What am I

[DanL]

I have a cichlid in my tank and it is unknown wht he is. I purchased him from my LFS I was told he was a blue face cichlid. When I searched the web for blue face cichlid the items tha come up look nothing like the fishy I have...

I have contacted Neil about this fish and he is unsure what type of fish this is..

anyone have any ideas?

view image by clicking this link
http://fishinthe.net/html/forum/download.php?id=587

 

[Neil]

DanL,

WELCOME TO THE FORUM

As I told you in my email, I doubt this fish is a borellii. The fact that you saw fish in a tank that looked like yours probably just means that many of the characteristics of the fish that you have are very similar to a number of apistos. I think that there is a fish called the blue-face acara. Maybe I'll try and look it up to see if that possibility holds any water.
At least you have a nice-looking fish there, even if you are not sure what it is. Good luck in your search.
Neil

 

[cootwarm]

I used to have Blue Acra (Aequidens Latifrons) and they did look kind of like those in the photo. Although mine had deeper colors (nice blue markings on a mahogany background) it could be the lighting making them look paler. And my male did have long fins like those of a borellii.

They get fairly large, about 6 inches. Fairly peaceful when with fish their size and not spawning. But of course when they're spawning is when they show their best colors. Great parents! There where times they had three cycles of young in the same tank. As soon as one batch was big enough to find their own food, BAM, they'd start another batch!

Michael

 

[kribs]

this fish looks like the cross between a borelli and reticulosa. They are being sold at most of the lfs as Borellis or Blue Face cichlid or any other name the lfs guy can think of.

 

[DanL]

it was sold to me as a Blue Face

 

[tjudy]

Could that be one of the 'steel blue' hybrids?

 

[cootwarm]

Yeap. I think Ted's right. I have a "Steel Blue" that was sold to me as an agazzisi a few months ago. When I found out it was a hybid, I donated it to my wife's 55 gal community tank. I didn't realize the resemblance at first because mine has a lot more dark markings on his body than those in the photograph.

Also just like the Blue Acara, the head of my "Steel Blue" has bright torquise blue markings on a mahogany background. There were some good photos of "Steel Blue" on a previous post, but they seem to be disabled now.

Michael

 

[kribs]

yes thats the one the steel blue. the pic doesnt show the blue on the fish but you can see from the markigns on the face and also some on the body.

 

[Neil]

Yes, I thought of Stell Blue as a possibility too. But those pics just don't look quite right, especially the top one. But they could be. At least the black markings are similar to that fish.
Neil

 

[DanL]

is there a place I can get some info on this fish?

his markings are normally really dark... and he does get a tinge of blue to his body, I think I stressed him out a bit following him around trying to take his picture...

 

[cootwarm]

Hi DanL,

The Apistogramma sp. "Steel Bue" is written about in Dr. Romer's Mergus Cichlid Atlas. He treats it like an actual species, but a lot of people seem to think it's a hybrid from singapore. Perhaps this information became known after the book was published. Dr. Romer does state at the end of the article that the origion is unknown because all specimens were imported from Asia.

Also you can do a search on this forum.
Just type the following in the search criteria exactly how it's here:

"Steel" AND "Blue"

Browse through the previous posts on this fish. I counted 9 threads.

Michael

 

[DanL]

I have my doubts that I have the same fish...

the pictures that I seen dont look like the one that I have...

mine has red and blue speckles in the gills only... has a tinge of blue to his whole body depending on how the light reflects off his body... has the same shape fins though but with a black spot at the base of his tail fin...