They are real P. friedrichsthalii formerly known as P. loisellei.
The fish called as friedrichsthalii in the picture is P. multifasciatus.
Parachromis Folks - Looking for input -
- Thread starter dr exum
- Start date
The fish called as friedrichsthalii in the picture is P. multifasciatus.
The fish at the bottom are (or used to be) P. loiselle. The names of that species and freidrichsthali have been changed—not sure what the latest “final” decision is.
Tank size depends greatly on fish age and size. I bought RTM fry about 16 months ago and now have 3rd generation fry in a 55gal community tank. (Pics are two different motaguense mothers with fry, and one doesn’t have much color).
My favorite fish are the Harlequins, or Red Terrors, especially females. (Pics are a pair of 6-7 inch fish, by themselves in a 55, currently with about 200 fry).
They are beautiful, is there a way to get them to keep their color when not breeding?
Probably not full time, but you can have an impact, such as putting an aggressive fish in with her/them. My largest female has had intermittent great color since she was 6 months old or so, but changing frequently minute to minute (sometimes just a couple seconds).
I haven’t been able to figure out all the meanings of colors, but she doesn’t stand up to me, even with fry, and loses color if I put a hand in the tank. But a bigger green terror male (who used to dominate her), is afraid of her now, and caused her color to hit high intensity, when he was in the tank. Naturally while guarding young she is in breeding color most of the time, and the male has much more prominent vertical bars, just since hatching, maybe so he looks similar to her and more acceptable to the fry.
I believe rio blanco RTM males look similar in pattern to multifaciatus. Multifaciatus have more dark to light yellow coloration where the RTM males will have a vague reddish but pronounced brown color to them.
