Is this a Chariel?

[Gruff Master]

Trust me I have already been to tons of different sites and I have been through dozens of pictures but I'm still not sure what I have here. I even went through previous MFK threads and still couldn't match it to any of them exactly. I bought it as a Texas cichlid a few months ago. Then I started believing it was a Chariel. Just when I thought I knew what it was another person tells me that it is something else. I'm confident MFK will get it right. By the way, this cichlid is about 5".

 

[Gruff Master]

any takers?

 

[RedH2O]

Looks like a texas cichlid too me. I'm no expert on texas cichlids tho.

 

[Camphilophus]

it's a regular texas cichlid

 

[Gruff Master]

That's what I originally thought. It was in a tank with a bunch of fry labeled as Texas cichlids. This was the most dominant so I bought it. My wife wanted one to replace the one she had years ago. Now she thinks that she has a Green texas.

 

[TwistedPenguin]

"Texas" refers to H. cyanoguttatus. People always call H. carpintis "Texas" or "Green Texas" and they're not. Sorry, one of my pet peeves-not your fault. Yours looks carpintis to me because of the bigger spots. I've got both but can't always tell which is which in some pictures.

 

[dogofwar]

It's simply not possible to positively identify the geographic varient of the fish from a picture.

Anyone care to describe the differences between carpintis from Chariel and Escondito (other than the names)?

Matt

 

[Dominator]

pearls look bigger than a regular texas, but its definantly not a chariel.

 

[Dominator]

It's simply not possible to positively identify the geographic varient of the fish from a picture.

Anyone care to describe the differences between carpintis from Chariel and Escondito (other than the names)?

Matt

Chariel has rounded pearl and Escondido has worm-like pearls.

 

[Jimmy Side eye]

It's simply not possible to positively identify the geographic varient of the fish from a picture.

Anyone care to describe the differences between carpintis from Chariel and Escondito (other than the names)?

Matt

Dogofwars right, its very hard to distinguish differences between all the geographical variants.
I keep chairel and yours are definitely not chairel im afraid. But he seems a nice Carpinte all the same.

The easiest way to distinguish most variants is by observing the facial markings, as well as overall colour. Im aware of differences in Chairel, Escondido and Lahillas, but thats as far as my knowledge goes im afraid.

Here are some observations regarding the above species, sorry it wont help you identify the race of your fish, but may help you in future.

Chairel have a Turqoise like colour to their spots, with sometimes a redish/orange base colour to their bodies. Males have distinct thick, bold markings to their faces, whereas the females have finer, more defined squiggles.


My two chairel males

My two chairel females

Escondidos are very bright blue with large spotting similar to the chairel, but are much, much bluer. Also the Escos exhibit the finer defined squiggles on their face, quite like the Chairel females have, but fancier imo,


Escondido male( borrowd this pic of aquamojo, hope he doesnt mind)

Lahillas are on my wanted list. These appera more greener in colour and are distinguished by their spotted faces rather than squiggles or lines.

Lahillas male

Again, your carpinte doesnt seem to be any of the above. I would just refer to him as an aquarium strain of Carpinte. Very nice specimen tho, hes got a lot of potential


Wayne