what is up with this fish's coloring?

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Really nice looking. Never seen such color in a Satanoperca. Thanks for sharing.
 
very nice coloring

i thought most satanoperca have more of a silver/metallic coloring to them. didn't know they had any red, not to mention red across it's entire body :eek:
 
As others have said its a Satanoperca, probably leucosticta.

Fact is I've never seen photographs of a wild species remotely as red as this - by standard they're a very silver/metallic body colouration even in high quality specimens. Pending variant, they can get a reasonable tinge to their body colouration, particularly dominant males and pre-spawn females, but never anywhere near this naturally. Just because it's a vivid red does not mean it's show quality, which it isn't. I wouldn't rule out line-breeding, but judging by the signature on the photograph alone I'd say it's "juiced up" with either hormones or a very high red enhancing diet.

Edit: Photographs here of Ed Burress' Xingu Satanoperca cf. leucosticta in breeding dress. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=185594 Ed has stunning specimens that I believe are wild, so you can see the basis and how hormones would exaggerate this like in the photograph in the OP.
 
japes;4269006; said:
I wouldn't rule out line-breeding, but judging by the signature on the photograph alone I'd say it's "juiced up" with either hormones or a very high red enhancing diet.
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Can you explain "...'juiced up' with hormones...?" I am familiar with a "color-enhancing diet" but not the introduction of hormones. Is it through food as well?

BTW, thanks for sharing the link.
 
baldtaxguy;4269193; said:
Can you explain "...'juiced up' with hormones...?" I am familiar with a "color-enhancing diet" but not the introduction of hormones. Is it through food as well?

BTW, thanks for sharing the link.
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Please note that I'm not an expert with fish diet. There are foods available, particularly 'popular' (I use that term loosely) with Flowerhorn enthusiasts and people who keep male only African displays. When it comes to colour enhancing foods, there are two types, hormonal and natural. Your natural colour enhancers (ie. Tetra ColorBits) use certain ingredients such as astaxanthin and carotene to bring out red colouration. Hormone based feeds, as far as I'm aware, induce false testosterone.

Here's a good read: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/color_control.php

Hormones may be used to enhance fish coloration by causing a false early maturity. Testosterone supplied in the diet likely allows a premature storage and expression of pigments in the chromatophores. Fish that often exhibit drab juvenile coloration may then show full adult coloration. Fish treated with hormones often become all male, sterile, and require a continuous dietary supply of hormones to maintain coloration. The sex of juvenile fish is often ambiguous and hormone diets, most often containing testosterone, create all male fish. Uncontrolled doses of testosterone sterilize fish. Endogenous production of hormones ceases, so coloration is not maintained when fish are taken off the hormone treated feed.
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There's a reason you don't see people with S. leucosticta like this every day - they don't (and aren't meant to) look like that.
 
Thanks for the info Japes I was waiting for you to weigh in on this thread. I know very little about these fish, I figured I'd see what you had to say about it.
 
Red and Green Grand Sumo, very nice lighting, and a Canon Rebel T2i with 50mm lens. Had to do my research but im told theres nothing superficial about it...
 
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