Distinct physiology amongst Thorichthys sp?

[Adhlc]

Is it just me or do Maculipinnis seem to almost be the 'false' Aureums?

Every time I order Aureums for the store, I always seem to get what look like Maculipinnis.

 

[flowerpower]

Precisely why I brought this up. I have a young spawning group of aureus now. They're wild(rules out hybrid), were collected in guatemala(rules out elioti?) but other than that I have no other means of telling them apart from their 'sister species' maculipinnis. I find it a bit frustrating and would love to be able to differentiate the two on my own. Takes a trained eye I guess.

 

[Ichy]

Good Question...likely to never have a good answer

here is some pics of my fish ...lets see what y'all think they are

they are ellioti and aureus ...

 

[cichlid2006]

whats the aggression like with aureus?

are they aggressive to conspecifics?
do they like to be kept in groups, if so how many minimum?
are they good kept singly?
are the pics photo shopped or are they true to the actual fish colour?

it looks like one of the main differences is in the vertical black bars in the aureus, best way to tell is to get the pics side by side(aureus/ellioti):

 

[cichlid2006]

the main differences im noting:
- the mouth shape with aureus looking like a similar mouth shape to the eartheaters and ellioti more rounded.
- the deeper red on the aureus belly area and top of the dorsal.
- the black barring on the aureus is bolder than the ellioti.
- the ellioti seems to have less visible barring but a bold black spot midway along the body.
- a lot more blue spotting on the tail base and thicker blue lines on the rays of the tail.
- areus has more blue on the rays of the anal fin with thicker more continuous lines whereas ellioti has blue spots on the rays of the anal fin.
- rays of the aureus dorsal fin are continuous and thick blue lines where the ellioti's dorsal is more spotted blue on the rays.
- lips look thicker on the aureus.

this is just comparing the 2 side by side but i suppose some or all of what im seeing could be dependant on care levels, stress, dominance, genetics, etc.
hope that helps a little, this is the first time ive tried stuff like this, outside of GT/blue acaras, so i apologise in advance if its useless.

 

[cichlidfish]

maculipnnis is ellioti

Yeah I know. At first I thought it was about this ^.

 

[cichlidfish]

the main differences im noting:
- the mouth shape with aureus looking like a similar mouth shape to the eartheaters and ellioti more rounded.
- the deeper red on the aureus belly area and top of the dorsal.
- the black barring on the aureus is bolder than the ellioti.
- the ellioti seems to have less visible barring but a bold black spot midway along the body.
- a lot more blue spotting on the tail base and thicker blue lines on the rays of the tail.
- areus has more blue on the rays of the anal fin with thicker more continuous lines whereas ellioti has blue spots on the rays of the anal fin.
- rays of the aureus dorsal fin are continuous and thick blue lines where the ellioti's dorsal is more spotted blue on the rays.
- lips look thicker on the aureus.

this is just comparing the 2 side by side but i suppose some or all of what im seeing could be dependant on care levels, stress, dominance, genetics, etc.
hope that helps a little, this is the first time ive tried stuff like this, outside of GT/blue acaras, so i apologise in advance if its useless.

Good comparison. Also ellioti has yellow dorsal and anal fins. Also aren't there a "gold" and "blue" varriations of aureus?

 

[Adhlc]

Good comparison. Also ellioti has yellow dorsal and anal fins. Also aren't there a "gold" and "blue" varriations of aureus?

I think those are the "Mixteco"

Good post cichlid2006