Pike ID

[Thomas_Hung]

I just picked this up the other day... its about 3" or so.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v511/thomas_hung/7-30-2005005.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v511/thomas_hung/7-30-2005008.jpg

Sorry the pix arent the best.

[Thomas_Hung]

I've been looking through a lot of pictures trying to figure out what it is... it kind of looks like a sp. venezuela but without the spot on the tail...

http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/5491/lugubrispage.html

[Peanut_Power]

I can't even see the pike really...lol....oy! Stupid glare on the computer screen...sigh...i'll have to wait for tonight...no glare...:P

[Thomas_Hung]

I can't even see the pike really...lol....oy! Stupid glare on the computer screen...sigh...i'll have to wait for tonight...no glare...:P

I just made them brighter in photoshop, hope they are easier to see now!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v511/thomas_hung/7-30-2005008.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v511/thomas_hung/7-30-2005005.jpg

PS. How do you edit posts on this forum?

[Peanut_Power]

There we go!! YAY!! Yeah, i would have to say that that does look a lot like Crenicichla sp. venezuela. And, since they are quite possibly the most common pike being imported lately, chances are very high that thats what it is. GREAT fish, get rather large i hope you know....being quite possibly the largest of the pike cichlids. Not exactly the most colorful of the pikes when full grown, but still pimpin and impressive! Thing with pikes is that the juv. of the Lugubris family do look very similar so it can be a real pain in the toosh distinguishin them! 80% sure thats sp. venezuela though!

[slavezer0]

nice pike! :)

[Thomas_Hung]

I have had an orange pike previously.... can I expect this pike's behavior to be similar?

[Peanut_Power]

indeed that you can...although Crenicichla sp. xingu I(orange pike) can tend to be a bit more aggressive and the like. However...this species...Cren. sp 'venezuela' gets much larger....MUCH larger...lol...and with size comes boldness and 'tude! Generally expect it to be a greedy feeder that will be curious about everything in the tank. Be carefull with tankmates, if it shows aggression repeatedly, remove the tank mate before it is killed...or eaten...lol. BIG MOUTHS!

[Thomas_Hung]

Yea I'm debating on where to grow it out right now....as we speak it is in with my smallest plecos....which I would rather not lose, so I'm going to have to do some rearanging... How wide of a tank am I going to eventually need to keep this monster? It did not eat for a day or so when I first got it, but it is taking down the hikari carnivore pellets like there is no tomorrow right now, and kind of tools around with the shrimp pellets I offer him... what else would be a good staple diet for this guy besides those pellets, crickets, and worms and such?

[prm]

yea i bought one today love it

[guppy]

As juvies they are very hard to tell apart and there are a lot of local variants and even hybrids.

[Peanut_Power]

Show me one pike cichlid hybrid then i will believe you. As far as i know there are NO pike cichlid hybrids...especially so with the Lugubris family....lol...they are hard enough to breed in the home aquarium...let alone hybridize. Saxatilis pikes are a little easier for me to believe for being hybridized...and maybe the Wallayeci (dwarf) pikes.....as they seem easier to breed. As for the Reticulata and Lugubris family...not likely. Their are regional color variants indeed....just look at the Tapajos pikes....local has a lot to do with color. And yes...they are relatively hard to tell apart as juv....adults are a snap...for the most part!! :P......as are subadults. Just those blasted juv. Just need more high quality pictures out there...which i am determined to do! :D

[Peanut_Power]

Sorry, got a little side tracked about the hybrid things....as for food...frozen cocktail/salad shrimp that has been thawed and broken into smaller pieces works great for fattening them up. Earthworms, bloodworms, mysis shrimp, pellets(really good if you can get them onto pellets/sticks...VERY GOOD!! BRAVO TO YOU BRO!), glass shrimp, convict babies (much safer to breed them yourself and feed the babies to them...since you can regulate disease and monitor what they eat..much safer than store bought feeders), crickets, and other insects, baby/adult mice.....frogs( NO TOADS!!), crayfish(pinchers removed). I think that is a pretty good list to start with! :D

[Peanut_Power]

Howz ur pike doing TH? U still got the bugga? Should be puttin on size by now eh?

[sleepyflight]

This is why I say I'm still learning.....Pnut....You make me question my own ID now. After looking at a ton of pics I thought I had a Johanni....maybe I wasn't paying attention enough.... I thought I had a Johanna. Taking a second look I'm guessing the top thin lateral stripes indicate Venezuela? All the pics I looked at the Ven. didn't have the top striping and the eye spot (tail) wasn't blended with the heavy lat. stripe. I thought I had a Johanna because the spot was embedded into the strip and the color seems to be changing more like that of a Johanna and not so bland as a Venezuela?? Lemme know if you need pics to help this out. :eek:

[Caveman]

sp 'venezuela' gets HUGE I had a 16" one that would back down from nothing and never met a fish he wouldnt try to eat. This sucker ate so many fish that you would figure it couldnt even eat, its not even funny. Mine was mixed with a 13" Midas in a 125 gallon and they both got along quite well.

[sleepyflight]

I know that much...Ven. are capable of reaching 18in. and they are ticked little guys. PNUT, WhereTF are you, I know you have answers for me on this one....and valid explanations also. :D

[Peanut_Power]

Geez....calm down...lol. I was tired so i went to sleep, and then i had work. So yeah. Pictures would be helpful, since there is still a chance that you DO have johanna. How is the snout? Is it rounded/blunt? Or is it 'pointy'? Johannas have a more rounded, blunt snout, another feature that makes them easy to distinguish.

[wism_chan]

Cute pike

[sleepyflight]

heres a pic... I'm about to do a water change and the lights just came on a couple hours ago so he's not looking happy but.... You can see that his eyes are red and there's a good view of the stripe/eyespot on the tail(where it would be)

[sleepyflight]

One more question if you know.... I took the pic in VGA mode and lower qual. so it would fit and still be sizeable. Any way to clear it up and still have a small enough file size?? The water is full of bubbly too because the water is low.... :(

[SteveL91]

As has been said, the Lugubris-complex pikes all look fairly similiar when they're young. The fish in question looks a lot like the "Gold Spangled Pikes" that I've seen being imported pretty frequently. I'm not entirely sure what they are, but if you're at all friendly with the shop you bought it, try and find out what country (and ideally, river system) it came out of. That will go a long way towards narrowing down your fish.

[Peanut_Power]

90% sure its a johanna bro. The 'gold spangled' pikes that Stevo was talkin about are a Saxatilis pike, and this is clearly a Lugubris. Great lookin bugga! Tempts me to take some more pictures tonight...perhaps i will! :D

[sleepyflight]

Rogggg. I figure the eyespot gives it up to a distinguishable ID. Yeah, the Sax. pikes are pretty but I say they're easy to pick out....just look for a belly crawler with really pretty speckling:) Thats what they look like to me anyways....and a better swim bladder. I looked up a few tonight and the Joh. does look alot like a Ven. in juvie state but the eyespot is very apparent in the Ven. in juvie size.

Thanks Pnut :grinyes:

[Peanut_Power]

The heads are also very different..but yeah....johanna don't have as prominant of an eye spot...can't even member if they have one...venz. definately do though...and spanglin on the face...johanna won't have that..

[sleepyflight]

They've got it but its so blended you can't see it (right now anyways) unless the stripe is paled right out and then you can kinda see it. Its small and blends right in w/the stripe.

[SteveL91]

The fish I've been seeing labeled as "Gold Spangled Pike" have been lugubris-complex. I may have screwed up the name, but they were definitely lugubris. Unfortunately, the little bastards won't just make everyone's life easier and just tell us what they are. Noooooooooooooooooooo! BAH!

[sleepyflight]

The fish I've been seeing labeled as "Gold Spangled Pike" have been lugubris-complex. I may have screwed up the name, but they were definitely lugubris. Unfortunately, the little bastards won't just make everyone's life easier and just tell us what they are. Noooooooooooooooooooo! BAH!
??????? Pnut???? Never seen a gold spangled that wasn't a Sax.... way diff. size than Lug. family too.

[Peanut_Power]

Pictures.....settle this the old fashioned way....:P