I purchased some mystery fish from the lfs the other day. Two little fishies, obviously some sort of apistogramma, labeled "assorted dwarf cichlid". I can't tell yet if they're a pair. One's fins are more pointed than the other, but aside from that their coloring is identical.
The closest fish I've seen to them when searching online are juvenile borellii (but these fish have NO yellow/gold on them), and trifasciata.
Here are a few pics:
The other two are even more of a mystery. They were labelled "gold nanochromis dwarf cichlid", but when I looked those up online, that's clearly NOT what these are. In the store, they both appeared a pale washed out yellow/bronze, with a slightly darker lateral stripe. There were two males and a female in the tank. Coloration was the same on all, I guessed their gender as the males had pointed fins, and the female didn't.
Now that they've settled in, the female, who is the smaller fish, is yellowish with a dark line running from mouth to tail. She has some nice dark spots on her dorsal fin. I haven't been able to get a great look at her, as both fish are super shy. They clearly prefer to hide in caves/rocks/etc., and seem to like digging in the substrate (sand). They're eating well. The male, now that he's settled in, has completely changed colour. He's turqoise, with a dark purple-grey line running from mouth to tail. There's a second thicker line of the same colour running along his back, colouring his dorsal fin. The dorsal fin is edged in turquoise for the front 2/3rds, and in orange for the back 1/3. He has some light transverse bars showing. There's also a short dark bar running from his eye to the bottom of his jaw, towards the gill plate.
I've included pics, which are terrible quality, as they're very shy and hard to photograph. Hopefully I can get better pics in the next few days.
Oh, and they're quite small, dwarfed by my little GBR even. The male, who's bigger, is *maybe* an inch long, the female is 3/4 his size. They've got a very oval body shape, with quite large fins for their size, and big eyes.
female
male
The closest fish I've seen to them when searching online are juvenile borellii (but these fish have NO yellow/gold on them), and trifasciata.
Here are a few pics:
The other two are even more of a mystery. They were labelled "gold nanochromis dwarf cichlid", but when I looked those up online, that's clearly NOT what these are. In the store, they both appeared a pale washed out yellow/bronze, with a slightly darker lateral stripe. There were two males and a female in the tank. Coloration was the same on all, I guessed their gender as the males had pointed fins, and the female didn't.
Now that they've settled in, the female, who is the smaller fish, is yellowish with a dark line running from mouth to tail. She has some nice dark spots on her dorsal fin. I haven't been able to get a great look at her, as both fish are super shy. They clearly prefer to hide in caves/rocks/etc., and seem to like digging in the substrate (sand). They're eating well. The male, now that he's settled in, has completely changed colour. He's turqoise, with a dark purple-grey line running from mouth to tail. There's a second thicker line of the same colour running along his back, colouring his dorsal fin. The dorsal fin is edged in turquoise for the front 2/3rds, and in orange for the back 1/3. He has some light transverse bars showing. There's also a short dark bar running from his eye to the bottom of his jaw, towards the gill plate.
I've included pics, which are terrible quality, as they're very shy and hard to photograph. Hopefully I can get better pics in the next few days.
Oh, and they're quite small, dwarfed by my little GBR even. The male, who's bigger, is *maybe* an inch long, the female is 3/4 his size. They've got a very oval body shape, with quite large fins for their size, and big eyes.
female
male
