[JWhipple]

The LFS, looking to make room for new stock, gave me a 6" vieja today - thanks to me being friends with the guy who runs the place

It's a bit beat up - I didn't recall it having some of the bad spots in it's scales like it has now, but, I need some help identifying it.

Please help!

PS: Thanks for the feedback in the other thread - I did NOT put it into the tank with my other Viejas!

 

[Frameshift]

I can tell you it's not a synspilium, bifasciatus, breidohri, fenestratus, zonatus, or melanurus.

That leaves hartwegi and guttulatus, and I'd go with hartwegi.

Though hybrids are all too common in the Vieja/Paratheraps family these days.

 

[bernie comeau]

I agree, I think it's a hartwegi.
But it's often hard to be certain with some Veija/Paratheraps as there are many regional variants; each individual fish is like a 'snowflake" - everyone a little different, and some species only seem to differ by their coloration!

 

[TheFishGuy]

Doesn't it seem a little elongated to be a hart to you guys? I hate to say it but I'm thinkin hybrid... Gorgeous though!

 

[gage]

looks hybrid to me, but *** got no problem with hybrids, beautiful fish!

 

[SinisterKisses]

Very elongated looking IMO as well. The face also seems off for a pure Vieja/Paratheraps. Nice looking fish none the less...feed him well for a bit and fatten him up and then post some more pics

 

[JWhipple]

It definitely needs some fattening up - that's for sure! Beautiful is exactly what I was thinking!

Thanks for the compliments - I thought he/she was stunning when I first saw it - have been eyeing it for months but couldn't get the wife to sign-off on the purchase, but when the store owner went to dinner with the wife and I and he mentioned he would give it to me, I jumped at the chance!

 

[JWhipple]

Hmmm just found this thread:

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... p?t=137571

Some of the photos have me thinking guttulatus - there's not as much blue, but there is blue.

Guess only time will tell once I get it to fatten up a little!

Face looks very similar to some of those pics too.

 

[Big Den]

Hartwegi, I'd say. If not its 80%. Needs feeding up a bit to be sure. Nice fish though.

 

[straitjacketstar]

I'm on the hartwegi boat.
Guttulatus might be more possible if real ones weren't so hard to find in the first place.
But based on the body and coloration of the fish I think it's hartwegi.

 

[JWhipple]

Definitely not trying to sound argumentative here, so please don't take it that way!

I just saw another thread with Guttulatus photos - with the amount of blue on mine at it's size, I can see it growing into a fish that looks just like this :

http://www.cichlidmadness.com/forums/in ... opic=23422

Am I way off in left field?

 

[straitjacketstar]

I don't know...

- Just a topic that popped into my head. Might be able to compare with.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... p?t=136257

hartwegi
http://cichlidae.com/gallery/species.php?s=234

It also seems that there is just way more confusion surrounding guttulatus that I thought there was. But as for you fish, Jwhipple, I'm still on the hartwegi boat. lol

 

[JWhipple]

Now I don't feel so stupid

 

[straitjacketstar]

Now I don't feel so stupid

I don't see why you would in the first place. The Vieja/Paratheraps groups have been known to induce major headaches! :lol:
For my own sanity I just kinda step back and watch from a distance when it comes to the more complicated ones. Only...I don't know how you did it but you suckered me into this one somehow. :lol:

 

[CiChLiD LoVeR128]

I dont know really any Viejas except Black Belts and Fireheads but I agree that its a hartwegi
from the pics. :lol: :thumb: