Mesonauta Festivus?

[Aquanero]

I got these guys as Mesonauta Festivus, but I have trouble telling some of the Mesonauta sp. apart. Do these look Mesonauta Festivus or some other species? I think they do but then sometimes I'm not 100% convinced. Any opinions? They are still small maybe 2".

 

[darth pike]

Here is an excerpt from Dr. Wayne Liebel's articles in AFM back in the 90's on how to tell the difference. Hopefully you have a better eye for it than I do For instance, the yellow face would make me think M. mirificus ... but it looks like in yours the dorsal fin isn't spotted and the caudal and anal fins are. Go figure.



"Identifying Your Festivum
The visual characteristics useful in identifying Mesonauta species cited here were abstracted from Kullander and Silfvergrip (1991) and put into a visual dichotomous key for aquarists. The characteristic "reticulated back" refers to the black edging of scales on the dorsum just above the characteristic dark, oblique band that runs from the eye to the insertion of the soft-rayed dorsal fin. The second visual character in the key, "continuous lateral band," indicates that the oblique band is dark and uninterrupted. "Discontinuous" means the band exists as a series of confluent blotches that are more or less distinct. When in doubt, the geographic origin of your festivum will finish the equation.

1a. Reticulated back:

M. insignis: single wide dark vertical bar above the abdomen (not two), dark continuous lateral band, unpaired fins spotted, most slender, long-nosed species

Distribution: upper Rio Negro, Rio Orinoco

1b. Non-reticulated back:

2a. Discontinuous lateral (oblique) band:

M. festivus: unpaired fins indistinctly spotted, most deep bodied , short nosed species

Distribution: Paraguay and Bolivian Amazon basins, Rio Jamari and lower Rio Tapajos

M. acora: distinctive mottled color pattern lateral band runs only 1/3 way to dorsal fin, then fades out

Distribution: Tocantins and Xingu drainages

M. egregius: back brownish, but with no reticulation, lateral band is a row of dark blotches, unpaired fins unspotted

Distribution: Colombian Orinoco basin

2b. Continuous dark lateral (oblique) band:

M. mirificus: lateral band fades slightly toward dorsal, back not reticulated, dorsal fin indistinctly spotted, caudal and anal fins unspotted

Distribution: Peruvian Amazon"



I found a more updated one, but it's in french and my poor high school french classes aren't up to snuff to translate: http://www.francecichlid.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=234&Itemid=30

 

[robmcd]

I can't tell you but I can say that I am jealous as all hell. I've been looking for them locally for over a year to no avail..

 

[Aquanero]

Keep looking Rob they will show up eventually. I love Festavum too.

Thanks Chris, I was thinking the same thing with the yellow that's what's the most confusing. I was thinking they might be M. Mirificus too. I was reading the discriptions and can't tell what they are. I guess I'll just wait a while and see if they change as they grow and maybe the ID will become evadent.

 

[darth pike]

I've seen M. acora on lists, as well as fish found with M. mirificus (Ucayali juru's for instance), so those would be logical guesses. That intense yellow makes me think M. mirificus though, despite the confusing spotting. I've never seen any other speceis with that bright a yellow chin.

Also, I pulled out my old American Cichlids II book, it says that the 6th bar in M. mirificus is broad and bifurcate, and it looks like in your middle pic that bar does split near the bottom, though the way the fish is turning I can't tell if it's the 6th bar or not.

 

[Aquanero]

For now I'm going with the assumption they are most likly mirificus and see how they devlope. The yellow is an overwhelming indicator and they do have the broken bar so my inital thought seems to be inline with the discription and what your thinking as well.

http://www.aqua-terra-net.de/Hydro/Sonder/cichliden/mesonauta2.htm
The link above is in German but the picture does look like what I have.

 

[ryansmith83]

The French link is the one that I've always used because I'm always referred back to it by others on various cichlid sites. Basically, they are very difficult to ID unless you can get clear pictures of their bars and markings. This was almost impossible with my group because they never showed them unless sleeping.

Whatever they are, they're nice.

By the way, don't put too much stock in the yellow color. I bought juveniles of wild M. acora and M. festivus 'Tapajos' from Rapps (this is what he listed them as) and the acora group had two yellow individuals out of the group of six while the festivus group had three or so out of six. So I had silvers and yellows in both batches from two different locations. I also posted photos for ID on another cichlid forum and no one could agree on the species.

 

[Aquanero]

Thanks Ryan, yeah, I'm scratching my head over this. They are nice though I agree

 

[luvinbluegills]

Finally, a festivus for the rest of us!

 

[Aquanero]

A pair just spawned. Funny you would dig this thread up now. The famale is fanning eggs on a leaf. It's in a 225 comunity so I don't think the young will survive.