CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone can help my ID this fish? Iv spent ages online but cannot find anything the same. I got him/her recently from someone who had no longer had time to look after them but he had no idea what this fish is either. He's around 4-5 inches in size and I think he's some kind of south american cichlid.... but what...??

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thanks for any help anyone can provide.

hard to say but looks to be a Parachromis dovii. As this one is stil small, his/her coloring is not developed yet.

this one is from Central America, not south. .Totally differnt cichlids in both regions..

See here and let me know what U think.. LOTS of pics so click on the links given below the pic for other pics of dovii's.. A full side shot will let U know if it is or not.. hard to say from a front view..

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=6

wow you might be right, i'v been looking at the link you sent aswell as others from google but i find it hard to tell for sure. I will take another few pics of him/her later tonight and post them here to see if you can confirm.

I have only had him a week and the descriptions i have just read of their behaviour doesn't sound like this fish. Could this be because he is still small?

He is came from a tank with a 3" silver dollar, a 6" cigar shark, a 4" upside down catfish and a gourami, where they all seemed to get on just fine with no aggression. I have him now in a 300 litre with a 8" oscar and a green terror of equal size and he still seems very calm and peaceful, even when given attitude from the oscar or GT he will swim away rather than confront them. (the biggest terror in my tank at present is the catfish who seems to love chasing his tank mates around!!)

So if he is a Parachromis dovii he's going to need a new home soon, is it possible to guess his age based on his size of 4-5"?

Thanks for all your help with this, i like to know what all my fish are so i can take care of them properly and give them all the best chance they can have.

Iv taken a few more photos of this fish from the side to see if it helps confim what it is...... thanks for any help anyone can give


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IT is a central American species..
At the size U say he is, he/she is about 8 month old, give or take a month here.. Yes his behavor is too mild and that does shy away from a dovii, so give him a few more months to grow and see how his body/stripes turn out.. more defined will help ID him better..

He should turn out to be a nice cichlid and if he is not a Dovii, then that is great.. HE could be some others too, I wil look more and see if I can find a better match..

FORGET THE DOVII!! I do believe he/she is a chocolate cichlid! Hypselecara temporalis.. See link but notice the mouth/eyes and line from eye to nose.. Dot on side to stipe that wil get more defined to the spot on the tail to the fin colors. YES... MORE of a chocolate cichlid than a dovii.. so their U go..

SEE PHOTO 2... http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=520

They are nice cichlids but get big.. but nice in a large tank.. NOT mean at all..

HELLO!! did U see the MESSAGE I did? Let me know.. LOL..

Hi,

Yes i got your reply, thanks, did you go back and add to that post? I'd read the bit about the Dovii but only now saw the bit about it maybe being a chocolate cichlid??

I'v been looking at pics of them, the mouth looks different... mine seems to have more rounded looking lips, the pictures im seeing look more defined. Also the colours... there are a few photos which look similar but most seem to show a much darker coloured fish - maybe this is like you say and he has yet to get his colours.

He seemed to get a bit pissed with the GT the other night and instead of swimming off he turned and faced him, not much happened, they bumped mouths a couple of times and GT gave up. He's defo a peaceful one unless pushed.

Thanks for you help

i meant to say, the link you supplied for the chocolate cichlids, i can see what you mean in pic 2 but i think pic 4 looks more like his lips, especially the bottom lip!!

thanks again

100% sure thats not a Dovii or Hypselecara.

Looks like an acara of some sort ,maybe a black or port.

I find this cichlid looks more like the chocolate, with the eye lines, dots and mouth.. He could be a different kind but he needs to grow and heal up more to get a possitive ID..

Look at key areas:
Doral placement and build both distance from thefront of the head and shape near the tail.
Mouth vs gill plate
Head shape
it's all wrong for a chocolate (either one).

Unfortunately I dont have all my pics right now since my other hard drive is still in storage or I'd have pics of all the species just mentioned but here's a pic from a quick google search.

Of a Port Acara
[img]http://www.cichlids.com/p/450x600/69/36/69364f23468f40dfe35b58845c68d32d.jpg[/img]

VS

img from this thread
[img]http://www.cichlidfish.com/thinkingfishtank/download/file.php?id=1126&t=1[/img]

VS
The chocolate cichlid pic
[img]http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/image.php?id=520&pic=2[/img]

The ports, blacks and other similar acara's have variable and changeing body "bars" .but compair the tail base spot , fin build and coloring as well as mouth build and placement.

Notice build, finnage ,fin coloring and the blue around the eye area all match the pic posted in this thread.

Wouldn't debate you Barb on africans but you know I got to on new worlds lol

On looks i think he is more similar to the port acara than the chocolate cichlid.

I have posted the same pics on another site and had a few responses, one being that somebody thought he was a Cichlasoma Amazonarum, possibly with a genetic deformation or old injury (to explain his odd mouth). i read they only grow to about 4" which would make him fully grown?

He doesnt look in very good shape but equally doesnt have any signs of injury or illness, he doesnt look very happy and almost seems like he's had a hard life elsewhere...
He behaves quite strangely compared to all my other fish. He never darts about or swims very fast in the tank like the others, he tends to stick in one corner, he barely eats anything when food goes in, only one or two pellets at the most and even blood worm gets no interest when the others go daft for it. It is a generally very peaceful tank he is in, there is plenty of space for everyone and the water tests are fine, there never seems to be any injuries so i dont think he's scared and doesn't seem like he's hiding away. could he just be old?

thanks again for all your thoughts and replies on this, much appreciated

[quote]one being that somebody thought he was a Cichlasoma Amazonarum, [/quote]

I'd close to agree with that


Cichlasoma amazonarum ,Cichlasoma bimaculatum and Cichlasoma portalegrense which are all pretty similar commonly get sold under the common name's Black acara,Port Acara and port cichlid.
Unfortunately they're a cheap fish so unless you buy distributor or breeder direct there doesn't ever seem to be a lot of care taken to be sure which is which, they also readily cross in breeders ponds.

Hey, long time no see!

Just about to check the admin section now...

[quote="cichlidfish"]Hey, long time no see!

Just about to check the admin section now...[/quote]


Hey, yeh iv had a busy past few weeks, my fish are all doing fine though and the above cichlid has been having the odd face off with the green terror. He gets some darker striping on his lower half when he does this, i will try and get a shot of him next time and post it here for you to see. iv been having a look about the site and have just posted a few pics of my oscar feeding in the photo section...