"Double Spotted" Acarichthys Heckelii?

[JK47]

I have been searching for pictures online for another Acarichthys Heceklii with the same double spot on left flank and have yet to find one. It's displayed at all times and does not fade. Have other heckelii owners experienced this or have a similar specimen? The male in the below photo's is the one with the spot. Only of the group to have it. I have 3 more coming from Rapps at the end of the month to finish the group but I can't help but notice that I have not seen another with the same markings???

**click on pics for very high res but they are not great, just took some quick pics at feeding time**

Male on top, female on bottom.


Close up on left flank.


Blurry photo but you can see the right flank of the male. Not even a trace of an additional spot...


What do you guys think? Have you seen this before?

 

[japes]

Very common in Heckelii, one of my males even had an array of 3 spots on one side, and a standard size and shape spot on the opposite. Double spots are a common trait in many Eartheaters, it's not genetic - Ed Burress and I both have male Orange Heads with double body spots (see my avatar - and his are F0), he assures me that his do not produce abnormally high amounts of double spotted fry.

While I personally don't think it's the most attractive negative trait, in the grand scheme of "deformities" it's very minor. Don't worry about it

 

[JK47]

Very common in Heckelii, one of my males even had an array of 3 spots on one side, and a standard size and shape spot on the opposite. Double spots are a common trait in many Eartheaters, it's not genetic - Ed Burress and I both have male Orange Heads with double body spots (see my avatar - and his are F0), he assures me that his do not produce abnormally high amounts of double spotted fry.

While I personally don't think it's the most attractive negative trait, in the grand scheme of "deformities" it's very minor. Don't worry about it

Thanks Japes. I have been looking for another with a similar pattern out of curiosity and couldn't find one. This male is F0 and also has a healed injury on the lip as well (previous to my ownership that you can see in the pics). The dorsal filaments are very nice on this fish so it kind of makes up for it in my opinion but my opinion is often wrong .

The thing that got me was that eartheaters.com says there are two species of Acarichthys Heckelii (one with a pointed snout and one without) so I can't help but look for differences in my fish to make sure I'm not mixing species down the line.

 

[japes]

The thing that got me was that eartheaters.com says there are two species of Acarichthys Heckelii (one with a pointed snout and one without) so I can't help but look for differences in my fish to make sure I'm not mixing species down the line.

This is true, you appear to have the rounder headed variety (no pointed snout).

Compare your shots above to my old male who was the pointed snout variety.

 

[jgentry]

MrWhiskers on here has one with a double spot. YOu see them from time to time.

 

[JK47]

This is true, you appear to have the rounder headed variety (no pointed snout).

Compare your shots above to my old male who was the pointed snout variety.

Thanks Japes. I'll check with Jeff before ordering the other 3 to make sure they are the rounded snout veriety. The 3 I have are all F0 I have cherry plucked at different times. I pulled this guy out of a tank with adult JD at the LFS which is where the lip injury came from.

JD, thanks for the heads up, I'll search for Mrwhiskers pics. I must have missed them.

 

[peathenster]

MrWhiskers on here has one with a double spot. YOu see them from time to time.

I believe Ken imported the one MrWhiskers has last spring. So it seems like this trait is present in the natural population. Would be interesting to figure out the locality.

 

[Sarah88]

seeing all these awesome eartheaters is kind of tempting me to switch out my stock... NICE fish everyone!!