Rotkeil?

[gavinh87]

Can anyone help me I.D these pair? They were sold in my LFS as red shoulder rotkeils but these 2 had the best colouring. They have like reddish/brown spotting on them.

Apologies for my awful photography.

 

[Poseidon2.0]

I don't think they are. They look just like the F0 green severums that I have, when they were younger.

 

[gavinh87]

He looks awesome! How long did it take for him to start gaining colour?

 

[neutrino]

Rotkeil color looks much pretty much like any standard green severum when they're younger, it takes time for the red to develop, so that's not the criteria for younger fish. IME, having raised quite a number of them, they tend to look like standard green severums until at least 3.5- 4 inches (will vary with individual).

However, I'm counting 9 bars on both of yours (including eye and base of the tail), rotkeils have 8. Unless both fish have bars 6,7 fused at the top and it's a split bar that should be a single bar. (Can't see top of bar 6,7 on the smaller fish.) Rotkeils don't particularly have body spotting, at least not those I've had or seen, it's more about the band of red/orange behind the face and gill plate.

 

[gavinh87]

Thanks for that, yes the smaller also has bars 6-7 fused at the top.
Why is it so hard for fish stores to label fish up correctly?

 

[ryansmith83]

As neutrino said, rotkeils only have 8 bars. Can you show us pictures of the smaller fish, and also the other side of the larger fish? I'm curious if his bars are fused on both sides, and on the smaller fish as well.

The black spotting on the gills hints at notatus. If so, they should develop an orange/yellow throat and the spotting should increase as they grow.

 

[gavinh87]

So hard to get pictures! As soon as I get close, the other fish try to photobomb!
The fused bars are on both sides and on both fish.

 

[Poseidon2.0]

He looks awesome! How long did it take for him to start gaining colour?

Thanks. Took about six months from this shot. I have three of them and they have/had 7 or 8 bars when they are showing. This is back in Nov.

 

[duanes]

Most LFSs (especially big box stores) don't know a severum from a buttikoferi, or a Tilapia from a grammodes, much less the breakdown in the more intricate Heros genus.

 

[ryansmith83]

G gavinh87 Does this look familiar?

These were in my batch of F1 notatus from wild parents. I have no idea what conditions cause the 6th and 7th bar to fuse at the top, but it's funny (and maybe purely coincidental) that our fish share the same aberration.

If your fish are notatus, the black spotting on the gills should continue to grow and expand and they will develop yellow/orange/rust colored chests with a yellowish-green base color through the body.