Now here's my big question, any thoughts on this guy? Sold as winemilleri but i don't think that is correct.
Difference between winemilleri, altifron and abalio
- Thread starter ChefBrian75
- Start date
It's lacking any kind of preopercular mark, characteristic of both altifrons and abalios.
In addition to a preopercular mark, winemilleri will only have four vertical stress bars.
In addition to a preopercular mark, winemilleri will only have four vertical stress bars.
Omg.. Too much to digest, yet the most comprehensive and detailed information on earth eaters I've ever seen. I know it's an old post, but I ll always want to refer back to this.
Thank you so much! B bigguapote
Thank you so much! B bigguapote
Its interesting that not that long ago, many of these species were just considered "location variant" of of just a few species.
Listed as "clades" of altifrons, for example.
I have the book published in 2000, where they are listed by river location
Listed as "clades" of altifrons, for example.
I have the book published in 2000, where they are listed by river location
Not sure how I originally missed this thread. Good info by bigguapote, but of course several species have been classified since. As to winemilleri and other cheek marked species, the marks don't necessarily show at small sizes, particularly with new in the tank individuals. In other words, no apparent cheek mark in a photo of a small individual isn't always a reliable diagnostic. With a few exceptions, geo species at small sizes are notoriously hard to distinguish from one another-- especially based on photos, since they can vary some with mood (spots, bars, and cheek marks may darken or lighten) and lighting can affect perceived color. With some species you have to let them grow a bit before you can expect anything more than a bunch guesses.
I'm not 100% sure all of these species are correctly pictured. I just spend 4 hours looking at different pictures across the web of winemilleri and the only one I think i found that looked really good was the one (really weird location) plantcatfish:
https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/image.php?species=geophagus_winemilleri&image_id=12792
The problem i'm running into is some of the stress bars appear to be faint or 'false' or simply mis-read due to bad lighting and people label a fish and then that label seems to stick and it gets passed on incorrectly
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There is also some concern (on my part) if there is variance in fishes. It seems that most dicrozoster have a 'y' after the spot in the vertical bars but do all dicrozoster have a 'y'; i've seen at least one abalios with the 'y' but is it really an abalios or did it cross breed with a dicrozoster. How the heck is a complete idiot like me suppose to figure all of this out.
Anyway i now have a bunch of dicrozoster instead of winemilleri but that's ok they love me just as much as a winemilleri would.
https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/image.php?species=geophagus_winemilleri&image_id=12792
The problem i'm running into is some of the stress bars appear to be faint or 'false' or simply mis-read due to bad lighting and people label a fish and then that label seems to stick and it gets passed on incorrectly
-
There is also some concern (on my part) if there is variance in fishes. It seems that most dicrozoster have a 'y' after the spot in the vertical bars but do all dicrozoster have a 'y'; i've seen at least one abalios with the 'y' but is it really an abalios or did it cross breed with a dicrozoster. How the heck is a complete idiot like me suppose to figure all of this out.
Anyway i now have a bunch of dicrozoster instead of winemilleri but that's ok they love me just as much as a winemilleri would.
This is either altifrons or (but unlikely) neambi. spotted tail, very small center blotch are the telltale here.
winemilleri and abalios have striped tails. winemilleri and dicrozoster will display a noticable black 'checkmark' on the lower gill plate
