exCichlasoma ornatum ... or gephyrum ... or what???

[notho2000]

I'm puzzled about this fish of mine. Of the original six, I have only one left, losing the others through "an unfortunate set of circumstances". It is now about 18 months old and at 5-6". It displays the colors in the photos constantly, but when younger, the bars were not as prominent. It is a very shy, almost reclusive fish, and was originally purchased as a WC 'ornatum'. But having checked other threads, it really doesn't look much like the so-called ornatums pictured, in that those do not have distinct vertical barring and have orange red colors in the fins, especially the tail. Could the barring in mine be a stress pattern? And the lack of orange pigments a 'location' issue? There are three pics of mine and then a picture from a thread on the ACA forum (DRE's fish) Can anyone tell me if it is the same species as Dre's and if it is a male or female? Thanks.

 

[notho2000]

For some reason, the pictures won't upload to the site. Something's obviously wrong. I'll try again shortly. Also when I try to access my threads or posts, I get this message:
connection to localhost:9312 failed (errno=111, msg=Connection refused)

 

[NorCaliCichlids]

I have what my seller was told by his people in columbia is Gephyrum vs the cf Ornatum. I'm curious what your pics are like as my 'gephyrum' are still only like 2-2.5"

 

[thinkbig]

Do yours look like these

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T217A using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

 

[cichlidfish]

Do yours look like these

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T217A using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

Can't view those either. The site was down earlier. I wonder if there are problems w/ the site.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app

 

[darth pike]

From what I've gathered when trying to research it, these new .cf ornatum that came into the hobby a few years ago are either really .cf gephyrum if you believe Oliver Lucanus or true gephyrum if you believe Kullander. But that is only based on observations and studying the type materials and not actual DNA paperwork done by anyone. Pretty much the only thing in agreement by the experts is the fact they are definitely not actual ornatum given the locations they were collected from.

 

[notho2000]

Here's the pics ... hopefully.

 

[Dinofan]

Here's the pics ... hopefully.
View attachment 964930

View attachment 964931

View attachment 964932

View attachment 964933

View attachment 964930

View attachment 964931

View attachment 964932

View attachment 964933

Notho, I have seven from the same group as yours. My fish looked like yours as they grew, but my two biggest males ended up looking eaxactly like the aca picture. About three weeks ago the dominant male killed the second biggest male. Since then he and a female have spawned twice. They just finished spawning this afternoon on a large piece of driftwood. They are simply stunning looking!! I believe I have 3 males and 3 females . I will try to take some pics but they are VERY skittish fish. They are in a 240 gallon ten foot long tank full of wood so hard to get decent pictures.

 

[kody929]

D Dinofan how do you distinguish between female and male. I was sold two as a male and female I'll post some crappy photos maybe it will help. 2x small one 3x Big one Have you had any fry yet?

 

[kody929]

J