Uaru questions...

[beantickler]

I am wondering how many species of Uaru there are? I have seen the fernandezyepezi and the amphiacanthoides but my lfs has Uaru that have blue pearling on the face and gill plates and also on the fins and a few spots on the bodies. They are a pale grey/white color with no black on the body. Any ideas what I am looking at? Also the fish are aprox 4 inches.

Is it ok to mix the various species of Uaru in 1 tank?

 

[JK47]

I am wondering how many species of Uaru there are? I have seen the fernandezyepezi and the amphiacanthoides but my lfs has Uaru that have blue pearling on the face and gill plates and also on the fins and a few spots on the bodies. They are a pale grey/white color with no black on the body. Any ideas what I am looking at? Also the fish are aprox 4 inches.

Is it ok to mix the various species of Uaru in 1 tank?

Mine at the same size have allot of blue pearling around the face and gill plates as well as a few patches around the pectoral & anal fins. That said, Uaru have a very common shape for a cichlid and you could be looking at a mislabeled or entirely different fish without the black. Did it happen to look like those in the below link labeled as "orange urau"? That variant seems to display less black from the photo's I have seen but I have never owned one.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=269164&highlight=orange+uaru

Can't and wouldn't give advice on mixing the species without knowing the proper ID of the fish. Most people with the cash for Fernandezyepezi don't bother mixing Amphiacanthoides in the same tank though IMO.

 

[ryansmith83]

I am wondering how many species of Uaru there are? I have seen the fernandezyepezi and the amphiacanthoides but my lfs has Uaru that have blue pearling on the face and gill plates and also on the fins and a few spots on the bodies. They are a pale grey/white color with no black on the body. Any ideas what I am looking at? Also the fish are aprox 4 inches.

Is it ok to mix the various species of Uaru in 1 tank?

Uaru go through a few color changes as they mature. There are U. fernandezyepezi, U. amphiacanthoides, and also U. sp. 'orange' which look similar to the brown amphs but with a deep orange chest as they mature. My orange variety has more blue in the face and fins, but regular amphs show this sometimes, too.

Pandas (U. fernands) are often white/grey but they still show black markings. The only Uaru that don't show some black markings would be U. amphiacanthoides when they're babies. They're usually tan/brown with cream-colored spots as juvies.

 

[beantickler]

No these fish are about 4 inches and for sure are not like any I have ever seen. They are without a doubt Uara tho. The blue pearling on the face and gill plates almost reminds me of the Escondido with the worm pearling. This blue pearling is faint though. There is no orange on these fish either. I tried so hard to get a picture but they all came out a blur with my cell phone. Could they be hybrids of some sort? They have an identical body shape and color of a fernandezyepezi only without the 3 black bars in the back. These fish do have very faint black blotches through the mid section but almost unnoticable. I just cant get past the blue worm pearling on there face. There were maybe 10 in the tank and they ALL had the same pattern. They also have a tank full of the amphiacanthoides for 20 bucks each whereas these "others" are 40 bucks each.

I sure hope someone can shed some light for me on this cause I might just go buy one or 2 of them.

Also the whole mixing of the Uaru species... At my lfs the fernandezyepezi dont cost anymore then the amphiacanthoides species. So other then the price you mentioned is there any other worries for mixing the 2 or possibly 3 species of Uaru in the same tank?

 

[JK47]

At my lfs the fernandezyepezi dont cost anymore then the amphiacanthoides species.

I have never seen any reasonably priced fernandezyepeziin my area, ever... You are very lucky then. I only know one person in my area who owns them. He has a group 10 and paid more for them than I did for my entire 225 gallon tank, stand, filters and fish.

I would really love to see a pic of them even if a crappy cell phone pic considering the below. See below on a "third undescribed species"

Incidentally, Pellegrin (1904), in reexamining and commenting on Steindachner's Uaru (Acara) imperialis, notes that the largest specimen in his series was less than 2 inches. This would probably account for the coloration description ("5 lines of small, sky-blue spots on body") typical of juvenile U. amphiacanthoides (see below). There are, however, at least two additional species of Uaru — U. fernandezyepezi, described by Stawikowski in 1989, and a third, an apparently undescribed species.

 

[ryansmith83]

Uaru fernandezyepezi are hard to come by most of the time and are usually expensive. Mine were $80 a piece at 2". Here are a few pictures as they grew:

As you can see, the black blotches are definitely there at all sizes. You'll also notice that the fish show no blue like the amphiacanthoides do -- only creamy white, grey, and black. You can probably rule out U. fernandezyepezi unless they're seriously stressed which could wash out the color. Then again, it wouldn't explain the blue.

I'd be interested in seeing the camera phone pictures, too, even if they're blurry. Maybe something will jump out at someone. In all my time keeping and researching Uaru, I've only ever seen two general types -- the black and white pandas and the orange/brown/tan and black amphiacanthoides variants. If it's a new species, I'm amazed that they turned up randomly in a fish store and for only $40 each.

 

[beantickler]

My lfs had the Panda's up till about 6-7 months ago and they were 40 bucks each for 1-1.5 inches... All I have seen as of lately are the amphs... I didnt save any of my cell pix but I think you guys are motivating me to take my Nikon to the store tomorrow. Maybe i'm just not as familiar with Uaru as you guys are? I just know that the 4 amphs I have raised never showed this blue coloration. Even the babies and juvie amphs in the store look how they r supposed to. These are different. Maybe wild? Maybe from a different region? I will try my best to get out there tomorrow... The store is 35-40 minutes away so...

 

[beantickler]

OK so back to one of the original questions... Even if this is a different species or sub species can I keep them with my amphs and clown loaches? Is it ok to mix Uaru?

 

[JK47]

My lfs had the Panda's up till about 6-7 months ago and they were 40 bucks each for 1-1.5 inches... All I have seen as of lately are the amphs... I didnt save any of my cell pix but I think you guys are motivating me to take my Nikon to the store tomorrow. Maybe i'm just not as familiar with Uaru as you guys are? I just know that the 4 amphs I have raised never showed this blue coloration. Even the babies and juvie amphs in the store look how they r supposed to. These are different. Maybe wild? Maybe from a different region? I will try my best to get out there tomorrow... The store is 35-40 minutes away so...

Ryan showed you nice pics of expensive Uaru, here are a couple crappy pics of a cheap Uaru. Took em' a minute ago just for you to see the blue I was talking about. The pics suck but what looks like a greyish color in the pics is actually a very pearl blue color. There are random spots on the fish (bright) as well most of the face (more pearl). Almost looks like ich in the pics but it's not.





You can see the blue all over the snout just like my rotkeil. Again crappy P&S camera so it does not look blue in the pic as it does in person.




Besides the face, the random spots, there is a solid blue line all the way around the "triangle" you can see here.


I would LOVE to see the pics you come back with. As far as mixing them, I just would not feel good giving bad advice without knowing what your mixing. When I bought mine, the LFS almost gave it to me because it was damn near dead from being beat up on by other Uaru A. in the tank. I really do feel it depends on the indevidual. The one above is 4.5".

 

[ryansmith83]

Uaru do best in groups like discus. The problem is that you often need a huge tank to do that because of their size. If they are all amphiacanthoides, there's no reason why you can't mix them. You can also keep fernands and amphs together, but it should be pointed out that fernands can sometimes be more aggressive (at least mine were).

Again, I think tank size and number of fish is key.