Common in black and clear water streams and rivers, as well as lagoons and other off-channel habitats associated with whitewater rivers. Found in virtually every sub-basin of the Rio Negro, Orinoco and Cuyuni, Essequibo (Ref. 52916). The only member of the genus found in rivers draining the Andean piedmont of Venezuela (Ref. 52916). Its distribution extends eastward through the Ilanos into the Rio Morichal Largo and Rio Cuyuni; to the south, it is common in the Rio Casiquiare region and the headwaters of the Rio Orinoco (Ref. 52916).