Two very different laps... ID variation?

[Cohazard]

I have two laps and they are very very different from each other.

The darker one I got two months ago, and it has always looked that way, almost solid, with a sort of ghost pattern. It's fairly shy and not a voracious eater, but he does eat well.

The lighter one is new (this past weekend) and it's got a lot of contrast. It's outgoing and was never shy. Settled into the tank right away and was gorging itself on the first day. It was ID'd as Nigerian, any ideas about the darker one?

TIA

 

[Infblue]

i believe the darker one is a Nigerian as well. as you know the patterns and the intensity can vary depending on stress level, environment (substrate etc.) and age, but they also vary quite a bit on an individual basis. but in all cases you can see the general framework of their markings is the same.

since a pic's worth a thousand words, many pics would be worth many thousands

1st 4 pics are mine.
5th one is anne's.

 

[Infblue]

and these are Nigerian laps listed on various japanese sites.

 

[Cohazard]

Cool, thank you INF for the clarification!

I'm still learning how to tell apart the regional variants of lap and endli. I'm also interested in learning how to ID a bichir bichir, but the pics I've seen just look soooo similar to laps lol

 

[Infblue]

no problem

yeah endli are more tricky since there are more regional variants. i get confused too LOL the volta is generally very easy to tell apart from the rest since they typically have very faded stripes. nigeria ones have somewhat different body shape, it seems. there are also guinea and chad, which sometimes are hard to tell apart. not sure where else they're imported from.

as for laps, so far i've only seen two variants imported, nigeria and guinea. they are visually different and generally easy to tell apart from the patterns.

 

[C00K]

I agree with Infblue, Laps vary greatly in coloration and pattern, even from the same locality. I have over a dozen Laps purchased from different sources and even after settling in, they vary greatly (even ones from the same source) in color and pattern.
Great pics Infblue!