My new monsters

[Beetlebug515]

Picked up two of these guys at my lfs today. Labelled as azuls, and they seem to fit. Right now they are solo in a bare 75 with the lights out. I'll have to see if the horizontal bars fade as they acclimate. First cichla for me. What do you guys think?

 

[horopgedrik]

Definitely not Cichla piquiti. Looks like C. monoculus to me. CMIIW.
Are they at 3"-4'' size?

 

[Beetlebug515]

They are.

 

[Beetlebug515]

They looked more like this at the store. Pic pulled from Google. I imagine they've darkened up due to stress.

 

[Beetlebug515]

This is going to give me an aneurysm now. Doubt has been placed in my head. From what I can find, piquiti seem to have a splotch of black just behind the eyes. Monoculus seem to have no black splotch.

 

[Beetlebug515]

Mine have a small bit of black behind the eyes.

 

[JONNY CICHLA]

you going to put few dither fish in with them! may help to settle them down and help with feeding!

 

[Beetlebug515]

Could anyone else chime in on this?

 

[Beetlebug515]

I have some angels and gouramis I could toss in there. The only other small fish I have are some botia loaches. They are snack size though. What would you recommend for dither?

 

[bassguy]

Stressed, but the store pics look like Azuls