Motaguensis male&female

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Can't tell much based on color alone. There are some non-red races of mots out there. The presence of a silvery sheen on the top of the head and back would hint at loisellei, but I don't see that. Likely freddie or mot.

If I had to choose one or the other, I'd say freddy based on the male. He has no silver outline on his face & jaw marking.

The female does have the silver outlines of a mota though. Assuming they came from the same source, that would lead me to believe they are hybrid fred/mots. Who can know?
 
Wow what a steal!
 
LOL, People just run with it and all agree. They are Loiselli, they have a spot on the operculum that fredrichstalli lack, nice fish. Look at the comparison of the two males, Loiselli on top, freddy on the bottom. Ken
 
balton777;2632892; said:
Although I'm a Parachromis lover, I'm still by no means an expert. I just think Eyemidaswell's fish looks taller bodied than Ak's and has the classic Loisellei underbite.

fishfarm;2633626; said:
LOL, People just run with it and all agree. They are Loiselli, they have a spot on the operculum that fredrichstalli lack, nice fish. Look at the comparison of the two males, Loiselli on top, freddy on the bottom. Ken

My thoughts go with these previous posts.Loiselli:)
 
By the way, I'm not saying they're not loisellei (or mots or freddies), I just know there's always confusion with these three. Even some of the reference books have them mislabelled (especially loisellei being identified as one of the other two).

Normally, it's easy to eliminate freddy from the discussion, but mots and lois females are kind of similar. I look for the silvery reticulation along the back as a tip off for lois in general. Mature male mots and lois are normally easier to tell apart than sub-adults. Both types of females are yellower than lois females.

Freddies have lots of spotting, tend to have a more barred pattern, and their cheek blotches are not outlined in silver as in mots and lois. They are often olive-yellow colored fish.

I don't think loisellei have spotting in the gill plate and throat area as do male freddies (the most) and mot (some). Females don't have spotting in the throat area (other than the blotches), freddy females often show barring.

Basically, I look for spotting and no pearl outline to the gill plate blotches (and some vertical barring) to point to frerddy. The absence of those points to mot or lois.

I could be wrong though! : )

Here's a good article:
http://www.cichlidae.com/article.php?id=92

Regardles, that's a cool pair of fish!
 
Correction to the second paragraph up there....... I meant to say that all types of females are yellower (more plainly marked) than males.

This thread is making my head hurt! ; )
 
female looks mota to me and the male has characteristics of both loisellei and friedrichsthalii
 
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