Fish ID

[black_sun]

I was at a LFS today and they had a tank full of these beautiful fish (I think they are some kind of Cichlid, but I'm not sure) swimming amongst some albino plecos. I didn't know what they were and the employees couldn't give me much information on them.

So, I took some pictures with my phone and I hope someone can help me ID them and potentially give me some info on what they require so I can figure out if I need to rush back tomorrow before someone else buys them (or sadly, if I won't be able to keep them). Thanks!

That picture doesn't show it well, but when the dorsal fin was fully raised it was very spiky.

Same deal as above.

Here's what they listed as in the tank. But when I looked up the fish online, it showed me pictures of something grey with dark stripes (vertical, not horizontal like in the pictures above). Not a fish with brightly colored fins. Mislabeled maybe? Or an uncommon coloration of what's listed?

 

[Lupin]

Apistogramma cacatuiodes. These are indeed cockatoo dwarf cichlids. They're perfect community fish but make sure the tankmates are not too boisterous.

 

[BigDaddyMagnum]

agreed

 

[andyjs]

Yep, double red cockatoos. What did you google that got you pics of something with vertical stripes?

 

[black_sun]

Yep, double red cockatoos. What did you google that got you pics of something with vertical stripes?

I googled "apisto cacat." and it brought me first to these: http://www.petsolutions.com/Cockatoo-Cichlid+I35650+C40001578.aspx

And then a few of the sites below that one displayed similar pictures, with those dark stripes over the eyes and the fat vertical barring on the sides. I mean, there's light striping over the eyes on the ones I saw, but no where near as dark and the horizontal stripes on the ones I saw were real dark and right down the middle. I mean, I guess that could vary from fish to fish and with all the different breeding strains, right? The big thing was just that the pictures didn't have any color, they were all neutral colors like in that link's pictures.

 

[black_sun]

Question on the size, what is the adult size? As I'm bringing up sites on these fish I'm getting lots of different answers. For example, in my reply right above it says "10 inches" in the link but in another website I was looking at it says "3.5 with the females being smaller". And so forth... :\

 

[Lupin]

10 inches? Surely not 10 centimeters or 4 inches? The ones I've seen are 2.5 inches at most.

 

[black_sun]

10 inches? Surely not 10 centimeters or 4 inches? The ones I've seen are 2.5 inches at most.

Screenshot from Petsolutions -

2.5" seems to fall under "dwarf" a little more easily to me than 10", haha

 

[Lupin]

I find it funny the cichlid would grow that big.

I've never seen adult apistos that size.

 

[Camphilophus]

If I have to here cock-a-toitees at an auction on more time..