"JACK THE FLIPPER" My Terrorist Killer GREEN TERROR
- Thread starter Cyberman
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Its just something that was carried over from another thread. Im sure stanzzzz didnt mean you kept your in a 29 gal
Probably what you've heard, read on some forums or maybe even the occasional article repeating common wisdom, but it's wrong. Stalsbergi as the 'true' or 'original' green terror is a common misconception. As a hobbyist nickname that's been applied to either fish, with nothing official or scientific about it, the idea of a "true" and 'false' green terror is more or less artificial, anyway, but:
The basic order is: White edged rivulatus (Ecuador) showed up in the hobby first in the 1970s. Soon, also 1970s, came wild collected gold edged rivulatus. These were given the nickname "green terror" . The question at the time was: Are they rivulatus? Meanwhile there were also photos of what are now stalsbergi circulating. 1982-- a German article called what we now call stalsbergi (Peru) 'the green terror that isn't', being a third fish, different from the white and gold edged Ecuador fish originally nicknamed 'green terrors'. So, if you correctly know which is now stalsbergi and which is now rivulatus, stalsbergi was "the green terror that isn't". However, the real question was which is the true rivulatus? Time has confused things and some turned this into Which is the true green terror? but that wasn't the question.
More than one article has explained some or all of this, but one of the best is Here, article by Wayne Leibel, biologist and cichlid expert who himself has written more than one article on the subject.
To sum up-- one reason so many have it wrong is at one time stalsbergi was considered the true rivulatus-- not the same thing as the true green terror. In fact, some older books and articles (some of which I have or had) had photos of the Peruvian fish (stalsbergi) captioned as the "true rivulatus" and from this a number of hobbyists concluded and spread the idea it was also the true green terror (which, based on this, I also started to think at one point). BUT-- the Peruvian fish turned out not to be rivulatus, so it's been named stalsbergi. The Ecuador fish is rivulatus.
There's also another similar, reportedly slightly smaller, fish from Ecuador: Andinoacara blombergi.
As for rivulatus not deserving the name? From the article I linked above: "The fish got the name "terror" for good reason, though. They were far too aggressive to pair up and spawn, even in a large tank, and the partial divider method did not work for them as it can for other large, aggressive neo-tropical cichlids." I've had wild rivulatus and mine wanted to fight everything, even at 2 inches, including fish twice and three times their size. Comparing aggression of lfs green terrors to wild or F1 stalsbergi, or to wild rivulatus, is apples and oranges.
MFK is the only place I have heard people debate that the rivulatus is the true green terror even after most people have just been told stalsbergi was. Anywhere else everyone likes to automatically correct rivulatus name callers that the stalsbergi is true though a lot of them have never kept either. Alf Stalsberg is active of Facebook and one the biggest authorities I know of that refers to the true as stalsbergi, though I don't know his explanation behind it.
I'd like to see evidence poitning one way or the other although pointless it seems. I believe the rivulatus wether true or not has taken the title and where it should remain. It's just a common name, then printed in magazines now posted over social media. I prefer to see something more factual than what someone referred to it in a magazine once upon a time. Until then neither can be called true in my eyes and there's only rivulatus and stalsbergi
I'd like to see evidence poitning one way or the other although pointless it seems. I believe the rivulatus wether true or not has taken the title and where it should remain. It's just a common name, then printed in magazines now posted over social media. I prefer to see something more factual than what someone referred to it in a magazine once upon a time. Until then neither can be called true in my eyes and there's only rivulatus and stalsbergi
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I wouldn't be so fast about the wild caught fish, you keep some too.
Names are weird. I mean look at flowerhorn
I do think cichlid comms are difficult to work out and sometimes fish die unfortunately. Sometimes you never expect it to happen
The 29 gallon reference was nothing to do with you. That was aimed at Tahn, who thinks it is ok to house a Gt in 29 gallons.
I also think that someone who has achieved so much with cichlids, as you put it,should have been more cautious.
Stalsbergi has a notorious reputation for being extreamly territorial.
I would never have tried to integrate this species into a community in the first place.
I can understand you can loose one or two fish to sudden bursts of aggression.
Loosing 4 suggests someone took their eye off the ball.
If you must try to mix fish like stalsbergi into a community (something I would not recommend trying)Then the keeper must be extra vigilant.
