Which one of these are ALTIFONS ?? GEO HELP !!!

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zero_go

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 10, 2009
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elgin ill
I purchased 6 Wild Altifons online from this guy called Wetspotcx from Oregon. I'm starting to think that they are not Alitons because from what I understand, Altifons have a small black spot on the side of their body. Sometimes it shows but mostly, no. And their body should be slinder and long. Also, they should have spotted tails. The Alitons that I received from this guy had a big black spot and shows most of the time, and their bodies are kind of shaped like Abalios. Their tails are not really spotted.

Here's a picture of one of the 6 that I got:
IMG_1778.jpg



I have 1 Altifon from a different guy. He's about 3.5 inches long. I bought him while ago and he matches all the traits that an Altifon should have from what I read.

This is a picture of my Altifon and what I think is an Altifon at this size:
IMG_1777.jpg


So my question is are my 6 little ones actually Altifons or not? If anything, please let me know what you think. Are they Geophagus Altifons or not? Please if you have any, post pictures of your Geo Altifons as well.

Thanks!

P.S. - Sorry about the pic quality. Not the best photographer.
 
Looks a lot like a surinamensis/abalios, but the spotted fins throw me off.. There's also the abalios tamanaco I think it's spelled..
 
The first pic is abalios, second pic is altifrons. You are correct about the abdominal spots, which is the best way to distinguish altifrons. You would expect abalios to have a more striped tail, but you mention that they do, so I am assuming the others do have somewhat striped tails. However, it is not uncommon for juvenile abalios to have spotted tails, or even a mixture of spots and stripes. In your first picture, the first visible transversal bar is dorsally bisected, as it matures the second will also become dorsally bisected in abalios. This is somewhat similar to how G. dicrozoster forks to form a "Y" through the abdominal spot, although sometimes looks as though it is the fourth bar.
 
fffffffffff! this is why i don't like buying fish online! well thinks for the help guys.
 
Damn that sucks....I heard great things about wetspot too. Hopefully they compensate you for the mistake. Beautiful fishes nonetheless.
 
Beautiful, but not what i want. i'm going to call wetspot today, and see what are they going to do about it.. all i know is i want my Wild Altifons..=(
 
zero_go said:
here is a pic of subadult of the 6


http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...s/DSC03449.jpg
Click to expand...
So this fish is one of the actual fish you received? The fish in the link here, and the fish that you originally posted IMO are not the same species. The fish in the link that they used for the ad does look like an altifrons. Either the fish for sale differ from the ones used for the ad, or you recieved multiple species. Both are quite common, though usually altifrons and abalios do not come in together (brazil vs venezuela/columbia shipments, respectively).

I saw this ad months ago, the picture is of a 4"+ fish, the ad was for 2" "wild" fish... to me this didn't add up. Made me assume the fish pictured and the fish for sale were not the same. I believe the add is now for TR fish, with the same picture. Maybe I am mistaken though. They probably have a default "altifrons" picture. The problem is that in the hobby, 90% of people will call the OP fish surinamensis, then of those who don't, 99% will call it altifrons, when technically it is not. Not good odds.
 
When I bought the 'Altrifons' from aquabid, the ad didn't have any pictures of the fish. All it said was Wild Altrifons and it was 2 inches. When we received the fish, to me it didn't look like Altrifons, so I emailed him right away. This is the email:

The link is here if the picture is too small to view: http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff258/curlsrocck/email.jpg

email.jpg


The ad he has up now, I believe are from the same batch that I received because they are the same size as mine. And now, he's saying that they are tank raised not WILD. And he has another ad for Abalios WILD. So it's fishy to me.

I'm going to call and complain today but I got fish that I don't want. I'm pretty upset. I took good care of these fish to find out they are not even Altrifons. Whatever it is, I'm just stuck.
 
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