ID please. Ornatum?

[Empyreal]

I just picked this guy up at my lfs. He was mixed in with Jack dempseys. My cichlid instincts immediately said ornatum but I thought it would be too good to be true to randomly find one. The owner said he ordered it as a red texas but they frequently make shippi ng mistakes. Got him for 15 bucks. Please tell me I'm right! Haha thanks

 

[infamous]

Looks similar to my 7 small growouts.. Only difference i see is that mine have more random black blotching where as yours seems to have some barring but I am by no means an expert on these fish! Nice looking fish regardles!

 

[Empyreal]

He has a few black dots spotted around. He obviously was just a little stressed in this

 

[duanes]

Looks like ornatum/gephyrum to me, although I'd like to see an in tank pic.
Here a pic of some I had when at a small size.

 

[Empyreal]

Duane it looks exactly like that first pic! It's posts from veterans like u that help me recognize it in the store!

 

[duanes]

I find it interesting that ornatum has gone from relative obscurity not so many years back, to showing up in LFSs.
Occasionally an individual that had killed its partner, or tankmates would appear in specialty cichlid adds, and I knew there have been successful aquarium spawns in Michigan, but LFSs is a bit surprising.

 

[Empyreal]

I think sometimes (as i believe in this case) large suppliers like seagrest farms sometimes has, lets say less knowledgable (or the fish come into their facility mislabeled), and they are labeled as other similar looking fish.

 

[duanes]

I agree, many of the rare cichlids seem to only come in as contaminants with common bread and butter species.
I had to order mine from Wet Spot a number of years ago, they seemed to be the only place at the time, willing provide the space to hold, and to get them in.

 

[Empyreal]

Hey guys, think I scored! Heres a pic of it in the tank (was hard to get as it was very shy) Looks ornatum to me!

 

[CANAMONSTER]

Yes sir! Ornatum he is!