Paratilapia Bleekeri or Polleni?

duanes

MFK Moderators
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MFK Member
Jun 7, 2007
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Isla Taboga Panama via Milwaukee
I find the best was to tell Paratilapia sexes apart, is the profile.
A mature male below

now a female

problem comes in when a sub-dominant male mimics a female

Alpha male below

female
 

Istalliano

Gambusia
Jan 17, 2018
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I know this is an old thread but I wanted to post anyway. I currently own 9 paratilapia, 3 which were sold to me as "Polleni" and six that were sold as "Bleekeri". I bought them all from 3 different fish stores and hatchery farms and my biggest right now is a 6" male Bleekeri. I got him "Scar" about a year ago with 3 others which eventually died because of a tank issue, anyway he was the last one left. Being a lone survivor I left him by himself until eventually I ordered 5 more "bleekeri" which I then put them in a separate tank. Upon inspection and looking at pictures of Scar from a year ago and then comparing them to the new "bleekeri" I received a couple of months ago I started noticing slight difference (i.e.) color, spotting, etc. Too sum it up more recently I was shopping at a local fish store for another tank I have setup (mind you I have 4), and as I picked out my fish the guy starts to say "Hey we have some "Polleni" you might be interested in so I go check them out and they do look like the "bleekeri" I got from a couple months ago but they were much more rounded alot more yellow, had little to no spotting and a very non dominant black dorsal fin spot. Again I get home start looking at old pictures of Scar and comparing the new bleekeri and polleni I just received in which NONE OF THEM LOOK THE SAME! I started thinking could I have 3 different sub species of Paratilapia and could I possibly create my own hybrids? What do you guys think? All the first 4 pics are of Scar now and of his siblings when he was a baby (purchased fish store in Denver). The second 3 pictures are the Bleekeri I ordered from Imperial Tropicals in Florida . The 3rd 3 pictures are of the Polleni I got at a different local fish store. 3 different places and I'm pretty sure 3 different Paratilapia.

20180117_211646.jpg received_1777595962260328.png received_1777596072260317.png received_1777596195593638.png 20180117_211736.jpg 20180117_211720.jpg 20180117_211743.jpg 20180117_211325.jpg 20180117_211230.jpg 20180117_211701.jpg
 
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