ID this vieja please

[FishKing5]

So finally decided to rescue this poor guy from the fish store who has been in the same 30 gallon tank since a year ago when I first saw him so not real sure how long he really has been in there. It looks kind of zonatus or coatz to me or possibly a synspilum zonatus hybrid or something in the sort. Pic was taken right after i put him in my 300 gallon. Should start to develop better now in a much bigger tank with high quality food and a lot of water changes. It'll be fun to see how he turns out. He's about 11 to 12 inches. Very laid back fish as of now. I think he looks mostly zonatus to me. Will get a better pic when he settles in more

 

[kno4te]

Stanzzzz7

 

[Stanzzzz7]

It's always a hard call with veija of unknown origin. Even with fish that look true to form it's really just an optimistic guess.
This fish does not look true to form to my eyes.
The colouring in the head suggests fenastratus, bifasciatus or melanura but the lateral line looks wrong for any of these species.
It's easy to just say it's a hybrid but in this case,I think it is.
An attractive fish none the less. Nice to see a rescue story and good luck with it.

 

[baxtor_lex]

I have to admit, I’m leaning towards a bifasciatus nice fish either way!

 

[the animal guy]

So finally decided to rescue this poor guy from the fish store who has been in the same 30 gallon tank since a year ago when I first saw him so not real sure how long he really has been in there. It looks kind of zonatus or coatz to me or possibly a synspilum zonatus hybrid or something in the sort. Pic was taken right after i put him in my 300 gallon. Should start to develop better now in a much bigger tank with high quality food and a lot of water changes. It'll be fun to see how he turns out. He's about 11 to 12 inches. Very laid back fish as of now. I think he looks mostly zonatus to me. Will get a better pic when he settles in more

View attachment 1280493

Vieja synspilum x vieja bifa

 

[Stanzzzz7]

Vieja synspilum x vieja bifa

I don't think there is any evidence to come to such a confident conclusion.
Just guess work.

 

[duanes]

Without providence there is no way to know just by looking what it is. So one must assume it is a hybrid.
Here is a pure bifas to compare.


one of the main indicators of bifas, is a separate dark splotch/marking above the lateral line, which is not in the OPs pic.

 

[Gourami Swami]

No way to tell for sure, looks like a hybris to me as well though, doesn't look enough like any purebred vieja. The blue on the side definitely makes me think there is some zonatus or Coatzacoalcos in there/

 

[the animal guy]

I don't think there is any evidence to come to such a confident conclusion.
Just guess work.

I agree wit that..

But if one knows how to recognize them cichlid fish the way I can, they'd have a better hypotheses ..

There are more folks that are truly knowledgeable and will see it.

The red head, blue middle, and yellow rear; any knowledgeable person will surely see a Synspilum but not a pure one because the black line on the body that is placed low and bends up with dark at the top middle, that's bifa traits mixed in with Synspilum and together looks like that... Dominant Synspilum traits on this hybrid

 

[Stanzzzz7]

Well I bow to your superior knowledge.
If i were asked, what veija does this most resemble,my answer would be melanura.
But that was not the question.
The question was to Id the fish.
We can't I'd the fish. You can't I'd the fish,even knowing veija as well as you say you do.
We can all throw out guesses.
We know nothing of the op's fish. We know nothing of the fishes parents,and we know nothing of their parents and so on.
The fish could of crossed many times during its lineage.
It's a little naive to presume we know what this fish is made up from just because we see certain traits of a true species.
You may be right in your assumption of biffa x melanura, chances are you could also be totally wrong.
Sometimes you need to know more about a subject than you think you know. Scratching the surface is not always enough.