Black Nasty

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100% haitienensis.
fwiw I have also found that in juveniles the females grow faster and develop a nuchal hump before the males. particularly under 3". Then the males have a growth spurt. This species can and will be able to spawn at around the 3" size.
 
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100% haitienensis.
fwiw I have also found that in juveniles the females grow faster and develop a nuchal hump before the males. particularly under 3". Then the males have a growth spurt. This species can and will be able to spawn at around the 3" size.
I’m not saying not a black nasty I know it is but the one in the pic remind of a jaguar

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Although "Green Terror" may be appropriate if you try to house them with neons or guppies,, there are way more naturally aggressive cichlids that make Andinnoacara seem more like pussy cats than terrors.
Wayne Leibel on the early orange finned Andinacara rivulatus brought into the US in the 1970s:

Tropical Fish Hobbyist - May 2010 - Page 32-33 (tfhdigital.com)
They were breathtaking show stoppers! Who knew that an acara could be so spectacular?

These fish got the name "terror" for good reason, though. They were far too aggressive to pair up and spawn, even in a large tank; the males trashed any and all females and the partial divider method did not work for them as it can for other large aggressive neotropical cichlids. Finally young specimens were imported, and these proved affordable and amenable to captive spawning.
...I had wild A. rivulatus over 20 years ago-- from an importer in Florida, he's not around anymore. Got them at 2 inches, not bad af first, but by the time they were 3 inches mine wanted to fight everything... tried it and couldn't even put them in a tank full of African cichlids 2-3 times their size. Absolutely, there are tougher fish, but my little delinquents didn't think so. :)
 
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I think the common name come from females in spawning dress when protecting their fry, when guarding fry, they turn jet black and nothing in the immediate vicinity remains alive long
View attachment 1520366View attachment 1520367
But I must admit I find many common names ridiculous.
Although "Green Terror" may be appropriate if you try to house them with neons or guppies,, there are way more naturally aggressive cichlids that make Andinnoacara seem more like pussy cats than terrors.
And calling Herichthys carpintus a "Green Texas Cichlid also seems to me, an oxymoronic application, because they are not naturally found in Texas.
I think the Texas thing comes more from like "it's a green version of this thing", less "green cichlid from Texas"
 
I think the common name come from females in spawning dress when protecting their fry, when guarding fry, they turn jet black and nothing in the immediate vicinity remains alive long
View attachment 1520366View attachment 1520367
But I must admit I find many common names ridiculous.
Although "Green Terror" may be appropriate if you try to house them with neons or guppies,, there are way more naturally aggressive cichlids that make Andinnoacara seem more like pussy cats than terrors.
And calling Herichthys carpintus a "Green Texas Cichlid also seems to me, an oxymoronic application, because they are not naturally found in Texas.


Duanes - what are your thoughts on the following;
Two fish seem to have paired off. Defending a small rock pile vigorously (and cleaning the glass near the pile), both are 'koked up', one in particular. The issue is both fish are very black and is far more consistent with female coloration than male. The third haitiensis in the tank stays well clear and appears to be more of what you would expect coloration wise from a male.

I have attached a pic for reference of the 'pair'.

Possible that two females have paired and shunned the male? or even there are 3 females and two dominant ones have paired up?

or is it just that the male appears dark because the tank is dark - painted back and floor and is only a small fish at about 4-5".

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When mine first started spawning, they were only 3 to 4", and females do sport a hump.
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Female above
The colors in your photo make it look like they are both female, but I have also seen dark males, so that's not out of the range of possibilities.
With any cichlid, colors are often misleading, and can be unreliable in gender ID, and even species ID, because they are all such chameleons.
A cichlid of the same species in one river (or location) can have totally different colors than the same species in a river only a few miles away.
Take the Chico intermedia below, both the same species, but from different rivers.
1687257293934.png1687257335641.png
 
Thanks for the response Duanes.

I have had to shuffle some fish around and the trio of Nasties have found themselves in a much lighter tank and to no great surprise have changed colour very quickly to a much lighter colour. Still not 100% on sexes.

BN1.JPG
 
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