Palmas Palmas/Buettekoferi??

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Okay they aren't being photogenic or cooperative. I really think the two fish I brought home are separate species from each other, one palmas and one buettekoferi. The larger fish was big enough to move into the big boy tank... and now I can't tell the three of them apart by color, only by shape. The new fish is thin still. All three of them are pretty dark compared to the smaller new fish in the other tank.

This pic is from the day I got them and her color hasn't darkened yet... seen here with my hornball polli. So if you guys say the lighter is the palmas buttekoferi, then... then... she would be buettekoferi sold as a palmas... and the other fish sold as a palmas is actually a palmas... and the other two sold as buettekoferi would both be palmas. Right??

nice polli!

is this light colored one here the 1st or 2nd fish in the pics on page 1? i'm sure it'll darken up with time. to me it looks like a buettikoferi. is this one part of the three that you can't tell apart by color? and which one is the smaller new fish in the other tank?

 

[Keeper of the Ropes]

The one on this page, the lighter one, is the smaller one sold as a palmas palmas that didn't darken up after I brought it home. She's about 9''. In the other picture with them side by side, the one in the back was sold as a buettekoferi, the one in the front was sold as a palmas. I'm still super confused lol

 

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thanks for the clarification. heres my take on this based on the pics.

the one on this page, the lighter one, looks buettikoferi. in the other page with the two side by side, the one in the back is buettikoferi. the one in the front also looks buettikoferi (do you have more pics of him?).

now this guy in the pic you posted earlier (see below) is debatable from this pic. If this is the same as the one in the pic with the two side by side, then the argument would sway toward buettikoferi esp. with the dorsal pattern i can see, but more pics would help.

i'm confident your old ones are buettikoferi. do the new ones look like the pics xrayz posted and the ones in my link? you should be able to tell them apart from the buettikoferi pretty easily.

one last thing that could help figure this out if you don't mind me asking. How much are the two new ones?

 

[Keeper of the Ropes]

Sounds like you're on my side then. The pic you reposted was of the new fish right before I moved it to the other tank. That fish is the same fish that appears in the picture with the species side by side, and it's the one closest to the glass. So, you said that one was buettekoferi twice. Also, I paid 50 a piece for the fish, which was what Toyin charged for the buettes when I ordered direct from him. I'm going to try again to get some good pics again... but they don't like the camera. When I want pix of laps, the palmas come out. When I want pix of palmas, the laps come out. What's the deal? lol

 

[Keeper of the Ropes]

N yea my fish aren't quite like the ones in the pictures you guys posted, probably because of age. The patterns aren't as vivid yet... But I'm going to get these pictures. Don't care if I have to catch them and get them out and put them on a table... I'm dead set on it now.

 

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yeah if you can get the pics that'd be great...but keep them in water lol otherwise you wouldn'be be able to see the markings haha

you're right $50 is about what he charges for buettikoferi of that size. for a palmas palmas of that size, he's charging more for them...i know cause most of mine came from him. i know you ordered thru lfs, but i don't see the price dropping to $50 because of that since palmas palmas come in very small number every time he's able to get some, and they aren't easy to come by...so the price would suggest buettikoferi. I've ordered from him many times and he's very reputable, so i have no clue whats going on here.

i don't know how big the fish are in xrayz's pics. But if you look at my link, one of those is about 8", another one 9"-10", and the one with before/after pics, the before pic was taken when it was about 8"-9" also. And the color intensity certainly varied a little before and after they settled in, but right away they look different from buettikoferi.

 

[Keeper of the Ropes]

Alright. Heres the smaller fish from the other tank. Two shots.

The larger new fish. ITS A BOY lol

Old fish

wow those are blurry... sorry lol

 

[Keeper of the Ropes]

Does it have more to do with the color of the belly being yellow/buettekoferi white/palmas or with the coloration on the top of the body? My head is startin to hurt from all this lol

 

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the old fish is buettikoferi. the two new ones, do you have clear full side shot? from what i can see i'm still thinking buettikoferi.

as for the belly color, i don't think that's necessarily true. In my link, except for the gars and the endli endli, all the rest are what toyin calls palmas palmas, and you can see both yellow and white belly. i recognize them by the color and especially the markings on the side. Their dorsal/pre-dorsal pattern are also different from buettikoferi, which is clear when you view the fish from the top. And all of mine happen to have greenish pectoral fins too (after they settle). For my buettikoferi, except for one that's greenish all over the body and fins, the rest have yellow pectorals. But this could just be a coincidence with the fin color.

 

[Keeper of the Ropes]

K I got pix galore. Medusa (my big endli cong) was tearing herself to pieces in the other tank, and I had to move her to the 55 - took the opportunity to steal their log, put all four Palmas together and go nuts with the camera.
Pic #1 - New fish in the back, old in the front

Pic #2 - New fish... My pretty endli was hogging the camera and the baby jag came in to tease them

Pic #3 - New fish

Pic #4 - Old fish

Pic #5 - Swarm of Palmas