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Fish Database - Characins

The characins are among the oldest fish orders, some say that this family originating during the Mesozoic era 80-150 million years ago, prior to the separation of America and Africa. The characins divide to America characins and to Africa characins. Characins are the most common fish of South America. Characins have highly developed senses, in home tank they are the first to arrive at the feeding site. Most of the characins tend to be predators but many species are too small to present a problem in the aquarium. Some of the characins known to be calm wile other known to be aggressive. Huge numbers of fish from this family are schooling fish wile some are loners.