Id for my mystery fish

[purplecandle]

I need an ID for a Cichlid I just bought. I have already posted on a few forums, but have had not much luck. Some think convict, some hybrid, I think it just kind of looks like a con and was collected as a con, but is not a full blooded con. I just want to know what this fish will need as far as tankmates, tanksize and so on.

He was very beat up at the store so his fins are nipped. He is extremely passive and completely non-aggressive he was even bossed around by a juvi tiger barb a third of his size in the quarantine tank.

A lot have told me that I just have to wait to find an ID, but I thought I would give another forum a shot. the best ID i have got so far is australoheros.

Ok, he also changes colors a lot

Solid black = happy not stressed
Lighter, showing bar = getting stressed out
Lightly colored body, solid light head = Very stressed.

Thanks for your time.

[snakeskinner]

not even close to a convict. The australoheros is a good guess, not sure how likely that would be though and I'm not real firmiliar with that fish. The colors and shape look a lot like some of the jack dempsey's out there and they are very common but other things like the stripes make me question that.. Does this store keep cookie cutter fish or do they dabble in cool stuff? Kyle

[Bas Pels]

perhaps an Herichthys?

Not an Australoheros, as these have a horizontal bar behind the eye, a bit above it to be exactly

but it could just as wel be African - aor lamost any American else

[smitty]

Maybe a texas and carpintis mix.

[SergeS]

The head is a bit Lethrinops- or Aulonocara-like, and the blue spots / blotches in the fins also sort of point in that direction, but it's not even close to what it should be, if it is indeed one of those. If it is from Lake Malawi, it's some sort of hybrid/crossbred. What X What? No idea

[purplecandle]

not even close to a convict. The australoheros is a good guess, not sure how likely that would be though and I'm not real firmiliar with that fish. The colors and shape look a lot like some of the jack dempsey's out there and they are very common but other things like the stripes make me question that.. Does this store keep cookie cutter fish or do they dabble in cool stuff? Kyle

I only just discovered this store, but they do seem to have a good selection. Nothing very odd ball and not a great selction of cichlids but they have a lot of tetra/small fish. Everything they have looks pretty healthy.

The tank my fish was in was marked "Central American Cichlids" It had convicts, jewels, Dempseys, firemouths and a few others.

I asked about where they may have gotten my fish from and the lady said they had this fish for a month and it came is a shipment together with the other cichlids in the tank. she said they do not order those, they just get in shipments of "mixed central americans"

Looks like I have a variety of IDs here. LOL At least no one is saying it is a convict!

Is there a way to tell if it is African?

[SergeS]

Is there a way to tell if it is African?

You could check his boarding pass

But seriously, clear eggspots would, for example, point in the direction of Africa. Aulonocara spp. for example, often show relatively large, colourful eggspots. Same for Lethrinops spp. But there are other species from other lakes and continents that have eggspots as well. I'm not really aware of any '100%-proof-rift lake-typical' properties. Maybe one of the more scientifically oriented visitors of the forum can help us here, I would be interested too

And now that you mention it, it does look a bit like a crossbred Convict

[Adrian Indermaur]

Hy,
the fellow is still very young but I'm pretty sure its not an African! If the shipment really is from Central America my first quess would be Astatheros macracanthus. or even the dubious A. margaritifer. If it's Southamerica Australoheros seems plausible, especially the headshape points toward this group...
A mix could also very well be....

Edit: Of all the traits in cichlids there is not one that I know of (apart from maybe true eggspots) that would make a sure indication towards african cichlids.



Cheers Adrian

[Adrian Indermaur]

Hy,
another thought...
the body shape and the head profile in the darker pictures also reminds me a lot of Acaronia vultuosa.... but the markings on the head are missing and the eye is to small...
I still think its A. macracanthus. Also compare to viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9674 (the fourth picture). The head profile is not right but that can vary a lot from my experiance.....

Greets