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

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Here are some more pictures of the 'Altrifons' that I got that I say are not Altrifons.

IMG_1785.jpg


IMG_1790.jpg
 
I posted this pic before and was told it was Altirons because of the spots on the tail. It may've been by someone in this thread (I'm looking for their name now). The dark spot on their sides usually IS there, it doesn't show in this picture. This fish and the one you just posted are the same fish.
Am I not correct?

4-19-09_Geos-1.jpg
 
I don't know about yours, but ours have spotted tails too but the black spot shows 99.9% of the time. And it's not a small spot, it's pretty big. Do you have a picture of your fish when he shows the black spot? I'd like to see.

Thanks.
 
This is so confusing, it's why I just give up on tryign to figure it out. It sounds like you're saying he doesn't have G. altirons, but that he has G. aff. altifrons. Is that what you're saying? In which case, I'm past confused.
Zero, I've got pictures scattered all over my hard drive and can't find any right now showing their spot. I went to take a picture and they hid. The spot on their side is identical to your fish's spot, it's big.
 
TwistedPenguin said:
It sounds like you're saying he doesn't have G. altirons, but that he has G. aff. altifrons. Is that what you're saying?
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That was more of a general statement.

It is very easy to narrow down ID's to 2-3 species, then it is murky water. Ideally, you would never buy a fish of unknown provenance. If you don't know the country and river of origin, then there is only so much you can do.

If you look at it systematically, it is not overly complicated. In regards the the OP fish, this is how I look at it, it's a process of elimination.

1). No orbital stripe (NOT G. taeniopareius, G. argyrostictus, G. gottwaldi, G. harreri)
2). No pre-opercular mark (NOT G. proximus, G. brachybranchus, G. dicrozoster, G. winemilleri)
3). Striped tail pattern (NOT G. megasema, G. parnibae, G. sp. "Tapajos I", G. sp. "Tapajos II")
4). Regular-sized abdominal spot (NOT G. altifrons, G. camopiensis)
*note: didn't re-list species

Then, what's left: G. abalios and G. surinamensis. Usually, you can disregard surinamensis, it is only found in three rivers in Suriname and there are currently no exports from there. So, I'm not 100% satisfied with abalios because of the questionable tail pattern, so I take one more look through the eliminated species. In classification "cf." = you think it is, but cannot be certain, and "aff." = you think it is not, but shows affinity with. So, you can correctly use cf./aff. with a species that it is probably not, but that fits best. I full agree that the tail pattern does fit with what I usually associate with abalios, but the Holotype for abalios has a uniformly spotted tail, so I don't let that discount it.


The brave, non-conservative approach would be to go with G. abalios OR the conservative approach would be to go with G. cf. abalios or G. aff. surinamensis, or G. aff. altifrons. The bottomline is, if you don't know the river, you rarely can say 100%, so you can use cf./aff. to let people know that you've selected the best-fit species, but do not know for sure. G. abalios are fairly easy to ID as an adult, so time should tell.

It's a lot to type it out and read through, but your brain can work through it in a few seconds. I always look at facial markings, then tail pattern, then abdominal spot, and beyond that you can look at stress bars.
 
Well I'm glad someone knows because it's certainly confusing to me :confused:
So basically you're basing the OP ID on whether the spot is big or small? The spot on my guys is big sometimes, small sometimes, there and then not there sometimes. I truly give up lol
 
I'm not the only one with the problem with Altrifon confusion. Lol. We can switch if you want. Lol, I know yours is an Altrifon. Haha, now I'm stuck with fish that I don't want. I rather have your Altrifon. We can do a trade. Lol.
 
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