The seller insists it's a gatf and that he sells a dozen of gatf and vatf a year. I asked for a more clear picture so I'm waiting for him to send it.
Can anyone ID this ATF and Paraya
- Thread starter DayumDanny
- Start date
I got your name wrong in my post but I knew you would call it...
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I'm not worried about it! If I got my britches in a bunch every time someone got that tongue twister wrong I'd probably have been banned by now! LOL
Of all the ATFs I don't see goliath in this guy at all. The snout/mouth is way too pointed to be a goliath. Look in the ID threads and you'll see why we all are saying not likely a goliath. If he sends a better pic that shows different, then by all means post it up and we can take a look at the new pic, but this pic doesn't suggest goliath to me.
Yeah after I asked the guy to take more clear pictures he told me "after looking at it carefully it's not a Goliath but some other species"
I've read all the ATF threads and when small they seem to look all the same, and I can only tell them apart by the stripes.
I've read all the ATF threads and when small they seem to look all the same, and I can only tell them apart by the stripes.
I was the same way at first, the more you look at them the more you'll notice the differences. They become much more apparent after 6-7" though, they are very similar looking at 3". To me, the shape of the jaw/snout is the best way to ID at that size. Look at pics of a known goliath and you'll see what I mean. The GATFs have a very blunt end to their jaw, almost dolphin like. The others taper to a sharp point.
Scomb and i would say Tatf on the tiger. Deff not a Gatf
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At that size, and especially in the light substrate, light size, well lighted tanks that they're kept in in fish stores, its likely none of them will show stripes.
I'm calling this guy a vittatus due to the shape of the jaw. A tanzaniae will have the same general body plan as a vittatus, but with a more massive build. Tatfs have the body plan of a vittatus with the proportions of a goliath. The reason for this is simple in concept but convoluted in practice. Let me explain.
In the Congo river watershed, the dominant ATF is, obviously, the goliath. Goliaths are sympatric with vittatus in the Congo, and as such they are larger and more powerfully built.
In the eastward flowing rivers of Tanzania, we find the dominant ATF is the tanzaniae, which is, genetically, very closely related to the vittatus complex. They are directly descended from the vittatus complex via allopatric speciation. They went on to fill the same ecological niche as the Goliaths fill in the westward flowing rivers. Basically, the tatf is a vittatus that is trying its best to be a Goliath. lol Also in the eastward flowing rivers is the brevis, which is being supressed by the tanzaniae. In these rivers, the brevis fills the same ecological niche as the tanzaniae and doesn't get as big as it does in the rest of its range....
And in the Nile and other very northern rivers, we have as the dominant ATF... the brevis! In this range, the brevis can attain sizes approaching tanzaniae and moderately sized adult Goliaths. They can get well over 20 pounds. In the range where brevis is the dominant species, the lesser ATF species is forskahlii. As forskahlii has no range where it is the dominant species, it is by far the smallest. Where as the other four species can have individuals well over 25 pounds, the fatf world record fish is a whole whopping nine pounds.
In the rivers of southern Africa we have three different subspecies of vatf that are awaiting description. These fish are the aforementioned "vittatus complex". Ironically enough, all three of these populations are being suppressed by other large predators, such as Cornish Jacks and large Clarias.
