Is this a starry night cichlid

duanes

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There are at least a half dozen species of Paratilapia, that are commonly called starry night cichlids, so the OPs is one, but as to what species it is may be the question, and almost impossible to tell without location provenance.
Here are two I had, to me they are quite different from each other.
First ....Paratilapia species "small spot" male.

Now... Paratilapia species "Anadapa"

many are separated by the local of madagascar
Small spot northeast, or large spot west coast, or Ambalavao.
 

AnthonyFish20

Aimara
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Mar 13, 2017
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There are at least a half dozen species of Paratilapia, that are commonly called starry night cichlids, so the OPs is one, but as to what species it is may be the question, and almost impossible to tell without location provenance.
Here are two I had, to me they are quite different from each other.
First ....Paratilapia species "small spot" male.

Now... Paratilapia species "Anadapa"

many are separated by the local of madagascar
Small spot northeast, or large spot west coast, or Ambalavao.
Mine looks like one on the bottom but longer and darker
 

BMG94

Jack Dempsey
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Mar 4, 2018
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They look pretty similar to the crappie fish we have up north lol.
 

djsaltynuts

Piranha
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Just wanted to make sure this guys is a belkeri and not polleni

View attachment 1366106
i dont really have an answer but at my LFS i noticed all the baby starry nights had noticeable differences in their faces having to do mostly with the size/placement of the eyes. the pattern differences between specimens is largely contributed to sex. you most likely have a polleni and not a bleekeri. i have a starry night cichlid that was sold to me under the name bleekeri i assume its a polleni and was just traded under the name bleekeri. i will say your starry night cichlids head looks quite different having eyes placed more in the middle of the face instead of towards the top and looking smaller than usual.
 

ad88

Piranha
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Apr 11, 2013
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There are also hybrids from the small spots breeding with the large spots. So unless you know the source of collection it could be a hybrid of the 2 which causes a lot of confusion.
 
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