Pelvicachromis sacrimontis

[Nain]

I have a pair of juvenile sacrimontis (aka Giant Krib) that have just spawned for the first time. I cannot find the "species" described in any of my books. Is this a bona fide species or just a variant of P. pulcher?

 

[tjudy]

Randall will jump in here (I hope). Some books list them as Pelvicachromis sp. aff. pulcher... but those boks are getting old. Randall, does Lanboj's new book list them as sacrimontis?

 

[fredmir1]

Hi Douglas

Cichlids from, West African (Tetra) book has them on page 146 under the name
Pelvicachromis sp. aff.

There 2 forms. I `m guessing you have form A ??

George

 

[Randall]

Pelvicachromis 'sacrimontis'

Hello Nain, Ted and George,

Pelvicachromis 'sacrimontis' vs. P. sp. affin. pulcher is a somewhat contraversial topic. I'll elaborate a bit more herein.

In his book, The Cichlid Aquarium, Dr. Paul Loiselle makes reference to Pelvicachromis sacrimontis Linke & Staeck 1981, referring to the first edition of Linke & Staeck's West African cichlids book where P. sp. affin. pulcher is discussed, and mention is made of the name P. sacrimontis. In their discussion of the species, the authors offered, in essence, a bare bones description of the fish, although no formal diagnosis is cited. At the time that he wrote his book, Dr. Loiselle may not have been familiar with an earlier reference published in 1977 by Joachim Paulo in the Deutche Cichliden Gesellshaft.

In his article, Mr. Paulo contested Dr. Thys van den Audenaerde's 1968 synonymization of Pelvicachromis kribensis with P. taeniatus. This was the first time that this opinion was published. In the introduction of his article, Mr. Paolo made reference to Pelvicachromis sacrimontis and, in essence, offered the same kind of information published by Linke & Steack in 1980. Like with Linke & Staeck, Mr. Paulo offered no formal diagnosis of the taxon.

This is a matter of opinion but, because a bare bones description of Pelvicachromis sacrimontis was published by Paulo three years before Linke & Staeck, the taxon Pelvicachromis sp. affin. pulcher is probably valid as Pelvicachromis sacrimontis Paulo 1977. To date, the taxon remains undiagnosed, but Dr. Lamboj tells me that eventually he will get around to doing it.

George, the color forms discussed by Linke & Staeck (form A=red, form B=yellow), correspond to reproductive strategy, as with Pelvicachromis pulcher, and are not contingent upon differing populations. In the wild, red males are harem owners, while yellow males assist the dominant red males in protection of territory.

Ted, In his new book, Dr. Lamboj makes reference to Pelvicachromis sacrimontis Paulo 1977.

Nain, Indeed Pelvicachromis pulcher and P. sacrimontis are different species.

I hope this information clears things up a bit.

All the best,

Randall Kohn

 

[Redkribs]

Does anyone know where I can get some scarlett Kribs?

 

[Mike Wise]

... Lamboj's new book ...

Does Anton have a new book out or is this the original "The Cichlid Fishes of Western Africa" (2004)?

 

[tjudy]

No new book yet. Anton cannot find a publisher who will do a reprint. He started his own publishing company last year, but i have not heard if he will try to do an update of the West Africa book himself. I think he is going to try several smaller titles on specific groups of westies cichlids.

I have P. sacrimontis, but they have not spawned in a while. They could go at any time though. Very unpredictable.

 

[jmtrops]

Ted which color varient do you have? I have the reds and am working on my second gen from my wild pair. Pulled some fry this week. Do you know anyone with any extra wild red males?

 

[tjudy]

My male is a green male. As far as we know, reds and greens are found together.