Vieja ID confirmation and sexing

[cambrew]

Here is a picture of a Vieja zonatus I am looking at buying, apparently it is 20cm long and 18months old and was just wondering what everyone thinks?

 

[ragin_cajun]

Strange color. I thought they were blue.


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[cambrew]

Even if the fish looks good I really hate vieja hybrids and have already got rid of one fish in the last 6 months because it turned out to be one.

 

[jonclark96]

Doesn't look like a zonatus to me.

 

[cambrew]

I was thinking it could be a coatzacoalcos because apparently a lot of the zonatus in Australia are.

 

[cambrew]

Do you think it looks female?

 

[ragin_cajun]

The body shape doesn't look Zonatus, either. At 18 months its full grown or pretty close, it should have a very different shape if it's Zonatus. I'm no expert, my Zonatus are 3 inches long, let's see what others say.


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[notho2000]

I was thinking it could be a coatzacoalcos because apparently a lot of the zonatus in Australia are.

It isn't a 'zonatus' (at least, not a 'pure' one). The color and pattern is all wrong. And it's not at all like a 'Coatzacoalcos' either. Zonatus and sp. Coatzacoalcos are very similar, but the Coatzacoalcos is more elongate ... at least mine are. Here's a 'Coatzacoalcos' pic, one of mine. It looks like yours might have some 'hartwegi' or 'fenestratus' in it. It definitely looks female for its age and size. An 18 month zonatus or Coatzacoalcos male would be around 30 cm (12"), the females about 2/3 that length. This is pretty much the case for all the Paraneetroplus (Vieja/Paratheraps) that I've had.

 

[the animal guy]

Hartwegi. Nice one

 

[cambrew]

They want $40 for it, do you think its worth it?