Keyhole Cichlids ? ID my mystery cichlid please

[suresh2989]

Hi I bought 4 cichlids which was sold to me by one of the bigbox stores in Canada as Keyhole cichlids, as i was looking for them for a while couldn't pass up the chance, I bought them on first week of december 2022, now it's end of January 2023 in little over a month two of those have quadrupled in size and 2 of those have doubled in size, now its all good if i was having a Cichlid only community tank but mine is Community tank with Neons, Cardinal and Corydoras(lots of em), I want to know if these are Keyhole cichlids with 100% certainty if not I will rehome them.

I am asking this because even though they are peaceful with other smaller fishes when the light is on, I do not want to risk a bigger cichlid species in my peaceful community tank, also they bear no resemblance to any pictures of Keyhole cichlids that I find online.

All opinions welcome.

 

[Theos.dad]

The black horizontal line in the second pic makes me thing it's a dimerus cichlid.

 

[ryansmith83]

They’re not keyholes, they’re something Cichlasoma. Maybe dimerus, amazonarum, etc. They’ll eventually eat your neons, probably.

 

[duanes]

Agree with Ryan, I don't see a keyhole in the bunch
They look Cichlasoma, or rclosely elated Acara to me too.

Young Cichlasoma dimerus to compare, left juvie, older adult (about 5") right.
These are the Uruguayan variant, and very hardy, could take water temps down to low 50's F

 

[Mazan]

Same happened to me. In 2020, I ordered keyhole cichlids and got Cichlasoma amazonarum. And they did eventually eat a few Neón tetras and pencilfish before I moved them to another tank for safety. They grow up quickly and are very prolific!

Yours have 4 anal fin spines, so they could be C. amazonarum too, or C. Bimaculatum. I believe C. dimerus have 3 anal fin spines. I can’t remember off hand which others have 4, there are about 14 Cichlasoma species that look pretty similar especially when young.

 

[Mazan]

Here is one of mine...

 

[Milingu]

Not keyholes but still very rewarding fish to keep. They show a wide spektrum of fry care and are really good parents.
Here is a pair with fry that I saw last week at an LFS. The male still shows a bit of the black breeding dress.

 

[Mazan]

Yes they are very good and interesting parents - unfortunately that can be a disadvantage as they are not too popular.
Sometimes mine spawned on a leaf and moved it around. Once they put half the eggs on a leaf and half on a rock, one parent guarded each set. They would spawn again while still guarding the last lot of fry and the parents would take it in turns looking after the eggs and fry. Very interesting fish. Not compatible with neon tetras though.

 

[suresh2989]

They’re not keyholes, they’re something Cichlasoma. Maybe dimerus, amazonarum, etc. They’ll eventually eat your neons, probably.

Thank you for not mincing words, i gave them all to a Lfs.

 

[suresh2989]

Yes they are very good and interesting parents - unfortunately that can be a disadvantage as they are not too popular.
Sometimes mine spawned on a leaf and moved it around. Once they put half the eggs on a leaf and half on a rock, one parent guarded each set. They would spawn again while still guarding the last lot of fry and the parents would take it in turns looking after the eggs and fry. Very interesting fish. Not compatible with neon tetras though.
View attachment 1512059View attachment 1512060

Very interesting and mine behaved benevolently but not what I wanted in my setup sad to see them go hopefully my LFS will find proper homes.