Motaguense variant i.d.

[Jimmy Side eye]

Hi all
I have a pair of P. Motaguense that i've been growing on, with the intention of someday breeding. I bought them as 'Red Tiger Motaguense' but it soon became apparant as they grew on, that they were regular Golden Motas. I dont mind as these are cracking looking fish and im looking forward to them matureing and hopefully breeding.
The problem i have is that the female, as she's grew on a bit, seems far too colourful to be a regular Mota? A fellow aquarist also raised doubts as to her purity, suggesting she may be a RTM/GM cross? I know that during breeding their colours will dramatically intensify, but she's bright red most of the time. There arent many pictures of regular Motaguense online for comparison, so i thought i'd post some pictures of my fish here and hopefully fellow members can shed some light on her true identification.
If anyone also keeps regular Motaguenses it would be great if you could post pics of yours for comparrison.
Here is a pic of her when i first got her. she's about 3.5-4" in this pic
Theres nothing unusual here, she looks like a regular Mota.

Here are some pics of how she is now, she's around 6.5-7" now.

And heres some shots of the male and female together. Are both of these the same race/variant???

Cherrs
Wayne

 

[DISCIPLE]

LOOKS LIKE A NICE LOOKING FEMALE RTM IF YOU ASK ME. GREAT JOB. THEY BOTH LOOK GOOD. AS A MATTER OF FACT THEY DONT LOOK GOOD AT ALL. YOU NEED TO BAG THEM UP AND SHIP THEM TO ME PLEASE.

 

[young_rico]

i forgot where but i read somewhere that there is a more orange but not red variant in El Salvador. not sure if its true but yours are definitely some nice looking fish.

 

[Jimmy Side eye]

Cheers for the comments.

I really like these fish, but dont really want to breed 2 different races together.

LOOKS LIKE A NICE LOOKING FEMALE RTM IF YOU ASK ME

Im not convinced she's a RTM. All the RTM females ive seen have a golden lining to the black markings on their faces, like the pics below. My female lacks this.

 

[Freshwaterpredators]

great looking motas. I think i might have the same thing with mine. sold as rtm but im second guessing. mine are about 5" and i dont see any red on them. I have two males and two females. ill try to get some recent pics so maybe it might help compare.

 

[Freshwaterpredators]

here are some pics from a couple weeks ago.

 

[hailmike]

Looks like you got a female rtm. Male looks more gold though.

 

[Jimmy Side eye]

Looks like you got a female rtm. Male looks more gold though

Cheers mate, im hoping your wrong LOL

 

[Jimmy Side eye]

here are some pics from a couple weeks ago.

These look like a pair of gold mate, nice looking fish, could grow into stunners

 

[Aquamojo]

These look like a pair of gold mate, nice looking fish, could grow into stunners

Jimmy...it's a female RTM. The colors are consistent with the species. Males can vary in color depending on age.

Here's the F0 male at 6":

The female F0 at 4"

Male at 8"

Female at 6"

Female today at 10"

Male at 13"

IN addition to size the collection locale can lend to variations in color. This pair above was collected in the Rio Blanco in Honduras. They are noted for having a more intense yellow/red coloration. A lot of that depends on the fish's natural diet. Generations after leaving the wild they generally will lose the intense luster.

Hope this helps.

Mo