Unknown CA Cichlid

[cichlid2006]

From this pic I don't think there's going to be anyway to tell for sure. Could be:

jack dempsey
rainbow
archocentrus centrarchus
Amphilophus lyonsi maybe

What it's not:

acara <south american>
oscar <south american>
flowerhorn <hybrid...not a naturally occurring species>

where the naturally occuring species is from is irrelevant. fish have been let go in eco systems that they dont belong in for decades. look at the USA with snakeheads or places like florida with people fishing jags out the water.

you cant just dismiss it. Im sure the USA and UK arent the only places with a non-native species problems.

 

[nooklid]

It looks like a JD to me

 

[convict84]

same here id say for sure its a jd,

 

[abarilot]

Thanks for all the input!!! I was hoping it was a wild FH :j/k: But if it helps at all the bigger ones were about 4" and they all had a dull brown or yellow coloration. And Tikal is on the Eastern part of Guatemala. Thanks again!!!

 

[Jason_S]

where the naturally occuring species is from is irrelevant. fish have been let go in eco systems that they dont belong in for decades. look at the USA with snakeheads or places like florida with people fishing jags out the water.

you cant just dismiss it. Im sure the USA and UK arent the only places with a non-native species problems.

I realize that, but the likelyhood of spotting an acara or oscar in a non-native region would be directly related to the number of specimens that had been introduced. Unless someone dumped, say, at least 10 or more individual fish then there's virtually no way for them to sustain a breeding popultion. They would most likely be killed off by the native fish, especially when you consider that acaras and oscars are fairly passive species when compared to pretty much any central american species.

That being said, when trying to determine what this particular fish is, imo, the odds of it being a non-native fish when there are several native species that look incredibly similar to the fish in the pic are right up there with drawing a Royal flush in a game of 5 card draw in Vegas. You have to admit that a snakehead, jag, midas/rd, etc have a much better chance of surviving in a foreign eco system due to their aggression, size and/or predatory nature as opposed to an acara or an oscar.

Just my $0.02

 

[Jason_S]

Thanks for all the input!!! I was hoping it was a wild FH :j/k: But if it helps at all the bigger ones were about 4" and they all had a dull brown or yellow coloration. And Tikal is on the Eastern part of Guatemala. Thanks again!!!

Just to clear something up, there's no such thing as a wild caught flowerhorn. To be truly a wild caught fish, it would come from the wild and it's genes would be pure from wild ancestors...no domestic blood in the fish. For a flowerhorn to be found in the wild, it would have had to have been dumped there by someone who raised them in a fish tank.

 

[darth pike]

I think you can rule out the rainbow or cent becuase of the lack of the single large(rainbow) or two large (cent) facial spots ... which could be seen even with the angle of the pic. My first guess was a juvy JD as well.