Anyone good with cichlid IDs?

[purplecandle]

I can't find an ID for a Cichlid I bought a few days ago. I was wondering if anyone here would like to take a stab at it? Someone came close with an Australoheros ID, but now I am not so sure.

Here is my post on MFK, I will try for more pics later on
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... p?t=386320

I am almost positive it is not a convict.

Right now he is back to solid black. He loves being inside of plants at the top of the tank and underneath rocks-sideways..

[FADE2BLACK_1973]

Looks like a really stressed young convict to me. But It is hard to tell though. Could be one of the other CA or SA cichlids.

[geronimo69]

I have to agree with "Aquamojo" on MFK. It looks like a convict for sure. Maybe a bit of a hybrid.

[J-P]

have no idea but they will know over on AP.

[c333davis]

You started quite a debate on that other website!

At first glance, it reminded me of my Dempseys when they were juvies. I'm definitely no expect on cichlid ID, however.

It'll be interesting to see how s/he settles in whatever tank you choose.

[purplecandle]

I am almost positive it is not convict. May be a hybrid, but I really don't think convict. Its fins are different, the stripes (when he has them) are different, his behavior is WAY different, his locomotion is different, and his eating is different.

If he is a Australoheros of some sort, that may explain his behavior. Guess I will have to wait and see

[geronimo69]

I am almost positive it is not convict. May be a hybrid, but I really don't think convict. Its fins are different, the stripes (when he has them) are different, his behavior is WAY different, his locomotion is different, and his eating is different.

If he is a Australoheros of some sort, that may explain his behavior. Guess I will have to wait and see

Different, HOW??

I have a convict in my sump. He is an offspring of a pair I had. The parents were your typical black striped male and a lovely pink female. The result is a beauty. His fins look a little different and he has some touches of pink throughout his mostly striped body. Having seen a pair produce 3-4 sets of offspring, it leads me to believe that Cons can and do vary in color/look/shape and even attitude (parents were very very skiddish, but this little guy comes to greet me right away!). Even if from they are from the same parents.

I really really think this is a Convict. At minimum a Convict hybrid of some sort.

Fact is, if it is a hybrid, you'll probably never get a positive ID.

[purplecandle]

In my mind, he looks a lot more like a fish from this family

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/ ... /008-1.jpg

As opposed to a con. I am not complaining either way. I would just like to know what this fish is going to need..tank size, tankmates and so on..

[jus85411]

In my mind, he looks a lot more like a fish from this family

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/ ... /008-1.jpg

As opposed to a con. I am not complaining either way. I would just like to know what this fish is going to need..tank size, tankmates and so on..

i was thinking browsing the MFK thread that it looked like maybe a JD/con mix. i would say the fish you linked is very much like what you have. i can only identify a certain few cichlids since im not very exp with them, but did learn a few species in the years i spent working at a pet store. another thought of mine was that the face/eyes looked similar to a peacock cichlid, the body is different though i think.

similar to this: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... pcatid=960

[purplecandle]

Added more pics on page 4 and 5 of the thread

[J-P]

still not resolved???

I thought it was deduced as a convict?

[purplecandle]

No they are still arguing about it.

But I don't believe it is a convict. I have owned one, and I have seen them..I just don't think that is the right ID

I think it was mistaken for a con were it was collected

[FADE2BLACK_1973]

Well it has no traits of an african cichlid so that counts all the peacocks and Haps out. It's an SA or CA cichlid for sure. I had very dark juvie Jack Demseys and bred them many times and can say don't see any JD traits. Really hard to tell this young with some SA or CA cichlids when all stressed black coloration. I will try to get one of my best friends over here to see those pics. He has been in the hobby about as long as I, kept many different species of cichlids over the years, worked at a lfs that specialized in cichlids, owned and bred convicts, plus he is good at IDing cichlids.

[RTR]

The desribed semi-albino and normal color Convict fry discussed above was a chimera. It is not awfully common but it happens. It is unlikely to breed true.

Convict can vary a lot in coloration - part environment and part genetic. The normal color starins can also throw sports. A few human generation back I had couple of sports in batches I bred. I spent months and months back-breeding and crossing trying to "fix" one of those mutations (front half normal striped, back half pure solid black - a beautiful male fish). It was a sport - never produced anything other than normal colored offspring even with multiple father-daughter and mother-son back-crosses or multiple sibling matings over 3 generations. You would not believe the number of tanks I wasted for several years trying ti fix that line.

Sports are interesting and frustrating. Heritable mutations are uncommon but happen regularly - that is how we get most semi-albinos and long finned variants.

[purplecandle]

He is what one guy has said about it not being a convict. Does any of it sound right?-

I now have absolutely no doubt, that this fish is some type of chanchitto (Austroloheros sp.). It's body shape is consistent with a chanchitto, it's coloration, all of it's marking and stripes, the shape of it's fins, and it's eye......all are consistent with a chanchitto.

"Like I mentioned before it has a < -shape to the first stripe (after the tail spot) right on the caudal peduncle. All the pictures I have looked at on the internet and in books, I find about 1/2 the Austroloheros specimens have this characteristic. Doesn't seem to be associatied with any particular species, but almost 1/2 the individuals in all the pictures I can find, exhibit this! I supose, just by chance a CA cichlid could just happen to have the same shape to it's first stripe.......but I have yet to see any on any picture!

Like I mentioned before, the fish has 4, maybe 5, anal spines. Not enough for a convict. PLus the shape of the dorsal, and especially the anal fin , are not at all consistent with a convict cichlid. Also, convicts, like other Cryptoheros speies, do not have a stripe on their caudal peduncle. The pictures of convicts posted by Aquamojo show this.....just like any other convict. I'm not trying to claim this as some kind of iron clad law, because i am sure there is always an exception, but you would be very, very, very hard pressed to find any convict, or any Crytoheros species for that matter, with this trait."