subocellatus?

[andypython]

a LFS has what they are calling subocellatus "matadi". the famles clearly look right, but the male has a red face, or at least a lot of red on the gill plates. it has very little colour on the body and has a well pattenered tail. The body is quite long and slender, althougth part of that is that it is a bit skinny. If I didn't know better I would say it was a taeniatus, but the fish came from Montreal (biotope maybe) and I am just wondering if they might have gotten the males mixed up and sent the wrong ones. I really want a pair, but not if they are not a pair if that makes sense. I will try to get a picture of the fish, but it just does not look like any picture of a male subocellatus I have ever seen. has any one seen a subocellatus with red on the gill plates before?

 

[andypython]

one other feature, on the gill plates there are two paralel blue lines that run under the eye. the fish still has not coloured up well, but this is all that I have to go on so far.

 

[Randall]

Mystery Pelvicachromis subocellatus

Hello Andy,

A photo would help to ID the fish in question. Please post one in the "Member Photo Galleries" section.

Thanks!

Randall Kohn

 

[tjudy]

Please describe the tail pattern. Subocellatus is NOT characterized by having spots to ocelli in the caudal fin, but they do have a strong blue and sometimes red irridesceny checkerboard pattern in the tail. I have seen some subocellatus pictures with horizontal barring in the tail as well... but not ocelli or spots.

The blue suborbital stripes also suggest that it is not a subocellatus. I am most familiar with suborbital stripes in pulcher and sacrimontis. I have seen some taeniatus with faint suborbital stripes, but usually one stripe.

 

[andypython]

the striping below the eye is not like that of sacrimontis. it is two thin lines that run paralel under the eye. there are a seris of spot on the top of the caudal fin.

 

[andypython]

I am almost positive it is not subocellatus, I was just checking to make sure that there is not some morph that I had not seen before.

 

[Toyin]

Ocelli

Actually.....some Subocellatus forms do have ocelli in the upper half of their tail....both males and female.
I am not too familair with the Matadi form so i can't really comment much on their color or markings. However, i have seen individuals of the Moanda population exhibit this trait.
No red on the cheeks though.

Perhaps the fish in question is a hybrid??? Are these wild-caught or tank-raised ?

 

[andypython]

they were very uniform in size and in good shape, no tattered fins or anything so I would guess that they are tank raised.

 

[Toyin]

When i have the time i'll try and put up photos of a male and female Subocellatus with Ocelli in their tails.

Again, pls note that i'm referring to a different subspecies of Subocellatus and even within this subspecies only a few specimens (primarily older fish) show well defined ocelli (or eye spots) in their tails.