Thorichthys sex and i.d please?

[GS1981]

Hi this guy was sold to me about a year ago as a thorichthys aureus by maidenhead aquatics, he was about 1" i paid £6 for him, i gave him to a friend about 6 months ago and today he give him back, hes in my 75g with about 7 baby severums i'm growing out, 2 adult angels, festivum and a few barbs and corys, he is about 5" and looks to be close to fully grown.

However from google images, he looks nothing like a aureus or a ellioti, he just looks like a more colourful firemouth with yellow sheen and blue spotting.

What is he and what sex is it?

 

[Cyberman]

Could be Thorichthys aureus

 

[GS1981]

Any idea on sex and any other opinions? a lady on another forum said she thought it was either a Ellioti male or a Metico male (whatever that is)

 

[Cyberman]

Difficult to tell... Heres a pic of my ellioti

 

[GS1981]

That looks much nicer than mine but smaller, do they take a while to colour up? or should they always be coloured like that? is that breeding dress? maybe mines female because its not as fancy as that?

Also i noticed Elliotis seem to have neon blue lipstick, mine has just got normal coloured lips, could mine be a firemouth hybrid thats why its not so colourful?

 

[Cyberman]

My ellioti was 2.5" in that pic...he's bigger now... It will reach 7" max and show even greater coloration.... I'd say yours is likely to be another form of Thorichthys but definately not ellioti. I'd google "thorichthys" and look at the variations but my guess is yours could be aureus.

 

[GS1981]

It was sold to me as an Aureus, i'm guessing if it is, its the yellow variety not the Blue Shock variety because his belly is very yellow.

It came from a very good dealer, but they have sold me Heros Rotkeil as Notatus before lol

He's around 4-5" now could be something to do with my mate had him in a dirty tank and hadn't changed the water for 6 months, i sold him a 1" gold severum back then also and i saw it today and its a dirty brown colour but about 4-5" he never cleans his tank but feeds them 3 times a day on small hikari gold so his fish grow quick! none have hole in the head either which is weird, he has a 9" Oscar in there to which looks perfect, not the way i would personally keep my fish, and i wouldnt of sold him anything had i known how he keeps them, weird how his fish grow so much faster than mine being in a dirty tank.....its only a 4ft 55g and he has 3 large gibbi plecs and about 20 cichlids in there lol!

 

[GS1981]

he kinda looks like this in real life...

 

[GS1981]

Any other opinions?

 

[Azedenkae]

Definitely not an Ellioti or a Meeki. Could be a Mixteco but probably an Aureus.