Breed of frontosa
- Thread starter Ashfro
- Start date
Not much on frontosas.
I could take an educated guess, but why bother when we can just ask
neutrino
neutrino
How many do you have total? The photos make them look like Burundi, mostly. One of them I wouldn't mind seeing a clearer photo of when he's lighter, not sure what I'm seeing on the head-- in the 2nd and 4th photo he's the second from the top. Occasionally a gibberosa can darken and/or grey out in a certain mood and it's hard to distinguish exactly what kind of forehead they have; in that color phase they can fool you in a photo, a Zaire can look Tanzanian or a Zaire or Tanz can look almost Burundi-- or it could have a hybrid, they're out there. The two smaller toward the background of the second photo almost look like 'red' or 'copper band' frontosa-- essentially Burundi that are line bred-- the 'copper' bands can vary in actual color according to individual and mood. But I've also seen younger that Burundi occasionally wash out and almost look like a so called red frontosa. So, again, would need better photos.
At least in those photos they look suspicious to me. It's subtle, but the middle bar looks Burundi-ish to me, along with color on the body and face. If it wasn't for the hints of a Zaire mask, they'd look Burundi to me. With the mask I suspect hybrid. Owner may be acting in good faith according to what he was told by his source, but I wouldn't buy them thinking they were pure Zaire.
Gibberosa have 6 bands (or bars), not 5 plus. The eye stripe counts as a band, so there are either 6 or 7 bands (7 banded Kigoma). Kigoma are considered to have 7 bars, though the first is more of an eye mark and cheek patch. Forums or articles calling it 5 bands plus an eye stripe are out of step with their current description by Takahashi and associates, who classified gibberosa as a separate species and classified the 7 band Kigoma as C. frontosa and not a 3rd species.
https://www.researchgate.net/figure...ntosa-HUMZ-128573-B-seven-band_fig1_226851857
While I'm on the subject, there is no sp. North as some people call them, and never was, except in the minds of some hobbyists and others who expected Kigoma and Burundi to be classified as separate species-- didn't happen, Takahashi looked at this and said there's too much overlap in characteristics to separate them, so they are still the same species. "Sp. North" isn't mentioned on taxanomic sites like fishbase, not even as an invalid synonym.
In normal color you can distinguish Zaire from Tanzanian without much trouble (not many Zambian variants around anymore). As I say, though, Zaire can get in an occasional color mood where the mask washes out and looks almost Tanz. Zaire variants are hard to tell apart, especially these days after moba have been collected from more than one location, none of them actually at Moba, and recent kapampa probably not from kapampa, etc.
Gibberosa have 6 bands (or bars), not 5 plus. The eye stripe counts as a band, so there are either 6 or 7 bands (7 banded Kigoma). Kigoma are considered to have 7 bars, though the first is more of an eye mark and cheek patch. Forums or articles calling it 5 bands plus an eye stripe are out of step with their current description by Takahashi and associates, who classified gibberosa as a separate species and classified the 7 band Kigoma as C. frontosa and not a 3rd species.
https://www.researchgate.net/figure...ntosa-HUMZ-128573-B-seven-band_fig1_226851857
While I'm on the subject, there is no sp. North as some people call them, and never was, except in the minds of some hobbyists and others who expected Kigoma and Burundi to be classified as separate species-- didn't happen, Takahashi looked at this and said there's too much overlap in characteristics to separate them, so they are still the same species. "Sp. North" isn't mentioned on taxanomic sites like fishbase, not even as an invalid synonym.
In normal color you can distinguish Zaire from Tanzanian without much trouble (not many Zambian variants around anymore). As I say, though, Zaire can get in an occasional color mood where the mask washes out and looks almost Tanz. Zaire variants are hard to tell apart, especially these days after moba have been collected from more than one location, none of them actually at Moba, and recent kapampa probably not from kapampa, etc.
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