South American Cichlids • Gold Acara

[jwm2k3]

I've got 5 of these fish, they are beautiful and active. The largest is the most colored up! Just something a bit different than the electric blue. They are still juveniles, about 3 inches or so. I expect the Gold color to really come in as they mature, based on the picture of the father fish.

[jwm2k3]

Here is a smaller, less colorful one

[Auballagh]

Oh wow.
I haven't heard of anyone getting any of these fish since Jeff Rapps was in the business.

https://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ ... yensis.php

They are very rare. And, I seriously hope you have been able to purchase the 'real deal' Aequidens sapayensis, Golden Acara. Unfortunately, the first picture you put up, of the two together, gives me pause. The speckles on the cheeks and gill pate on one of them look (suspiciously) a bit well, blue. True Golds are supposed to have - gold speckles.
And is it possible at this point in the hobby, that Gold Acaras have become a bit like the Blue Acara? That is, the Blue Acara has been crossed out with so many different Aquidens species, to the point that there aren't many 'true' Aquidens pulcher left.
Regardless... they are very cool-looking Cichlids. And, thanks for sharing them with us!

[jwm2k3]

This is the picture of the father of the above fish (according to the seller)

[jwm2k3]

Even if they stay the same color as they are now, they are pretty cool. Peaceful and active

[Mr Chromedome]

Assuming that the last photo is the father, those are Cichlasoma boliviense, not Andinoacara sapayensis. There were a number of individual collections a few years ago, and this species has been well distributed in the US. It is related to the Port Cichlids, but are popular because they have some color.

[jwm2k3]

Assuming that the last photo is the father, those are Cichlasoma boliviense, not Andinoacara sapayensis. There were a number of individual collections a few years ago, and this species has been well distributed in the US. It is related to the Port Cichlids, but are popular because they have some color.

Thank you! I hope these fish are indeed of the father pictured above. The seller seemed very honest and seemed to take pride in his fish, so I hope to see them color up in a nice gold. If not, they are still beautiful to me

For those interested, I bought 6 of these from Aquabid.com and the listing title was:

Cichlasoma sp Ruta 44 F1 Gold Acara

Sold by Fishfarmusa.

[Auballagh]

Fishfarmusa? Hah! That's Ken Davis' outfit.
Kinda surprised he whiffed on that one. The man has been doing this at a high level for a number of years. Oh well, if those youngn's grow out like the one you have pictured? Whew... those are gonna be some very nice fish.

[Mr Chromedome]

I don't see where Ken Davis "whiffed" on the ID. First, he had it correctly placed as a Cichlasoma. If he had a sp. Ruta 44 on it, then likely it came from that location and may be an as yet unidentified/undescribed species. He was probably on the trip that collected the fish. If OP had put that name in the first post, it would have made things a lot clearer. That's why I don't like to use common names; obviously "Yellow Acara" has been applied to more than one species.

[jwm2k3]

Fishfarmusa? Hah! That's Ken Davis' outfit.
Kinda surprised he whiffed on that one. The man has been doing this at a high level for a number of years. Oh well, if those youngn's grow out like the one you have pictured? Whew... those are gonna be some very nice fish.

Yes, Ken was great to deal with. I also got from him the Australoheros sp local red ciebal that I posted a thread about. Good to hear a good word about him. I even asked him specifically about where he collected this Gold Acara and he remembered specifically, which is a cool little fact for me to know.