Nicaraguan Cichlids - Colour localities.

[Wills]

Hi I'm looking to keep some Nicaraguan Cichlids in a 75 gallon tank and I've noticed quite a bit of variance in the colours as I've seen in images and videos.

Some are a very clean blue and yellow with the spot or line in black where as others have quite a few irregular black marks on their flanks. Sometimes the ones with black marks are also quite intense with the blues on the face too?

I know they come from Costa Rica and Nicaragua and I think 2-3 locations in each country. Does anyone have any guidance on which type comes from where? Or does anyone here have any wild collection photos or videos we might be able to decipher something from?

Thanks Wills

 

[duanes]

The one below is the Lake Nicaragua variant.

Male above, female below

The only variant I've kept, so others from other locations will need to chime in for vaieties.

 

[Wills]

The one below is the Lake Nicaragua variant.
View attachment 1502639
Male above, female below
View attachment 1502640
The only variant I've kept, so others from other locations will need to chime in for vaieties.

Thanks thats really interesting! This is what I'd refer to as the 'clean' look I mentioned.

This is closer to the other kind I've seen (not my picture) but you can see more irregular black markings - though I have seen more pronounced markings too.

 

[Toiletcar]

Think it’s hard to tell the differences since they haven’t been imported from countries like Costa Rica for a long time. Most CB you will see are from Nicaragua and believe they have more green than blue.

 

[Wills]

Think it’s hard to tell the differences since they haven’t been imported from countries like Costa Rica for a long time. Most CB you will see are from Nicaragua and believe they have more green than blue.

Do you think the different markings mean different locations or just a natural variance? I feel like how different some look is quite extreme - I just saw that new Mikrogeophagus species that is very similar to a Bolivian Ram but just has a dark marking at the base of the tail - so if thats been considered at that level are Nicaraguans more diverse than we think too?

Wills

 

[Toiletcar]

Do you think the different markings mean different locations or just a natural variance? I feel like how different some look is quite extreme - I just saw that new Mikrogeophagus species that is very similar to a Bolivian Ram but just has a dark marking at the base of the tail - so if thats been considered at that level are Nicaraguans more diverse than we think too?

Wills

I’m saying it is hard to say if or what differences there might be because they haven’t been seen in the hobby much.

 

[Kevin@TUIC]

Think it’s hard to tell the differences since they haven’t been imported from countries like Costa Rica for a long time. Most CB you will see are from Nicaragua and believe they have more green than blue.

its is actually the opposite. For years now, stock which originated from Costa Rican collections account for the vast majority in circulation. Nicaraguan cichlids(of any species) haven't been legally collected or exported in about a decade(or more) by now. Many species however have come out of and have been bred in mass for distribution out of Costa Rica. Most recently thanks to friend and colleague Max Savchuk, the former owner of Max Cichlids and prior to that was TUIC's own Jeff Rapps. Nicaragua has been and still remains closed to wildlife collections and exporting unfortunately. The crater lakes are now all protected sanctuaries. Some genus such as Parachromis are completely protected in Nicaragua as they are now deemed a food source. I still keep regular contact with our Nicaraguan source who was at one time the one and only legal exporter in Nicaragua whom we were his his exclusive global distributor. I hope one day to revisit that source for import but sadly it may never come.
As far as color or pattern... (top and bottom fish are females)

 

[Kevin@TUIC]

Do you think the different markings mean different locations or just a natural variance? I feel like how different some look is quite extreme - I just saw that new Mikrogeophagus species that is very similar to a Bolivian Ram but just has a dark marking at the base of the tail - so if that's been considered at that level are Nicaraguans more diverse than we think too?

Wills

the 'new' ram was altispinosa. it has just been formally renamed from that specific population. that fish from the mentioned provenance has been around for years and distributed as altispinosa. Much like Astronotus mikloji, that fish was going around by many vendors(not us) as Astronotus ocellatus for decades
So many species are finally being revised and formally described. while it is confusing to many hobbyists at first this is still super exciting for us fish nerds

 

[newworld]

its is actually the opposite. For years now, stock which originated from Costa Rican collections account for the vast majority in circulation. Nicaraguan cichlids(of any species) haven't been legally collected or exported in about a decade(or more) by now. Many species however have come out of and have been bred in mass for distribution out of Costa Rica. Most recently thanks to friend and colleague Max Savchuk, the former owner of Max Cichlids and prior to that was TUIC's own Jeff Rapps. Nicaragua has been and still remains closed to wildlife collections and exporting unfortunately. The crater lakes are now all protected sanctuaries. Some genus such as Parachromis are completely protected in Nicaragua as they are now deemed a food source. I still keep regular contact with our Nicaraguan source who was at one time the one and only legal exporter in Nicaragua whom we were his his exclusive global distributor. I hope one day to revisit that source for import but sadly it may never come.
As far as color or pattern... (top and bottom fish are females)

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Collections haven’t been coming out of Nicaragua? That isn’t true…ohh legally oh ok ha I stand corrected I can say that the prettiest cichlid I ever saw was a nicaraguense I collected in the harbor in Granada..def want to go back

 

[Wills]

its is actually the opposite. For years now, stock which originated from Costa Rican collections account for the vast majority in circulation. Nicaraguan cichlids(of any species) haven't been legally collected or exported in about a decade(or more) by now. Many species however have come out of and have been bred in mass for distribution out of Costa Rica. Most recently thanks to friend and colleague Max Savchuk, the former owner of Max Cichlids and prior to that was TUIC's own Jeff Rapps. Nicaragua has been and still remains closed to wildlife collections and exporting unfortunately. The crater lakes are now all protected sanctuaries. Some genus such as Parachromis are completely protected in Nicaragua as they are now deemed a food source. I still keep regular contact with our Nicaraguan source who was at one time the one and only legal exporter in Nicaragua whom we were his his exclusive global distributor. I hope one day to revisit that source for import but sadly it may never come.
As far as color or pattern... (top and bottom fish are females)

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Oh my! That is incredible thank you so much! Do you have any other catch location photos? I remember at one point a lot of these images were on your website but not been able to find them for a while.