Acarichthys heckelii?

[Audaxcity]

So I found pictures and videos from the 2014 Taiwan Ornamental Fish Expo with this fish. They are definitely A. heckelii, but what the heck (get it?)

What did they do to the fish? Theres a giant kok, not to mention that its red even though there shouldn't be any red on the forehead.

 

[Gourami Swami]

gave it the ol' flowerhorn treatment. They have foods for the red, I am not sure about the kok. Might have given them some kind of surgery, I know they love to do cosmetic surgery on arowana over there

 

[Hendre]

gave it the ol' flowerhorn treatment. They have foods for the red, I am not sure about the kok. Might have given them some kind of surgery, I know they love to do cosmetic surgery on arowana over there

That's usually just fin clipping or removing fat from behind the eyes to stop drop-eye. Those cichlids may be hybrids?

 

[Audaxcity]

Doesn't look like a hybrid to me. It does have a shorter face and kok, but by all other means it looks like a threadfin acara.

If its a hybrid, the closest relative with naturally occuring kok are Geophagus, and they don't have koks nearly that size, but I don't believe they even interbreed within the genus, much less outside of it. There is no way it could be a flowerhorn hybrid. Right?

Maybe they got hormone injected?

 

[lunsforj]

I agree they look heckelii. The brasiliensis group get nuchal humps, so the genetics might be present. My guess would be a hormone treatment to stimulate hyper male characteristics.

 

[ryansmith83]

Hormones are way more likely than hybridization.