If I'm correct Astatheros Longimanus is sometimes called "fake firemouth cichlid", and that fish sort of looks like it. But I could be completely wrong.
Please id me.
- Thread starter Rmelz
- Start date
Aquamojo;5020421; said:
I didn't comment, but if I did, I was going to "toss out the FH card" as well
.. When you hear hooves, you guess zebras and not horses..Except this time, it is actually a zebra
Can you please give a few more pointers about how to ID a juvi Amplilophus against what looks like a low grade FH?
Thank you,
Well the complete lack of pearling around the "flower line" (the dark spots along the lateral line), and body shape are dead giveaways.
It must be a little easier to call everything a FH than to actually do a little research. There are well over a thousand species of cichlids that started radiating around the world millions of years ago, FHs were created by man about 2 decades ago.
looks like a cross with a fire mouth and flower horn, but pointing to more of the flowerhorn side. like one of the guys was saying a red devil, if it does lose its dark color and becomes whitish or orange it could be one
Aquamojo;5020421; said:
My only problem with the midas/red devil theory is that most "red devils' you see at lfs are bred or hormone fed to cause the peeling process to happen much sooner than normal so that the fish will already be orange by the time they reach the stores at around 2" in size. If this is a typical farm raised/bred "red devil" then I would expect it to be fully orange by now. That is unless it was a trade in from someone who breeds true cits or labs but if there's a tank full of them then I'd doubt that. The other option would be that this particular LFS orders fish from a more reputable supplier than the common fish farms, but if that were the case then I"d expect the supplier would have provided the LFS with a more accurate ID than firemouth.
I'm not ready to throw the FH card just yet which is why I said Lyonsi, but I'd be very surprised if it winds up being a RD.
Just my $0.02
Lyonsi look nothing like that. Body shape and color are very different. Guarantee it's not lyonsi. Look at the head shape.
Here's a lyonsi I had at 4-5".
Here's a lyonsi I had at 4-5".
ok, first of all I have not ever kept lyonsi so keep that in mind. That being said, however, the primary differences I see in the OP's pic and Modest_man's is that MM's fish is much bulkier (which would come with age in the OP's fish) and that MM's fish has a shorter snout with a slightly protruding lower jaw. I have kept Midas and Xilo's before and when young, their snouts are longer proportionally but as they grow and bulk up, the length appears to become shorter to the point where it is shorter and more blunt as seen in MM's pic. That would lead me to think that the OP's fish could grow similarly and the disproportionately longer snout may look closer to MM's fish as it grows and bulks up.
As for the lower jaw, I can't see the mouth of the OP's fish well enough with an angle good enough to say whether or not it has a similarly shaped mouth.
As for the lower jaw, I can't see the mouth of the OP's fish well enough with an angle good enough to say whether or not it has a similarly shaped mouth.
The photo I posted is of a 4-5" fish, the same size or smaller than the fish in question. I tried to post a photo of one of mine that was about the same size as the fish in question. If you want to see a 6" fish the differences are even more drastic.
6" fish
3" fish (All photos of different fish at the same time)
It's all in the head/body/snout/eye/fin relationship...
6" fish
3" fish (All photos of different fish at the same time)
It's all in the head/body/snout/eye/fin relationship...
I'm going to second the possibility of it being an Astatheros Longimanus. Still not 100% but looks possible - 
http://www.cichlidforums.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/1567/limit/recent
http://www.cichlidforums.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/1567/limit/recent
