Vieja melanurum
- Thread starter rurry44
- Start date
Check with Dan at Cichlids of the Americas. He lists melanurum as in stock, but you should ask for details regarding the strain you are interested in. Jeff Rapps at Tangled Up In Cichlids has them on occasion as well (which he has listed as Rio Yaxha, but I believe that they properly referred to as Lago Peten), but they are not currently listed.
Although synspilum may now be grouped with melanurum, at least by some scientists, the Lago Peten strain of melanurum does not look like a typical red-head. Here's a photo of a young one - their body is much more yellow/orange overall, with some blue spangles. The belly is dark, and the body lacks the green overtones of typical synspilum:
I have an 8 inch melanurum from Jeff Rapps strain. It has very different color pattern, body shape and temperament (taller body, more red on the body and tail, and more aggressive) from Synspillum. Although melanurum is now considered a junior name for synspillum, I am in agreement with Jeff Rapps that they are too different in appearance and temperament to be one and the same species.
I have three of those as well. Mine are only about 4", but the differences from a typical 'synspilum' are quite apparent, including their aggression levels. Does the head gain more red as they mature? Mine have have quite a bit of blue/gold on the flanks, red tails, red on the belly under the gills, but so far the head is quite plain. Just curious. I have a standard synspilum in the tank as well, and its head is already quite a bit redder.
I am comparing my 8 inch melanurum (top 2 pics) with my 8 inch synspillum (bottom 2 pics). The mela has red in the head, body and fins and more black on the body. The syns has red on the head only and a lot of gold on the body. The mela has an elongated body, and the syns has a tall eye shape body. My syn is skittish, but my mela is bold. They only looked alike when they were juveniles having exactly the same markings and you can't tell them apart.
My Paraneetroplus melanurus (Peten) F1s are from Rusty Wessel's stock. When young they showed a lot of gold/orange and deep blue/black (first pic). Then there are two pics, one of the male and the other the pair about a year later. I find them very different from the 'red headed' form which I also have and will include two pics of, again, first the male and then the pair.
I saw a photo of a fish from the Lago Peten strain that was quite impressive. I know that the colors and markings of these fish can vary from individual to individual but I figured to look for the type with the most chance of resembling the photo of the fish I first saw.