Geophagus pellegrini

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I recently picked up some pelligrinis that were obviously steinies because pelligrinis don't have red humps. I have heard pelligrinis are incredibly difficult to care for and require some current and very well oxygenated water. They are said to be much more aggressive and difficult to breed. Apparently so difficult to keep alive and breed that they are almost unheard of in the hobby. This is all hear say so take it with a grain of salt but I would make an attempt to educate yourself about the appearance of the true pelligrini the best you can. You should probably go buy those fish right now though just in case. here is a decent informative link.
http://www.fishchannel.com/media/freshwater-aquariums/species-info/demonfish/more-demonfish.aspx.pdf
 
I went and picked them up this morning.

Will post pictures later. :)

The guy in the store said they bred them themselves, and i stressed out how hard to obtain and how rare these fish are, but he said that they were pellegrini's, so i just picked them up and now we'll see what you guys say. i'm 50/50 atm, but even steiny's are nice fish, so i won't be too dissapointed.
 
I took a few shots at the store, but they are really hard to make out, since it was with my cellphone.

I will see if i can get some clearer shots up once they have settled in, in the new tank.

What do you guys make of them so far? *crosses fingers*

pelle.jpg

pelle1.jpg

pelle3.jpg
 
They look like my steindachneri; however, my males are just under 2" and have a considerable amount of red on their heads. Fact is, if they were easy to tell apart I doubt we'd be having this discussion. Difficulty lies in the fact that so few have any thing to compare it to. Here are the pics available from www.cichlidae.com:

pic_show-1.php.jpeg

pic_show.php.jpeg
 
I think it is more of that the collectors are listing them as pellegrini and the stores that get them in don't know enough to tell the difference or in this case just don't care. Pellegrini should have a yellow color and a half bar right about 2/3 back on there body. If they don't look like that they are not pellegrini.

HrHagel, did the owner claim that some were steiny's and these were pellegrini? Or did he claim that he raised them and they were all pellegrini?
 
He claimed that there were both pellegrini's and steiny's in the tank, and that they were bred from his private collection.

Oh well, i guess only time will shed more light into this matter, as they mature a bit more. But they definatly do not look like the steiny's in the tank. there is no red on theire heads, and no hump compared to the steiny's.

But obviously i am aware that chances are that they are just steiny's, and i have been bull****ted.

Edit: But i can't say that it wasn't worth the shot :)
 
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