive while in larger groups (at least 7 or more) the aggression is spread between individuals. When kept single it becomes territorial. It may nip at long-flowing finned fish. Anostomus anostomus can be kept in a planted aquarium as long as it is fed large amounts of "green food" and there is enough algae in the tank. Do not keep with fishes which demand the same foods as Hemiancistrus, Gyrinochelius, and Epalzeorhynchus, because it may not fare well in competition.

Mature females are a slightly larger and plumper than males. Striped headstander is commonly bred in fish hatcheries throughout South America and Asia, but successful aquarium breeding is very rare and undocumented. The diet of the fish apparently plays a very important role in initiating the spawn.