New Bleekeri

[jeaninel]

So thanks to a fellow MFK member ( Buphy ) I'm now the proud owner of paratilapia bleekeri. After a bit of a rocky shipping experience she has settled in nicely and today I moved her out of the hospital tank and into my bedroom tank. My husband and I have fallen in love with her. She's a very cool fish, very interactive and quite aggressive at the glass. Here she is.

 

[Buphy]

She looks fantastic! Your camera captures her so much better than I was able too. Here's to a long and happy life for her.

 

[smitty03281964]

Beautiful

 

[demonknight]

beautiful indeed

 

[duanes]

Just a bit of trivia, the name bleekeri is considered a junior synonym for polleni.
What this means (in a simplist way) is that 2 scientists described the same fish, one called it polleni, one called it bleekeri. The name that the scientist who described first, is considered legitimate, and that name will take precedence.
The cichlid polleni, was described, and named polleni by none other than Bleeker in 1868. Much later the name bleekeri was given, when the same (?) fish was described by Sauvage in 1882.
The details of this can be found in a 1991 article by Loiselle and Stiassny entitled "How Many Marakely" (Marakely is one of the local Malagasy names for Paratilapia).

 

[jeaninel]

Just a bit of trivia, the name bleekeri is considered a junior synonym for polleni.
What this means (in a simplist way) is that 2 scientists described the same fish, one called it polleni, one called it bleekeri. The name that the scientist who described first, is considered legitimate, and that name will take precedence.
The cichlid polleni, was described, and named polleni by none other than Bleeker in 1868. Much later the name bleekeri was given, when the same (?) fish was described by Sauvage in 1882.
The details of this can be found in a 1991 article by Loiselle and Stiassny entitled "How Many Marakely" (Marakely is one of the local Malagasy names for Paratilapia).

Thanks for that duanes. I am aware of the confusion between whether polleni and bleekeri are 2 different species or the same but from different regions. I'm still confused though. This article states that they are thought to be 2 different species? Your thoughts?http://www.cichlidae.com/article.php?id=117

 

[duanes]

There seems to still be confusion over the use of bleekeri.
In the 2002 book the Endemic Cichlilds of Madagascar, the authors suggest there are at least 5 (maybe more species) and to tell them apart one would need an expert in Malagasy fish, and know the collection location. Since that book, there may have identified more.
In the above mentioned book, beside Paratilapia polleni there are
P polleni large spot Akandra (North) which to me is similar to Andapa
P sp east coast (P typus bleeker 1878)
P sp Betsileo highlands
P sp southwest
and
P sp small spot lower northwest
and because way back when Paratilapia were first imported (I had my first group in the late 80s) any and all, at the time, were thought to be one species, so the chance that many were crossbred is a distinct possibility muddying up identification even more, especially in LFS individuals.

 

[jeaninel]

So my bleekeri has a tank mate. The angel that was originally in this tank was getting bullied by one of my other angels so I moved him back in. An odd couple, I know, but they're getting along fine so far.

 

[haynchinook334]

One of my favorite fish, but damn, they can be asses.