Is this a Rotkeil?

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G

glenbo

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 26, 2008
853
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England
I bought this little dude at my LFS earlier,at first glance you might think he is a normal banded/striped green but he is very different.

There was four tanks of Severums..Red Spotted + Golds in one,Green/Turq in the next,Striped/SPotted in the 3rd and then these guys in the forth.

They have darker black stripes than the normal striped,smaller more squashed body shape,pointy nose,no spots and they have yellow fins.

Any idea what he is? is he a Heros Efaciatus like normal sevs or is he a different type?

The reason I ask if he is a Rotty/Red Shoulder is because of the yellow fins and because I saw a juvi Rottie on another forum that looked identical to this guy.

If he is i'll be very happy,I have been asking around for Rotties for ages now and nobody here in England have heard of them!!!

He is only a 1" Juvi but he was pretty expensive (£7) because the dude said they are rare,it was double the price...the LFS is a very respected chain so I don't think he would of ripped me off.

My large redspot/gold cross and green seem to like his company even tho they are big enough to swallow him lol.

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To young to tell sorry. wait intill he gets bigger.
 
just so you know juvie rotkeils look the same as green severums. once they hit the 3-4" mark they start to show a little red growth on their necks. mine is currently between 4"-5" and looks the same as that one there ^ although its f1. i think these fish just colour up later one, alot like JDs. all you can really do is wait and see, if you see any red developing on the neck area its most likely rotkeil

i know this is a bad pic but this is what he looked like when the orange started to appear
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oh and my LFS the owner has a wild breeding pair which is where i got this ;) i dont know what part of the UK u are in but this is midlands
 
I know what you mean about them looking liek greens....sort of.

My step father bought a normal banded/striped green today when i bought this dude and he put him in my Cichlid Community tank until he went home (he was here for about 7 hours)

Anyways...his green looked very very similar except for some key differences..

His bottom fins were the usual green severum browny red,his face had the usual green severums 'lightning bolts' on the face,the usual green severum spots behind the stripes and he had a rounded face,not to mention slightly different body shape.

My guy...no matter how stressed he gets or no matter how much my firemouth,blue acara or Brasiliensis chase him tends to never lose is colour,he is always almost 'humbug damsel' like.

I did notice in pictures of Rotkiels that they tend to have pointier looking noses,much like Heros Severus rather than Efaciatus like the standard greens/golds/red spots etc which tend to have 'round' faces.

The funny thing is I asked this LFS if they could get Rotkeils in and only one guy knew what they were and he said he can only get them shipped in from Germany and they will cost £50 ($100) for a 1" fish,so I assumed this fish can't be a Rotkeil :S

But then this same very well respected LFS sold me a Blue Acara as a flag cichlid very recentley...

I have been doing google searches on juvi Rotkiels and they all seem to look liek mine,so im really hoping thats what he is.

How quickly do they grow from 1" to say 4"? My green has grown from 3" to 4" in the space of 2 months and my Gold/Red Spot cross has only grown about a inche since I have owned him (2 years)...but then he was big when i bought him (and expensive!)

Edit:

I noticed your Rotty also has yellow fins,this seems to be a Rotkiel only thing as every green I have ever seen alsways has the red/brown bottom fin or clear,never yellow.

My Green looks very very different to my new unknown Severum

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(He has always looked like this except he was duller when he was smaller)
 
i got mine for 10£ :P
infact if you google them the first picture is my ones dad.
either your LFS couldnt be bothered to order them or didnt look. my LFS gets their fish from southeast asia so if i want something particular i can get it in usually.
they grow really quickly. mines shot up hes the most dominant fish in the tank but not in the aggressive way. feed them good quality food and some live occasionaly and just watch them grow :P and i must say yours looks identical to mine when i got him
 
I feed my guys flake,cichlid pellets,algae wafers and once a week either Krill or Bloodworm (or both if im doing a water change that day)

He is housed with these guys..

3 x Severum (1 x Gold,1 x Turquoise,1 x Banded,heros efasciatus)
1 x Female Kribensis (Pelvicachromis pulcher)
1 x Blue Acara (Aequidens Pulcher)
1 x Rainbow Cichlid (Herotilapia multispinosa)
1 x Pearl Eartheater (Geophagus brasiliensis)
2 x Angel Fish (1 x Koi,1 x Black,Pterophyllum scalare)
1 x Blue Gourami (Trichogaster trichopterus)
1 x Firemouth Cichlid (Thorichthys meeki)
1 x Sail fin Plec (Glyptoperichthys gibbiceps)
3 x bosemani rainbowfish (Melanotaenia boesemani)
3 x Red Rainbowfish (Glossolepis incisus)
3 x Clown Loach (Chromobotia macracanthus)

In 100 gallon,however i'm planning on selling on one of my Sevs when they get bigger...probably my Green because he aitn that pretty lol...hence why i went hunting for a new Sev :P

This is my Gold/Red Spot cross (Beautiful fish in temperment and colour)

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Hopefully if i grow my two little ones up with my Big guy i might get a nice pair out of them to,thye all get on really well and the big one defends the little ones like they are his own fry lol.
 
thats a beautiful sev, your tank sounds really interesting and active, if i had a larger tank id go for a stocking like that cause its similar to mine only i have trichogaster pectoralis instead of trichogaster trichopterus,

i see what your saying about the yellow fin im pretty sure you have a little rotkeil :) grats
 
:D

You know the funny thing is,My Gourami is the most aggressive fish in teh tank! anything new goes in tehre he kicks the crap out of it!

I have to put the Gourami in a breeding net so he would leave new additions alone!

I did used to have a 8"+ Kissing Gourami and when I first bought my Gold/Red Spot Sev he attacked it furiously to the point where I had to give the Kisser back to the shop and spent the next 2 months nursing my Sev back to health,he would lay on his side and not move anywhere for atleast 6 weeks...then because he was stressed he got a serious ich infection.

Anyway we got him back to health and hes happy nowadays :)

My Brasiliensis is a lush fish aswell,definitley recommened these to anybody who has never kept Geos before,there colours are amazing!

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Anyway back to the Rotty...

Are Rotkeils a seperate species from Efaciatus or Severus?

Liek i said they tend to have Heros Severus style faces and different shaped bodys (aswell as colour)
 
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