Updated pics, ID is this Geophagus Brasiliensis?

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Stratoquarius

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Oct 22, 2011
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Hey guys, a few weeks ago I picked up what appears to be a Geophagus Brasiliensis, only yellow colour all over the body. as I stated before the flash does kill a lot of the yellow but in reality the fish has a yellow base colour with iridescent over the top. story is that this fish was the only one in a tank of Heckelii and Jurupari, so as I know next to nothing about Geo´s I grabbed this one because it looks like a yellow version of my old Brasiliensis pair I had.

the stock image on Wikipedia for geophagus brasiliensis is,
Geophagus_brasiliensis_c01.jpg

this is the only Geo image that is the same colour of mine, some info I could find online tells me that this fish is available in different colours and elongated vs steep profile depending on collection point. there is also a closely related species that only gets to 4"-6" called Geophagus Iporangensis. at 4" my fish which I assume is a female, would be pretty much fully grown. not to mention this fish is pretty rare. so I don´t think there is a lot of chance I could score an adult female Iporangensis for so cheap at a random LFS.

I also notice that the Iporangensis have regular sized eyes whereas mine has quite large eyes which suggests the fish isnt fully grown right?


anyway, heres the pics
P2112828.jpg

P2112840.jpg


lemme know what you think guys
 
Just so you know, G. Iporangensis are not exactly rare in your area. They have been bred locally for a number of years now. Also, while females are generally in the 4" range, males can top out at 7+ inches.

Unless the vendor can supply you with more info your fish is going to remain a brasiliensis-type fish, which encompasses a number of different variants. As long as you're happy with the fish, and have no plans on breeding it I wouldn't be too concerned about it's exact origin.
 
hey again RD. you see I had no clue that Iporangensis were common in my Area, I already asked the store and they said they don´t know cause they havent had any of the brasiliensis or iporangensis in for a while. Doesnt help that even Iporangensis are confused as Brasiliensis when young. I suppose more than anything I´m just looking for opinions because this is out of my knowledge.
Have you owned or kept any Iporangensis before? and for now, if you had to choose one or the other for my fish, which would you chose?
 
I have 4 iporangensis and their fins have a red base with pearling on top but I'm not sure how consistent their coloring is. Brasiliensis are supposed to have a steeper forehead so you might want to compare yours to some reliable pics. From my research the behavior and attitude of the 2 is identical with the only difference being the size so preference has a lot to do with tank size and desired tankmates. I love my iporangensis, they're in a 125 with a ebjd, rotkeil, sd and heckelli. The breeding pair is by far the most aggressive in the tank but the ebjd and rotkeil are larger and can hold there ground and the heckelli is young so it isn't viewed as competition yet. I also had a female Nic in there but they tried to eliminate her.
 
I have one in my tank and it looks like the first picture. It's still a juvenile around about an 1" long.
 
Strato - I've kept both in the past. I didn't say that Iporangensis are common, but they're not exactly rare either. Even the Petland here has had them in the recent past.
The store that you bought this fish at had some G. brasiliensis several months back when I was there. (clearly not Iporangensis)

My response is the same as in your last thread.

This is precisely why provenance back to the wild becomes so important with most cichlids. There are numerous brasiliensis-types, and if this fish is as solid yellow as you state, then it's one that I have never seen before, nor is it shown in Weidner's book, which is pretty much the bible on SA eartheaters. Many of these fish get lumped together, and many are still undescribed. Unless the LFS that you purchased it at can come up with more info for you I suspect it will remain a brasiliensis-type, and that's about as close as you're going to get as far as an accurate ID.
Click to expand...

At this point your best bet is to grow this fish out & see how it matures over the course of the next year.
 
thanks RD. yeah I know thats the best bet, its just now that the fish was settled in its colours have changed a bit so I thought a picture now might help make the ID.
I have no problem with owning either of the fish, but my tank is pretty big and a 4" iporangensis might get bullied by my other fish when they all get around 10"-14"

bbortko, cichlidjoe and RD. if you guys have any pics of your fish it would be great if you could post them here so I can see.
Thanks Strato
 
here are a couple of mine

125.JPG

028.JPG
 
Wow they look absolutely beautiful! they still seem to have the same base colour as a brasiliensis though, just with much more orange and gold on their sides. Mine has a really yellow face as you can see in the pics. Could you possible post a side on picture of your female? if you have one of course, and thanks a lot for sharing the pics Bbortko

and RD. thanks for the picture, see how that fish is the same size as mine roughly and has much more red in the fins. I will note though that since I got mine the red in her fins has been developing more.

I found a pic of a brasiliensis with the yellow face!
http://www.fotocommunity.de/pc/pc/display/19037992
 
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