Cichlid ID.

[maxstillen]

Your welcome

 

[Trimapit]

Definitely a low grade red dragon FH. If the dorsal fin has black... It is probably a female.

 

[Blackwaterlover97]

I bought these as Cichlasoma maculicauda (Vieja black belt) I can understand in a lot of fishes it’s hard to I’d when juvenile these guys are roughly inch in a half but I have this pit in my stomach that tells me they are not Cichlasoma maculicauda can anyone who has more experience with Viejas help me out here? Thank you

 

[duanes]

Blackwaterlover97, it may be to soon to tell, but the long horizontal band, is a bit uncharacteristic in maculacuada, so that pit may be good intuition. Black belts tend to have a vertical midbody band.
Looks a body shape more like something from the fenestra, zonatus, guttalatus clade when young, if it is a true species
Here are some other young Vieja to compare, none look close to me though
young bifasciatta

young melanurum

young breidhori

 

[Blackwaterlover97]

I had a feeling thank you and it’s starting to look like they might be breidhori I’m looking forward to grow these guys out and see the really ID how ever it took me some time to fined some “black belts” it would be a little bit of a bummer lol but still all stunning fish

 

[duanes]

There was a time, about 10 or 15 years ago where Black Belts were everywhere, I had a hard time giving spawns away.
They can be so aggressive, and get so large once mature, everyone was turning them into LFSs in my area.
To be keep with other cichlids, you need at least a 300 gallon tank, and forget any plants. Mine would eat plants most other cichlids would ignore.

 

[Blackwaterlover97]

I don’t plan on keeping these guys forever but I am going to build a heated pool pond I may just throw them in there and have a monster cichlid pond I like giving my cichlids the opportunity to grase on the plants at will