Silver Dollars

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shinypenny

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 30, 2007
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I've been considering buying a schooling fish for my new tank and had a bit of a problem with the LFS. The thing is they seem to label anything silver round and amazonian as a Silver Dollar, (Mylossoma pluriventre?). However some of the fish look distinctly different. One group in particular have a distinct red tinge to the front of the anal fin, which makes them look more like Schreitmuller's Metynnis (Metynnis hypsasuchen?), but they also have a lone black bar in the middle of the body below the front of the dorsal fin that doesn't quite strech to the top or bottom of the fish, which matches with neither fish.

I heard that the Schreitmuller's Metynnis are meant to be a good bit smaller than Silver Dollars when full grown (5 1/2" Vs 8") so I would be interested in trying to get some as they would probably fit better with some Angel Fish. But the problem getting a positive ID is frustrating.

And to complicate matters further they also have a morph (of which?) that has an extended red anal fin, and some very small ones that could be Silver Dollars or possibly Salmon Discus (Poptella orbicularis).

If any of you are wondering the store it's the Big Al's on the NW side of Philadelphia.

So have any of you run into the same problem, any clues on IDing?

Thanks in advance.
 
shinypenny;1163052; said:
So what do you think, too big for a 65g with some Angels?

Honestly I think you would be ok. If they get too big, Red Hooks should be easy to sell because they are the best looking of the Silver Dollars. I've been trying to get my hands on some but they've been hard to find.
 
AS Shomburgbruce stated the bared silver dollars are M. schomburgkii and the red hooks are red hooks. Both have been reported at 27 to 29 cm in habitat, in big tanks maybe they can get near that in time?
 
brcacti;1163544; said:
AS Shomburgbruce stated the bared silver dollars are M. schomburgkii and the red hooks are red hooks. Both have been reported at 27 to 29 cm in habitat, in big tanks maybe they can get near that in time?
You ought to check out one of my old tank vid, and see how many i can squeese into my 6x2x2.
 
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