I stopped into an LFS that I pass by whenever I visit home buy have never checked out (they had a "Freshwater fish: Buy one get one FREE!" sign in their window). As with most LFS, most of their stock consisted of livebearers, goldfish, and tetras with a limited selection of tetras.
I didn't see anything that I particularly liked (or wouldn't immediately be gobbled up by my tanks' current inhabitants) aside from a convict with barely any stripes, but 3 huge spots on each side, LEMON yellow fins, a flourescent blue chin, a bright orange belly AND trailers. I understand that this kind of enthuism about a convict may seem to be in excess, but it was really, really pretty and for $2, why not?
I didn't see a darned thing else that I wanted to get, but it was buy one get one... so I asked the employee to bag the other fish that, although clearly not a convict, was labled as such.
After spending almost an hour trying to get a decent shot to identify this mystery fish, I discovered my camera's data cable had shorted out. After doing a google search for "cichlid" and sifting through the pictures for something that look as close as possible to my new fish, I came up with these and am now pretty sure it's a black belt cichlid:
http://www.aqua-fish.net/imgs/fish1/black-belt-cichlid-profile.jpg
http://media.photobucket.com/image/black%20belt%20cichlid/Blacklabel_2008/Fish/Cichlids/100_0035.jpg
I've never seen one in a fish store nor have I seen them for sale by any online fish retailers. How common are these guys and what do they normally go for? He's somewhere between 2" and 3" right now.
I didn't see anything that I particularly liked (or wouldn't immediately be gobbled up by my tanks' current inhabitants) aside from a convict with barely any stripes, but 3 huge spots on each side, LEMON yellow fins, a flourescent blue chin, a bright orange belly AND trailers. I understand that this kind of enthuism about a convict may seem to be in excess, but it was really, really pretty and for $2, why not?
I didn't see a darned thing else that I wanted to get, but it was buy one get one... so I asked the employee to bag the other fish that, although clearly not a convict, was labled as such.
After spending almost an hour trying to get a decent shot to identify this mystery fish, I discovered my camera's data cable had shorted out. After doing a google search for "cichlid" and sifting through the pictures for something that look as close as possible to my new fish, I came up with these and am now pretty sure it's a black belt cichlid:
http://www.aqua-fish.net/imgs/fish1/black-belt-cichlid-profile.jpg
http://media.photobucket.com/image/black%20belt%20cichlid/Blacklabel_2008/Fish/Cichlids/100_0035.jpg
I've never seen one in a fish store nor have I seen them for sale by any online fish retailers. How common are these guys and what do they normally go for? He's somewhere between 2" and 3" right now.
