Just got home from work and fed the fishies. Remembering about this thread, I did a quick count: my 2 rotkiels have 8 stripes while my notatus has 9 stripes 
ID this severum please.
- Thread starter QuDodger
- Start date
There's also the off chance that it's mis-barred. Sometimes you see cichlids who have fused bars or forked bars. It's possible the second bar from the tail forked or something. But the chance of that happening on both sides of the fish seems unlikely. Usually when I see that on things like discus or severum fry, it's only on one side of the fish. Yours has nine bars on each side.
I snapped these pics this morning of sp. Inirida. First pic shows a broken bar, while the second pic shows the natural eight. It's a bit strange how the bars can work out similar to dats.
^ You see it a lot in discus, too. A lot of discus breeders used to think it was something to cull for, but now you see more and more wilds being imported with fused or forked bars, so it's definitely natural. There was a theory at some point that maybe it was the result of inbreeding or poor genetics but I don't necessarily think that's the case.
Here's one of my Heros notatus juvies with fused bars. You can see he still has nine, but two are fused at the top. Out of a spawn of maybe 150 - 200 I had a handful like this.
Here's one of my Heros notatus juvies with fused bars. You can see he still has nine, but two are fused at the top. Out of a spawn of maybe 150 - 200 I had a handful like this.
