So I thought pikes at this size couldn’t be ID’d as they are too similar in striping as juveniles.A huge batch like that is more likely sp Venezuela. I've seen 2 variants, one that stays grey all their life and the other has yellow in the underside of the body and cheeks with the females also having pink in the belly along with the yellow.
I still highly doubt it's strigata based on the look. Those juveniles share the same characteristic as juvenile vennies that have been imported for so long. I've seen them called black line striped pike, and they still grew up as vennies. I haven't seen proof that juveniles that look like those in the pic grow up to be strigata. I've only seen 1 picture of what is reported to be juvenile strigata, and it had a faint gold humeral spot. Not all juveniles or sub-adults of the lugubris group look the same.So I thought pikes at this size couldn’t be ID’d as they are too similar in striping as juveniles.
I understand that adult strigata have a orangish/yellowish fade on their body so I thought that the completely yellow bodies on these fish deserved a second look.
This is a wild fish LFS and gets their shipments from places like Taiwan and Singapore. Singapore’s jzx received two shipments of Crenicichla sp. Xingu 1 in the last three months which I believe is banned from export, so maybe something like a strigata is possible.
Thanks, that was a very clear explanation.I still highly doubt it's strigata based on the look. Those juveniles share the same characteristic as juvenile vennies that have been imported for so long. I've seen them called black line striped pike, and they still grew up as vennies. I haven't seen proof that juveniles that look like those in the pic grow up to be strigata. I've only seen 1 picture of what is reported to be juvenile strigata, and it had a faint gold humeral spot. Not all juveniles or sub-adults of the lugubris group look the same.
Tawain and Singapore could have cracked the code in breeding Xingu 1. All it takes is a few couples from a shipment.