wild CA cichlid ID

[the_deeb]

I just got back from a fantastic trip to Belize. During a hike through the rainforest to Actun Tunichil Muknal I noticed a bunch of these cichlids in a pool on the Roaring Creek. They looked to me like some sort of acara but I'm not sure what. They had a fairly round body shape with a distinct horizontal black stripe that turned and rose upward towards the end of the dorsal fin.

Here's an incredibly crappy photo (I didn't have my polarizer with me and there was very little light because of all the overhanging trees).

Any ideas?

 

[mohinder]

That looks to me like some kind of Chuco or Tomocichla species...but, yeah, it's hard to tell from the photo.

 

[Modest_Man]

Chuco intermedium.

 

[Jakob]

Its intermedium. I Thought they where Vieja or Paratheraps though.

 

[LobstersGoPeenchPeench]

could it be a dwarf? like a curvicep?

 

[darth pike]

Pattern screams Chuco intermedium and the CRC says they are native to Belize.

 

[NorCaliCichlids]

Cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[the_deeb]

Nice work guys. Almost certainly intermedium. Body shape and pattern is spot on. There were a whole bunch of them in the pool between 5-8". It was awesome seeing them in the wild. They weren't skittish at all.

My initial thought when I saw them was some sort of Laetacara but they were too big... and in the wrong part of the world.