Somebody wants me to take this 8-10in cichlid from a classroom 55 gallon community tank (I know -_-)…. I am just curious if anyone knows what it is? They told me convict but that is incorrect, I’m thinking some sort of geophagus… thanks guys!
Help me identify this cichlid please….
- Thread starter AzPharmD
- Start date
I appreciate that, if that’s correct that isnt going in my tank. They can just eat it.
Yes I agree, it is one of the Tilapines.
Hard to tell which species, because there are about 100, and differences are quite vague, and so many have hybridized.
My guess would be Oreochromis mossambicus, maybe a female, because of the breeding tube, the mouth shape and color.
I kept them in the early 60s, and they have been farmed all over the world as far back as the 40s.
But here are a couple other similar looking Tilapines.
Coptodon zillii
Saratherodon linnellii
Oreochromis tanganikae
Below a large one (about 20") in a canal near Everglades city FL
and below shoals of them inn a lake in Panama
and below a video taken in the Yucatan Mexico, they first appear at about 4 minutes in
Aktun Ha
Hard to tell which species, because there are about 100, and differences are quite vague, and so many have hybridized.
My guess would be Oreochromis mossambicus, maybe a female, because of the breeding tube, the mouth shape and color.
I kept them in the early 60s, and they have been farmed all over the world as far back as the 40s.
But here are a couple other similar looking Tilapines.
Coptodon zillii
Saratherodon linnellii
Oreochromis tanganikae
Below a large one (about 20") in a canal near Everglades city FL
and below shoals of them inn a lake in Panama
and below a video taken in the Yucatan Mexico, they first appear at about 4 minutes in
Aktun Ha
One of the interesting characteristics of Tilapines is how the shape of the mouth is often determined by the type of food available in whatever area they colonize.
When the Tilapine below, Stomatepia pindu evolved as an isolated species in Lake Barumbi mbu it became predatory upon fish fry, and aquatic insects, it developed a sort of Parachromis set of jaws, and the spots in the head area became receptors to help find prey.
as did its sister Tilapine species S. mariae
But another Tilapine in the same lake, from the same ancestor, the species Konia eisentraudti ,developed a different shaped mouth for eating fish eggs and algae
There is another Tilapine ancestor in the lake that adapted to eating freshwater sponges, Pungu maclerini .
Or.....from another tiny isolated lake, (Lake Bermin), where ancetral Coptodon zillii type was trapped, evolved into a similar looking but much smaller growing Coptodaon bythobates, an omnivore.
When the Tilapine below, Stomatepia pindu evolved as an isolated species in Lake Barumbi mbu it became predatory upon fish fry, and aquatic insects, it developed a sort of Parachromis set of jaws, and the spots in the head area became receptors to help find prey.
as did its sister Tilapine species S. mariae
But another Tilapine in the same lake, from the same ancestor, the species Konia eisentraudti ,developed a different shaped mouth for eating fish eggs and algae
There is another Tilapine ancestor in the lake that adapted to eating freshwater sponges, Pungu maclerini .
Or.....from another tiny isolated lake, (Lake Bermin), where ancetral Coptodon zillii type was trapped, evolved into a similar looking but much smaller growing Coptodaon bythobates, an omnivore.
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I’m going to recue it but it’s going in a 125 with my tiger Oscar’s…We will find out if it will make it.