Paratheraps

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Adhlc

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Sep 1, 2007
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Raleigh, NC
Can some one throw together a list of what species belong under the genus Paratheraps? It seems like the Viejas and Paras are constantly getting mixed up. I tried doing some research on the two and I can't seem to get any solid answers.

Any help is greatly appreciated!
 
It is a bit annoying isn't it? Sometimes it makes you wonder why they keep changing their minds on things. Almost like they are doing just to mess with hobbyists heads. Kinda like the whole festae going from Amphilophus to exCichlasoma.

Thanks for the links M²

Have they moved H. bocourti and H. pearsi yet? I heard that they were going to move them to a different genus, but wasn't sure if it was legit or not.
 
Peanut_Power;3339036; said:
It is a bit annoying isn't it? Sometimes it makes you wonder why they keep changing their minds on things. Almost like they are doing just to mess with hobbyists heads. Kinda like the whole festae going from Amphilophus to exCichlasoma.

Do you have a link to show this change for festae. I always use this link (http://www.cichlidforum.com/profiles/?region=SA) for reference as it seems to be more comprehensive than most. It still has festae as Amphilophus?
 
I'm not sure if its really documented or even completely implimented yet to be honest with you. I just know that at the ACA they were labeling them as exCichlasoma instead of Amphilophus. Rapps also has them listed as exCichlasoma now, and he is normally on top of things. There have been a few other instances before that that were more word of mouth than anything.

Talk with Darth Pike. He is normally up to date on ANY genus changes. Brilliant man. :)


It makes sense since most of the Amphilophus genus are Central American cichlids, and festae are more South American.

As long as they leave Crenicichla alone its all good. Hahaha
 
Peanut_Power;3339036; said:
It is a bit annoying isn't it? Sometimes it makes you wonder why they keep changing their minds on things. Almost like they are doing just to mess with hobbyists heads. Kinda like the whole festae going from Amphilophus to exCichlasoma.

Thanks for the links M²

Have they moved H. bocourti and H. pearsi yet? I heard that they were going to move them to a different genus, but wasn't sure if it was legit or not.

Oh tell me about it, I hate it when the genus of animals are constantly changed. Especially when I'm reading some great book written a few year ago. Oh wait, the genus changed again. Annoying.
 
Apparently there's a few name changes again soon. A few of the fish from the Paratheraps complex will soon be re-classified under Vieja. Melanura is one.

I personally believe that both pearsei and bocourti, belong in their own genus. I've never really understood the Herichthys link, when they used to be assigned to it.:confused:
 
Thanks for the info everyone.

Modest Man - That website looks like it's bursting with infor - however I cannot see any of it unless I shell out$30. Any way around this? Or is there another site that's comparable?
 
greenterra - festae were never truely in Amphilophus, they were dumped there for a brief moment while the other genus were being sorted out. When Kullander restricted Cichlasoma to the port cichlids, all central americans then became Heros as it was the next available genus, and most centrals at some time resided in that genus. Then Kullander restricted Heros for sev's, and again pretty much all centrals were dumped into Herichthys which as we know was then restricted to the texas complex (and why pearsi and bocourti are still listed in this genus, I agree with nutty that they are deffinately not a texas group cichlid).

After the texas group was restricted, that's when most of the central genus were broken up as well. Right after the restriction, again all centrals were technically in Amphilophus for a brief moment until they were further divided up into the various older genus (and a few new ones) that they had been before Regan lumped them all into Cichlasoma.

Festae really shouldn't be listed as Amphilophus though, their mouth structure is a bit differant than the other midas cichlid group. But then it hasn't been that long scientificly yet. Heck, the blue acara group (blue acaras, green acara, gold acara, green terrors) was just formally described last december, and it's been orphaned for 20+ years now.

It's my belief festae will share a genus with ornatum and atromaculatum eventually as they share a similiar jaw configuration (based on photo's, I deffinately don't discect ... will leave that to the scientists).

OP - As for the lists, I use the CRC registery for those two families atm, but they are being worked on as well (as Nutty said). DNA is playing havoc with traditional diagnostic trends so there will probably be much more shifting over the next few years.
 
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