midas or red devil
- Thread starter KREV
- Start date
From what I understand unless you have proof of lineage,you will have to assume these are hybrids. The two species have been heavily hybridized in the hobby.
edit : https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...king-if-you-have-a-midas-or-red-devil.367826/
edit : https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...king-if-you-have-a-midas-or-red-devil.367826/
It goes back to being unable to trace the lineage to exact species and collection point.
Agree, if you bought them from a LFS, they are generic aquarium strain Amphilophus, it doesn't matter if they are slightly different in body shape, mouth shape, etc, etc. or called generic names like red devil, or midas
Its hard enough to tell one species of Nicaraguan lake species from the other, even if you know the lake they come from.
For decades, it was thought they were all the same species, of only two, (A citrinillus, or A labiatus,) so although they weren't the same, aquarists unwittingly crossed them, and inadvertently created mutts .
There are at least a dozen species from the great lakes of Nicaragua that have that color morph, so the two you have could be mixes of any of those dozen, unless...........
you ordered from a respected collector/breeder, like
A sagitae from Lake Xiloa, or.....
A zaliosus from lake Apoyo
or any of the other 10 species.
There are also banded versions of each species, like A amarillo below
but as juvies all look similar
A amarillo juvie below
A flaveolus below
A similar problem has arisen with what is commonly called the "starry night" cichlid.
When first imported it was thought there were only 2 species.
As it turns out there are at least 6 species, but for a couple decades they were mixed and the stock in most LFSs is an aquarium strain mutt.
But if you buy from a respected breeder some of the differences become obvious.
Paratilapia andapa below
Below Paratilapia polleni
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