What type of cichlid is this? Ruby clown/Bolivian ram?

[bigtard]

I was at the pet store today and I saw these fish. They look like ruby clown (aka Bolivian rams), but they don't have red on their fins and there's no color on their chests.

They store just received them and the worker didn't know exactly what they were. He just said they looked like some sort of microgeophagus.

Attached is a picture of the more colorful ruby clowns, which are fairly common, and a picture of the more monochromatic fish I saw today.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

The Bolivian Ram I got didn't have much color at all at the LFS, as they just got them. But within a few days in my aquarium, the colors came out, and looks awsome.

 

[bigtard]

It seems like the fish in the bottom picture (the ones I saw today at the store) don't have any color at all.

Generally when my ruby clowns are stressed out, the black coloring is affected. They either get dark all over (including the colors) or they get faded out all over.

The fish I saw had fairly defined black regions, but there was no other color and none of the dark spotting that often accompanies stress.

 

[Tiffi]

The black strpies and the bodyform say they're Bolivian rams. Just give them some time, some good food, and some plants to hide when they're scared and they'll get their colors back soon.

 

[TankGirl]

I agree - they are juveniles and have been under stress and underfed, so once they go to a good home they should color up. I would love to see some Bolivians around here - nobody ever has them. :?

 

[bigtard]

The black strpies and the bodyform say they're Bolivian rams. Just give them some time, some good food, and some plants to hide when they're scared and they'll get their colors back soon.

I was hoping that they'd be a new color morph.

 

[bigtard]

I went to the store yesterday, and they had them listed as acarichthys heckelii.

I'm not sure I'm convinced. The fish in the tank have black on the forward edge of their dorsal finds. Acarichthys heckelii don't seem to have that.

 

[TankGirl]

Well, it does have the spot on its side, but to my knowledge even the sub-adults do not carry the black-rimmed dorsal.

These are very different fish, with the "threadfin cichlid" reaching about 9", so it is important to know, lol!

 

[Tiffi]

Also the main body color of the juvies is silver right now, shouldn't it be a little brown then too? I still think they are Bolivian Rams, but if the fishstore sold them under another scientific name?!

 

[TankGirl]

I agree with Tiffi - the threadfins generally would appear tawny or at least a tiny bit golden, but sometimes with a flash colors do not appear true.

Google "Bolivian ram" and select "Images" and you will see pictures of rams with the spot and the black mark on the caudal portion of the dorsal fin. I don't think there is much doubt, and they ought to re-label these fish.

 

[bigtard]

The weird thing is the fish at the store don't have any color at all. Bolivian rams have color. They have no hint of red on their fins. Even when bolivian rams are stressed out and their colors fade, you can tell they have a little color.

There's something, eh, fishy about these fish.