These guys were some extras when they were cleaning things out, up at the fish farm. No one wanted them since no one actually knew what they were exactly. I felt bad for 'em and figured I'd take 'em home and find them somewhere to go.

It's been like a month now. I still don't know what they are. I've had a bunch of folks look at them and they don't know what they are.

The pics are a bit crappy. I took 'em quick the one night to see if Wyite could help id 'em. If you need/want anything more specific, lemmie know since I'd love to id them.

I looked at a tone of pic's and I'm going to say they looked like blue aureum.

Blue aureum are pretty darn close.

The problem I'm running into, is that there's a few fish that look like a 95% match.

So far the closest matches I've seen are Thorichthys aureum, Caquetaia kraussii and someone local to me really thinks they're Rose Queen Flowerhorn.

The other thing that's driving me nuts is the coloration isn't consistent across the lot of them that are here.

I don't know so thats why I haven't posted in this topic yet. I have looked at it though several times and the first thing that comes to mind is FH and after looking up a baby queen FH I would almost put money on it that it is a Queen FH. I can say for sure it's not a Caquetaia kraussii, the tail spot is too low and I don't really see a face spot on your fish saint. Although similar looking to the Thorichthy family I would count them out too...the pattering along them is just not the same. That tail spot to me says FH at first glance.

Well. I don't know.

On the plus side, all our guesses all turn out to be near foot long bastards. General care and compatibility is better than nothing I suppose.

So, remember these guys?

I kept one out of the lot of them to grow out. I have to get some pictures of it, but it went from those pics up above to a dark purple striped fish with orange spots. It's extremely territorial too, so I thinking it might have a bit of trimac in it.

Well, its been a year so pics are in order!!!

We chatted 'bout this one night, if IIRC, saint. I was kinda leanin' toward a Caquetia sp. Post a new pic, might get us a bit closer...

WYite

Next water change I'll toss her into a smaller container and get a picture. She's been surprisingly difficult to get a pic of now that she's gotten a bit bigger.

Probly 'bout time for a water change, saint...

WYite

Yep I'd say!

lol. We had an earthquake and then a hurricane blow through here. Spent a few days picking up the entire contents of my 12 foot long book shelf, thankfully was just books and some board games. Then a few more without power, then pulling soggy rugs from the basement.

I'm hoping to catch up on everyone this week.

Excuses, excuses. I just got outta the hospital after another mini-stroke. Don't see me slacking...

WYite

Finally, I managed to catch her. She was almost as hard as taking pics of the Monos in that I don't sit still ever sort of way. The one thing that isn't apparent from the picture is that the tail fin also has yellowish sparkles at the base.

Well, I'd say a midas or red devil was in the mix somewhere. May be pure, but possibly hybrdidized. A bit o' flowerhorn in the mix is not impossible. A Caquetia species is outta the question now, I'm positive she's some kind of Amphilophus. Those fry ya sent me have had me scrambling for answers, I love a good mystery. The end result is I've acquired quite a little bit of history and info on the genus Amphilophus, especially pertaining to the A. labiatus complex. Some of George Barlow's work is easily found on the internet.

On another note, saint, I'm figurin' Mystery was at least partially midas or RD at this point, as well, more likely the first. A. citrinellus has almost identical ray counts to A. zaliosus. If the male was a zaliosus, the ray counts favoring A. zaliosus as an identity would make sense, as the two are close. As these boys age (they're all males, what are the odds of that?) the body and head deepens making them look more like midas than arrow cichlids, or even RDs. Another one is starting to turn gold/red. As far as I can tell, neither A. zaliosus or A. hogaboomorum have a red or gold form. Put it all together and it points to Mystery being a striped midas. The one piece I am currently missing is if hybridization increases the chance of any Amphilophus species to have a gold or red phenotype. I can't find any research on that topic.

WYite

Could just b a simple barred midas and a red devil combo!!!

Some more new changes, or I'm just unobservant, but I was bringing in all the pond plants the last day or two, and as I was putting some in her tank I noticed her eyes are blue.

Its very possible to have Archocentrus spilurum with the blue eye!!!

Woah. If I'm not sure if she's entirely Archocentrus spilurus but she's definitely got some. Of the images I'm seeing online the eyes match as well as the spangles in the back of the top fin.

I haven't come across any that have the pink she's showing yet though.

saint_felony wrote:

Woah. If I'm not sure if she's entirely Archocentrus spilurus but she's definitely got some. Of the images I'm seeing online the eyes match as well as the spangles in the back of the top fin.

I haven't come across any that have the pink she's showing yet though.

I've never seen a pink spilurum, though some will get orange or yellow on them. May be the angle of the photo, but to me the rostrum appears too long for a Cryptoheros sp. Ya might try looking up pics of Cryptoheros, esp. C. panamensis, C. chetumalensis and C. cutteri, all have pinkish color phases. The first two aren't especially common though. I'd like to get my hands on some of the chetumalensis. FWIW, I'm not especially wavering from an Amphilophus of some type, midas cichlids have blue eyes occassionally as well. Sorry MC.

WYite

Wyomingite wrote:

saint_felony wrote:

Woah. If I'm not sure if she's entirely Archocentrus spilurus but she's definitely got some. Of the images I'm seeing online the eyes match as well as the spangles in the back of the top fin.

I haven't come across any that have the pink she's showing yet though.

I've never seen a pink spilurum, though some will get orange or yellow on them. May be the angle of the photo, but to me the rostrum appears too long for a Cryptoheros sp. Ya might try looking up pics of Cryptoheros, esp. C. panamensis, C. chetumalensis and C. cutteri, all have pinkish color phases. The first two aren't especially common though. I'd like to get my hands on some of the chetumalensis. FWIW, I'm not especially wavering from an Amphilophus of some type, midas cichlids have blue eyes occassionally as well. Sorry MC.

WYite

Well, she's laid twice now alone in a tank. So at the kids request I divided out a 75 and put the rotten bastard RD on one side and her on the other.

Some crazy mutts they will undoubtedly be, but they'll make my kids and the now three snapping turtles here happy.