[bernreuther]

Went to feed the fish today and noticed that my larger geophagus jurupari is starting to show a reddish/magenta color. It's very clearly visible at the base of all his fins and you can see it in his face as well. His behavior seems normal but his tail is kind of clamped up a bit more than usual. Like the opposite of being fanned out.

Is this normal? Is it a symptom of a disease?

I can't capture it with my camera... the flash seems to wash it out. It's a very distinct blood red look. Came out of nowhere.

 

[Joels fish]

When mine would spawn the male would get red and blue spots , but its been a long time since I've kept them. From what I remember though the colors would be in the form of lines length wise from behind the head to the tail.
It wont hurt to post some pics . It could help to say with more certainty whats going on.

 

[bernreuther]

I took a few pics. The flash definitely washes it out some. Since there's no image upload here, I put them here:

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... ost1766097

My girlfriend is also concerned about the white sheen on his tail, but I think that's just from the light hitting it differently since it's more scrunched up.

The more I watch him the more I'm concerned. He has come out into the foreground and flared the fins, but mostly he's wedging himself back behind a rock. It's near his usual hiding place but he's just wedging his way in even if it means being diagonal, nose-down.

 

[DeadFishFloating]

G'day bernreuther,

How many Satanoperca jurupari do you have in the tank?

I do agree with Joels fish, that the change in colouration sounds like breeding dress colours. However the behaviour does sound very odd and a little concerning.

No disrespect to C-F, but when it comes to a SA cichlid species like Satanoperca, I'd ask the guys on this forum...http://www.cichlidae.info/forum/viewfor ... b0904f2c7b

 

[bernreuther]

It's just him and a much smaller new guy we added a month ago. There were the two orange heads too but they're in a separate tank.

I'll check out that forum, thanks.

 

[Joels fish]

Looks like S. Leucastica and not S. Jurupari. However, it does look like he's starting to go into breeding dress. The clamped fins on the other hand, well that could be a sign of just about anything . Has anything changed in the tank recently?(new decor items , larger than normal water changes, smaller than normal water changes, higher / lower temps , well you get the idea) My Jurupari did that from time to time, usualy a good water change put an end to it .

 

[bernreuther]

I think the flash is making him look a bit different than his usual appearance, which is very jurupari-ish. Then again, the fish store has been known to mislabel things. Nothing I've ever come across has made me suspect otherwise, though.

Anyway, no changes, other than that a month ago it went through the heat/salt ich treatment, so it has been gradually reducing the salt level with every water change. All my measurable parameters are OK, and in fact that nitrate was shockingly low (given the dosage I put in to the planted tank regularly).

My first reaction (other than posting here) was to do a 50% change, which is when I added that blue background (which looks really cool right now with the blue night lights on). He's out and about right now and seems OK, but the fins are still a bit clamped. It's almost like they're a bit stiff compared to the smaller guy's, who are flowing freely. He is paddling with his side fins but they just seem like they're stiffer. Maybe it's just all in my head. It's just odd, this guy has been sort of a rock through all the other issues my tanks have had (2 columnaris plagues among the barb populations, temperature fluctuations, moves, aggressive visitors, etc), and this is the first time I've ever noticed anything different about him at all.

 

[dwarfpike]

Most deffinately S. leucastica ... which is not a surprise, Jurupari is the common name for this fish ... They are always labeled this at the lfs ... true jurupari have no irridescence on their cheeks at all.

As for the color, as you said the flash kinda of washes it out. In the pics it merely looks like a red color variant of leucastica ... the fish is very variable depending on location.

But I do agree with DeadFishFloating, Dr. Lee Newman hunts over at that link and he is the Satanoperca GOD!!! Literally, first to breed daemon and acuticeps.

 

[bernreuther]

Interesting. So I've had this fish for almost two years and have thought it was a jurupari all along. They've got one at the store now too, I'll have to tell them to change it.

Odd though, that today was the first day ever that he has shown red like that. Is it permanent? Cause I guess if there's no cause for concern I'd almost prefer that he stayed that way. He'd be more interesting overall with a bit more color.

According to someone at MFK (I posted a pic of the newer smaller guy in that thread linked above) the new one is a jurupari though. So I guess we know that the original one isn't coloring up for breeding reasons.

 

[dwarfpike]

Well, it depends on how they are selling it. If it's listed as Satanoperca jurupari then yes it's incorrect. If it's just sold as jurupari, then it's the right name. Jurupari is the common name for both S. leucastica and S. jurupari much like green terror is the common name for "Aequidens" rivulatus, "Aequidens" sp. "Silversaum," 'Aequidens' sp. "Goldsaum", and "Aequidens" sp. "Redsaum."

Just to be sure, I would still post it in the link DFF provided, as I said there are a lot of satanoperca specialists over there. I do know there are several color forms of this fish but have only kept one of them myself.

As for the second guy, the angle of the pic makes it tough. I think I see silver irridescent spots on the cheek though, which would make it leucastica as well. But the angle makes it hard to tell for sure. To see a good pic of the true jurupari, click here http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=493 and change it to the close up piccy. You'll notice jurupari has zero irridesant spots on it's face.

 

[bernreuther]

Yeah, the new guy when viewed straight on has spots as well.

I've learned a lot today!

The store labels them Geophagus Jurupari. So I'm not sure if that's a GT-like acceptable name or not. I'll be there tomorrow and mention to them that I learned the difference.

 

[bernreuther]

His fins seems to be getting worse. The left side even has a small hole in it. Only the top fin appears normal. I'm worried that he has a parasite of some sort. Can't really find any similar examples searching the web though.

Behavior is normal, from what I can tell, and he's not being harassed by anyone in the tank.

Any ideas/suggestions? I've got a whole bunch of medications but I've got no idea which ones would be the best to use for this.

 

[bernreuther]

His fins seems to be getting worse. The left side even has a small hole in it. Only the top fin appears normal. I'm worried that he has a parasite of some sort. Can't really find any similar examples searching the web though.

Behavior is normal, from what I can tell, and he's not being harassed by anyone in the tank.

Any ideas/suggestions? I've got a whole bunch of medications but I've got no idea which ones would be the best to use for this.