Mesonauta identification

[Jwitho]

Picked up a pair of Mesonauta back in August, not actually labelled but guessing captive bred specimens
I know they aren’t M.festivus, but based on the banding (light turned on suddenly to show bands on body) would I be correct to assume they’re M.insignis?
One is roughly 3-4inch and the other is closer to 3 inch mark

Also attached is a photo of an Aquidens sp I have that is a wild caught specimen, I believe it is likely A.diadema but couldn’t be 100% at this size

 

[Mazan]

I agree that from the stress patterns it looks most like insignis in the diagram, though insignis is supposed to have the scales above the lateral stripe rimmed in black, which yours doesn’t appear to have. Bear in mind that if captive bred there is a possibility that it could be mixed. I think the Aequidens is diadema, though it looks quite young still, if the dark mark under they eye becomes more obvious it could possibly be metae. Do you know where it was collected?

 

[Jwitho]

I agree that from the stress patterns it looks most like insignis in the diagram, though insignis is supposed to have the scales above the lateral stripe rimmed in black, which yours doesn’t appear to have. Bear in mind that if captive bred there is a possibility that it could be mixed. I think the Aequidens is diadema, though it looks quite young still, if the dark mark under they eye becomes more obvious it could possibly be metae. Do you know where it was collected?

I’m definitely leaning towards hybrid myself, the stress bars do not line up perfectly with any of the “common” species in the genus
The aequidens were wild caught from a Colombian import, they were supposedly metae but there were definitely diadema in the batch, as well as superomaculatum
I did think diadema based on the lateral spot too so hopefully it is

 

[anewbie]

Were these tank raised? I have two species of mesonauta that were sold as wc and to be honest neither really line up well with the charts. I suspect there is either a lot of variation or a lot of undescribed species.

 

[Jwitho]

Were these tank raised? I have two species of mesonauta that were sold as wc and to be honest neither really line up well with the charts. I suspect there is either a lot of variation or a lot of undescribed species.

I’ll be honest, I couldn’t tell you anything about their history
They were unlabelled in a tank
Oh there’s definitely a lot of undescribed species, but I imagine I’ve likely got some form of hybrid

 

[Mazan]

There are some new Mesonauta described recently, I won’t add a link to the article published this year, as when I have done this before the moderators have to check the post and it takes ages to appear, but just search for species delimitation in neoteopical fishes of Mesonauta…..

But I think that as @anewbie said there may be more individual variation in the stress patterns within each species than the diagrams lead us to believe.

The Aequidens, whichever species it turns out be be, will be a very nice fish.

 

[Jwitho]

There are some new Mesonauta described recently, I won’t add a link to the article published this year, as when I have done this before the moderators have to check the post and it takes ages to appear, but just search for species delimitation in neoteopical fishes of Mesonauta…..

But I think that as @anewbie said there may be more individual variation in the stress patterns within each species than the diagrams lead us to believe.

The Aequidens, whichever species it turns out be be, will be a very nice fish.

I have done a lot of reading and looking into them, so I’m quite glad we’ve all came to the same conclusion of “could be anything it’s not obvious” haha
And definitely leaning towards diadema, so I work in the shop that I got it from and the other fish in store are definitely showing obvious signs of being metae, so I’d expect to have seen signs by now too
Agreed though, will definitely be a stunning fish regardless