Ok lets try this again, What the heck is this fish

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yeah, they usually develope that second stripe later in life, mine looks like he is beginning to right now. the reason why I said the long horizontal line is because I´ve not seen a young bifa that doesnt have a long horizontal bar (doesn´t means its not possible)
 
Stratoquarius said:
yeah, they usually develope that second stripe later in life, mine looks like he is beginning to right now. the reason why I said the long horizontal line is because I´ve not seen a young bifa that doesnt have a long horizontal bar (doesn´t means its not possible)
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Correct. Here's Bifasciatum at what I think is the same size as yours. Good example about fish changing appearance as they age.

Bifas%202b.jpg
 
First off let me say thank you for all the replies! I have really been testing myself in regards to trying to figure this out so all the info is very appreciated.

I believe the fish is ex-Cichlasoma tuyrense. It has the markings of Hartwegi but the body shape is kind of unique to tuyrense. Man...it amazes me how fast everyone throws out the hybrid card. They're out there, but unless someone said I had THIS fish in with THAT fish...how would you know what kind of juveniles are in there? Nice fish if it is tuyrense. They don't get that big and they are relatively mild mannered.
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I will certainly say that this fish has grown slower than I would expect from a veija/paratheraps. I had however dismissed this to the possibility of the fish being a female. I am not the best at venting fish and to be honest I prefer not to net my fish and observe them simply for the sake of discussion. However, I will if need be. Reading your comment on a variant of similar fish that does not grow as large however would explain the "slow growth," in the case that this is not a large growing fish.
i agree .. i see black belt in this fish
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I am not so sure about Black Belt, I do not think I see any BB trait that could not be over done by a bifa influence. It is my fault for not being able to provide better pictures but the fish shows to much blue in the cheeks and scales along the lateral line to be black belt in my opinion but do correct me if I am wrong hear?



The ex-cichlosoma tuyerense certainly shares the vertical baring and a good amount of the proportional similarities with the exception of the head. Other than that this is a heck of a match by Aquamojo and I just wanted to point out that I never would have been able to pin this specie as a possible culprit if he had not chimed in!

Would also suggest looking at Gutulatus, Hartwegi and a number of others.
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This is a fish I have only seen in adult size in person. I thought that at this size my fish was a bit to high bodied to be one. However the color and pattern match up. Also I would say the same for Hartwegi... I would assume a more slender profile and more orange/pink in the head.

What else was in the vat is the question to ask for sure.

As for color...that depends on the photo as much as the fish. I can assure you I can get more "color" out of a fish with my lighting set up.

Identifying these vieja/paratheraps type fish...especially juveniles...can be difficult. Even something as simple as color. Willem Heijns posted a series of photos on the various "favors" of bifasciatum. There were a dozen different fish all with dramatic and some subtle differences. You cant even fully rely on markings. For example if i said black belt cichlid, what would you look for? Yet we collected a variant of Maculicada in Jutiapa Honduras that had no visible belt. Variant of BB? Or some new species? Look at my P "coatzacoalcos". Undescribed. New fish or variant of Zonatus?

I they didn't have tureyense than no chance...hybrid or otherwise. It's not a very common fish.[/QUOTE

There was not much else in the vat. A few Mbuna and other assorted random cichlids but I assure you nothing that would fit a chuco, veija, paratheraps... severum lol or blue gill. Mainly African stuff. The gentlemen I picked the fish up from informed me that he had been dealing with a guy who sent him some hybrids some time ago... This in some ways settled it for me though not completely as he told me he gets in so many fish that it is hard to keep track of what was where and what could have been in that vat and for how long. I am going to follow this post up with some updated pics.
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Well, if he dealt in hybrids and there was no turyense in the vat...then it's gotta be a hybrid of some sort. Unfortunately the biggest problem I have with hybrids is the provenance. No one...including the guy you got the fish from...know what the fish is...some guy sent him some hybrids. Well good luck with all that. Identifying these fish can be difficult as is. Adding the hybrid factor gives credence to the continued, "I think it looks like" game. Good luck. I can say with certainty that the fish is a Paratheraps. Beyond that, the thing may be mixed with a german shepard.
 
lol understood. I still enjoy the back and forth a bit. I feel like it gets every body's gears turning. Case in point I do not think I will ever know what went into this thing however the reason I posted is so that I could get some input from those who have experience with fish that I am unaware of. I thought it may be a hybrid however Mojo shone some light on two species I was unaware of in this post alone.

Thank you much to Aquamojo and Red devil for bringing some expert advise to the table and thank you everyone else for throwing in your 2 cents. I will keep you guys posted on the development of this fish, it is a beauty. Hopefully I will pick up a better camera other than my cell phone sometime soon so that I can provide better pictures for everyone.
 
dparks87 said:
lol understood. I still enjoy the back and forth a bit. I feel like it gets every body's gears turning. Case in point I do not think I will ever know what went into this thing however the reason I posted is so that I could get some input from those who have experience with fish that I am unaware of. I thought it may be a hybrid however Mojo shone some light on two species I was unaware of in this post alone.

Thank you much to Aquamojo and Red devil for bringing some expert advise to the table and thank you everyone else for throwing in your 2 cents. I will keep you guys posted on the development of this fish, it is a beauty. Hopefully I will pick up a better camera other than my cell phone sometime soon so that I can provide better pictures for everyone.
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that will be awesome.. i would love seeing this stunning fish grow up through pics..
 
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