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Hi there, my first post on this forum.
I bought these two little guys, after watching them in the lfs for about a month. They were labelled "assorted dwarf cichlids" and their only tankmates were some rubberlip plecos.
The lfs staff said they didn't know what they were, that they looked somewhat like a. borellii, but not quite. I posted some pics from the day I got them on another board (not apisto specific), and was told "definitely a. borellii".
However, after much searching online, I'm wondering if that's right? Both fish are about an inch long without caudal fin. If I had to guess, I'd say I have either a pair or two males. On the lighter colored fish, dorsal fin and anal fin both come to a point. One of them has black on the front of the pelvic fins (I'd have to double check which one has that). The darker fish, while the anal and dorsal fins are just as long, the ends are noticeably rounded. The reason why I question whether or not these are borellii is that all the pictures I've found of borelli show a definite yellow flush to the gillplates and throat area. These guys have no yellow whatsoever. Their bodies are pale grey with a hint of blue. The paler fish has turquoise markings on his face. The darker fish's face markings are closer to a violet or royal blue (my camera flash washes it out to turquoise in pictures). On both fish the pelvic and anal fins are blue/turquoise.
I've had the fish a couple weeks, and no change. In the store, they had no barring on them, and their coloration was not as bright. They colored up in my tank right away, but no change since then.
Any ideas what these are? Are they just juvenile borellii? Something else?
the two together (I'm guessing female on right, male on left)
this photo is not as clear, but shows how the blue color is over the entire head/face
I bought these two little guys, after watching them in the lfs for about a month. They were labelled "assorted dwarf cichlids" and their only tankmates were some rubberlip plecos.
The lfs staff said they didn't know what they were, that they looked somewhat like a. borellii, but not quite. I posted some pics from the day I got them on another board (not apisto specific), and was told "definitely a. borellii".
However, after much searching online, I'm wondering if that's right? Both fish are about an inch long without caudal fin. If I had to guess, I'd say I have either a pair or two males. On the lighter colored fish, dorsal fin and anal fin both come to a point. One of them has black on the front of the pelvic fins (I'd have to double check which one has that). The darker fish, while the anal and dorsal fins are just as long, the ends are noticeably rounded. The reason why I question whether or not these are borellii is that all the pictures I've found of borelli show a definite yellow flush to the gillplates and throat area. These guys have no yellow whatsoever. Their bodies are pale grey with a hint of blue. The paler fish has turquoise markings on his face. The darker fish's face markings are closer to a violet or royal blue (my camera flash washes it out to turquoise in pictures). On both fish the pelvic and anal fins are blue/turquoise.
I've had the fish a couple weeks, and no change. In the store, they had no barring on them, and their coloration was not as bright. They colored up in my tank right away, but no change since then.
Any ideas what these are? Are they just juvenile borellii? Something else?
the two together (I'm guessing female on right, male on left)
this photo is not as clear, but shows how the blue color is over the entire head/face