Mystery hybrid ?

[anzo1993]

Hello, I was at my LFS today just browsing around when I stumbled on this strange little guy in a 125 gallon cichlid community tank they had in the showroom, the tank was filled with black convicts, firemouths, blood parrots and Jack Dempseys, this little guy looks to be a mix of convict and either firemouth, blood parrot or Jack Dempsey, he’s about 2 inches and seems to have the color of the convict but a different body shape with blue green speckles on the body. I ended up picking him up for cheap cause they had no idea what it was, does anyone have any idea ?

 

[rosieg]

I did some googling for you. It does kind of look like a juvenile jack Dempsey, and it does also look very much like a juvenile fire mouth.. but the bands on its head took me in a different direction. There is a fish called a false firemouth/turquoise Cichlid/emerald cichlid/a few other names. I’m including a picture from Google that looks most like yours. They also have iridescent specs. my third possibility which is the least likely is it could be a flowerhorn. That was my first initial thought until I did some googling, but it’s probably one of the three or some kind of cross. Here are some pictures I dug up that look like yours. Good luck!!

 

[anzo1993]

For now im
Gonna grow out and see but im convinced there’s some convict in the genetic

 

[rosieg]

For now im
Gonna grow out and see but im convinced there’s some convict in the genetic

i wouldn’t doubt it. i have a large cichlid pond and the convicts have crossed with a few so far. they live and breed with my polar parrots all day every day. i’m convinced i have a JD/convict cross bc he isn’t a standard species. every now and then I get a cross grow up and they are always so cool. right now my blood parrot is laying eggs and i so badly want a convict or polar parrot to fertilize. anyway good luck with your mystery fish. hope hes at least a chill fish keep me posted as he grows that’s the best part

 

[SilverArowanaBoi]

Personally, I think its a JD and Convict cross, the elongated body shape and iridescent scales on the face look like a JD while the striped pattern and slightly rounded head shape look like a Convict.

 

[SalviniCichlidFan]

I see fire mouth and convict cross. The trapezoid shape dorsal fin reminds me very much of a fire mouth dorsal fin. The slightly elongated head gives off fire mouth shapes. Most obviously (I think most can agree), the black vertical stripes are definitely from convicts.

 

[anzo1993]

So I got a slightly better pic today here it is

 

[SalviniCichlidFan]

So I got a slightly better pic today here it is

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Convict for sure now. I would be very close to saying just a pure convict except for the emerald spots on its gill area. I would probably go with convict and JD now or convict and Texas.

 

[rosieg]

So I got a slightly better pic today here it is

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yeah i agree. i googled some other known convict x JD and they are identical with the bars, fins, spots.. everything. Here are the pics I found.. much closer than the other pics.

But yeah very cute fish update us in like 6 months with a pic! my JDs are 3.5yo and they are thick boys lol they are truly magnificent looking. like little missiles. personally i think some female cons are some of the best looking fish. yours will prob be so stunning when they’re full grown!! and both convict and JD are super hardy so your guy has a great gene pool he will prob be such a good fish

 

[anzo1993]

So far I’m leaning towards firemoth mix just because of the shape of the mouth , but still a possibility of Jack Dempsey too , I’m thinking as the fish grows if mixed with firemouth he or she might stay abit smaller than if mixed with a Jack Dempsey, here’s the most recent pics he or she has grown abit already