GT or BA? Not so sure what I have now...

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TrikkyMakk

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Feb 3, 2008
1,580
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Tampa, Florida
I have what I think is a Green Terror but I have since seen some pics of some Blue Acaras and have noticed that their eyes get black just like my fish. I posted a few weeks ago about his eyes going black and no one really answered too well.

I know they are very similar in appearance so is there a surefire way to tell just exactly what I have? I will post a pic when I can.

Do Blue Acaras eyes turn black when they are frenzied or feisty? Do Green Terrors?
 
My GT gets some black coloring along his lateral line and face, but I don't think his actual eyes ever look black.
 
Blue Acara, though photos/video would make it a bit more substantial.

The black eyes set me off, here's a video of mine copping some aggression from my old Firemouth pair, check the eyes and the vivid striping out ;). When I first saw this happen it actually reminded me of Ulrich Matthes, who played Joseph Goebbels in Downfall. Freaky.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXWc1sD09Wc
 
pics?
 
I've had a young female GT 2", another female GT at 4" (for like 1 week until her potential mate forced me to bring her back to the LFS) and a male at 4 1/2". Both females got similar striping when stressed or chased. Cichlids change their colors a LOT according to their moods. A dead giveaway for a GT is a "shine" along the back half of their body where you can see the adult patterns, as well as the gold "Saum" along their dorsal and caudal (tail) fins. My young female had that "shine" whenever she turned around in the light. It seemed pretty obvious to me after a couple of weeks.
 
Some pics of Mr. Nasty (sorry about the quality but phone cameras suck):
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I took these before I fed him in the morning so you can see those black eyes I am talking about. When he settles down they go back to normal.
 
That's a GT, can only just see the full caudal fin in the first photo, but judging by head shape, facial markings and general demeanor (Extended pelvic fins, GT's seem to swim with them out much more than Blue Acaras) it's a Gold Saum.

Hope you had planned to get a GT ;)
 
Agree, GT.
 
So Blue Acara and Green Terror both have black spots like he does and black evil eyes when he gets frenzied? He is quite an interesting fish, regardless.

http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/cichlid/blueacara.php

Also, check:

http://www.wetpetz.com/greenterror.htm

It states that the dorsal fin in Blue Acara is red tipped all the way down and Green Terror is now. I think my fish is red tipped all the way down.

No wonder these fish were considered the same species for a long time.
 
It's definitely a GT.

There's also a few different 'types' of Blue Acara, some will be more stocky with a slightly white tipped dorsal and a much more vivid black and white, and some will have a slightly red sheen in their fins and have a yellow or closer to orange line along the tips of their dorsal and about 1/3 of the way down their caudal fins.

I've kept both, it just depends on their location. What you've got there is most certainly a Aequidens sp. Gold Saum. Photos and descriptions can often be confusing and seem much alike, but after you've kept one or the other, you can quite easily tell the difference. Friend of mine has a 2-3" GT and it looks just like that.
 
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