Have a question about Breeding GT's

[fobrinkle]

If I breed a Silver Saum with a Gold Saum is it considered a hybrid? I have a pair that have spawned twice in the last month in a community tank but the eggs get eaten. If they are not considered a hybrid then I think it would be worth my time to move them to a 55 that I have.
What I found is that they both go under the scientific name of Aequidens rivulatus. So I would assume the offspring would not be hybrids. Will I get both silver and gold saum fry?

 

[fobrinkle]

Can anyone help?

 

[Toby_H]

The way I understand this situation...

Aequidens rivulatus was imported many years ago and was given the nic name "Green Terror"... Then for whatever reason they became hard to find in the hobby...

At about that same time they started importing a very similar Cichlid which also fell under the same common name of "Green Terror". This fish was thought to also be a Aequidens rivulatus but has since been considered to be a different species, which has yet to be 'described' which includes being assigned a Latin name.

More recently, we are starting to seperate this new style of "Green Terror" into two categories: Gold Saum & Silver Saum.

So the Aequidens rivulatus is an officially described fish...
Gold Saums & Silver Saums are belived to be slightly different versions of a similar fish. In the future it is likely that they will be 'described' although we do not know if they will consider Silver & Gold one species or two.

If I didn't miss anything this would mean... we can't really answer your question. Since right now Silver Saum and GOld Saum aren't even officially a species... but in the future they will be... but we don't know if they'll be the same or not...

Fun stuff huh?

I've never been good at following the latest and greatest what the experts and officials are doing, so thee may have been a recent update to that...

 

[fobrinkle]

Now I'm even more confused!! Thanks though.

 

[FSM]

Gold and silver saums are the same species. I've got no clue what color you would end up with though.

A "true" green terror is completely different, and a lot less common. Irrelevant to your question though.

 

[Toby_H]

Gold and silver saums are the same species. I've got no clue what color you would end up with though.

On one hand I cannot say you are wrong… but on the other this isn’t right either…

Since neither Gold Saums nor Silver Saums are descried… we do not know if they will eventually be described as one species or two. There is a very good chance they are eventually described as one species in which case the above quote is correct, but until they are described it is only an assumption that they are one species (unless you know something I don’t know).

Although I confess I don’t understand how/why we have had a fish in the hobby for nearly 20 years and it hasn’t been described. Slackers…

 

[fobrinkle]

Yeah slackers! Just do your job.

 

[Ak-Kronic]

i have a book, don't know the author off the top of my head, but it descibed the silver saum as coming from peru and the gold orinating from equador. true GT Aq rivulatus look more like the silver saum. and they put the abreviation sp. between Aq sp. rivulatus. so i think they are just diff color morphs of the same species. they eat diff things for generations and they will attain diff colors pink/red from shrimp or blood worms. white wouldn't necc be lack of good food just food w/o pigment to alter their finnage. just my opinion