Geophagus ID

[Mythic Figment]

Thanks for your input.

I managed to get some pics which show off the stress bars a bit better, maybe this will help in the ID and if not i suppose I will have to be patient and wait and see as they grow!

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After seeing the stress bars a little clearer, I will jump on the "not a red head" bandwagon. I will do some digging and see what I can find.


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[Bonzo1]

young from our group at 2-2.5"

 

[ryansmith83]

That's a tricky one.

They are definitely not orange heads. Orange heads have iridescent blue horizontal stripes in an orange tail. These fish appear to have a more spotted tail.

The bars don't appear solid but bifurcated. That, the lack of facial markings, and the spotted tail, plus the fact that the pelvic fins and chest are showing a bit of orange color, make me want to say G. neambi. In G. neambi, the midlateral spot falls on the fourth vertical bar, and the vertical bar is usually split above and below the spot. There seems to be a lot of disagreement about what's actually G. neambi. I see online that there are several Geo keepers in the UK who are breeding what they call G. neambi, but the fish don't always fit the official description of the species. Here is what Cichlid Room Companion says about G. neambi:

The lack of head markings distinguishes Geophagus neambi from G. grammepareius, G. taeniopareius, G. harreri, G. argyrostictus, and G. gottwaldi which exhibit a complete infra-orbital stripe, and from G. dicrozoster, G. winemilleri, G. brachybranchus, and G. proximus, which exhibit a black preopercular marking. Preserved specimens of Geophagus neambi can be distinguished from all other Geophagus species without head markings by the possession of eight or nine vertical, parallel bars along the flank, the bar containing mid-lateral spot bifurcate above and below mid-lateral spot (vs. bars absent in G. megasema, G. camopiensis, and G. altifrons; four in G. surinamensis and G. parnaibae, and six in G. abalios and G. brokopondo). Additionally the bar 4 containing the mid-lateral spot (vs. bar 3), followed by bifurcate or almost divided bars (vs. solid bars), and breeding adults with bright orange chest (vs. breeding adults with red bright orange chest, see López-Fernández & Taphorn, 2004: fig.4) differs G. neambi from G. abalios. From G. brokopondo, G. sveni is further distinguished by the conspicuous bifurcate vertical bars (vs. faint solid bars).

Geophagus neambi also differs from the sympatric and syntopic Geophagus sveni by the presence of eight or nine conspicuous bifurcated vertically bars (vs. five solid bars); live specimens with anterior portions of horizontal stripes slightly more orange than the posterior portions (vs. anterior portions conspicuous reddish and posterior portions orange) and three iridescent blue vertical spots absent on preopercele (vs. presence of such spots on preopercule). (From Lucinda et al, 2010).

 

[shawe1]

That's a tricky one.

They are definitely not orange heads. Orange heads have iridescent blue horizontal stripes in an orange tail. These fish appear to have a more spotted tail.

The bars don't appear solid but bifurcated. That, the lack of facial markings, and the spotted tail, plus the fact that the pelvic fins and chest are showing a bit of orange color, make me want to say G. neambi. In G. neambi, the midlateral spot falls on the fourth vertical bar, and the vertical bar is usually split above and below the spot. There seems to be a lot of disagreement about what's actually G. neambi. I see online that there are several Geo keepers in the UK who are breeding what they call G. neambi, but the fish don't always fit the official description of the species. Here is what Cichlid Room Companion says about G. neambi:

Thanks for the info, an interesting read. Funny you mention G. neambi as, at the moment, these are looking like the closet match to my Geo's