Laetacara Dorsigera - My new guys

[mm12463]

Hi everyone -
Glad to see the site back - new design looks great.
A month ago I lost my apistos viejitas(I'm an idiot) so I let things settle down in the tank, let the plants mature and what not. So when I was at my LFS I saw these guys. I picked up 4 since from what I read they are rather hard to sex. I figure I should get a pair from these. If not, they are cool.

Here are 2 photos. I literally bought them about 2 hours ago.

There is another one on my site here.

I'm excited. Although the American Flag Fish seems to chase them for short distances from time to time. But nothing major. When I pick up a new tank this week (I hope) I will move her out to feed on the algae I will certainly have in that new tank.

 

[Neil]

mm12463,

WELCOME TO THE FORUM

Nice pic of a great little fish. you are right they are pretty tough to sex, but 4 probably gives you a shot at it. That does look like a female, but i would lay my money down on it.
Regardless they are a nice little fish that is an interesting aquarium resident. Have fun with them.
Neil

 

[Zeco]

Are they L. dorsigera?

Hi,

First post here although I'm a lurker for a long time. I would like to take advantage of mm12463's topic: I suspect that my Laetacaras are L. dorsigera. Can you me IDing them?

The pics can be seem at ImageStation - 2nd, 3rd, and 4th pics (if you need, can use the following: USERNAME = amigo05 - PASSWORD = amigo)

Sorry by the (lack of) quality of the pics,
TIA

 

[mm12463]

Thanks Neil. I hope I have one pair. But they all seem to have that spot on the fin. So if not they will look nice in the tank and I can search for a male later on.

Zeco -
Hard to tell in the pictures. Since this the first time I have kept Laetacara sp. I wouldn't have a clue. Look nice though. The reds and blues stick out. I bet they are more impressive in person.

 

[Zeco]

Thanks for your response, mm. The fish are really going more and more beautiful every day . I bought 6 of them but one died when yet in quarantine.

Can someone give me the tips to differentiate the many Laetacara spp.?

 

[mm12463]

Here is some info from American Dwarf Cichlids I (Like/Staeck).

Curviceps
Displays a dark lateral band which usually extends over the lateral spot up to the caudal fin. In comparison with related species its body-shape is slightly lower and more elongate. Futhermore, the turquoise-blue ground-color is specific. Laetacara dorsigera has a different coloration, its lateral band does not exceed over the lateral spot, the body-shape is slightly higher, and the specimens appear to be shorter in length. Depending on the mood, the species may display a board dark superorbital stripe and transversal bars on the tail.

From the pictures in the book its really obvious. The curviceps is rather blue where the dorsigera is mostly red. Of course I am guessing they are showing images in great conditions as my dorsigera have yet to look that red.

Not much else I can tell you. I'm treating my tank for ich right now. Saw a few white specs on my dorsigera so I jumped all over it. Hope they do well. Still not sure on the sexes though. Sucks. I really want to know. But that is okay. They are cool looking.

 

[mm12463]

Here are some more
photos of my Laetacara.

 

[Zapisto]

well

i would be very happy to know how to sex this little guy.

 

[-anne-]

And here are my Laetacaras . The female is almost black when breeding.

http://www.netikka.net/ilkka.korhonen/galleria_ld/index.htm

 

[Randall]

Sexing Laetacara Spp.

Dear fellow Laetacara fans,

Sexing Laetacara spp. can be a bit tricky--especially with juviniles--but not impossible.

Generally, males grow larger than females, are more deep-bodied, possess a more blunt head profile with a more pronounced "forehead" and exhibit more pronounced dorsal and anal fins. Females tend to be smaller, are less deep-bodied, possess a more elongate head profile and exhibit less pronounced dorsal and anal fins.

Some populations of L. curviceps females exhibit a stronger dark blotch on the doral fin.

When all else fails, from my experience the fish that lays the eggs tends to be the female :roll: .

Good luck!

Randall Kohn

 

[aspen]

there are many morphs of curviceps and dorsiger described in the various books on s/a dwarfs. in fact i have 'curviceps' which don't seem to match any of the ones i have seen so far, but i will wait for them to grow out a bit, and maybe i'll see more of a match when they are bigger. maybe you will have to wait till yours are grown out as well and their finnage and colours are more pronounced.

rick

 

[mm12463]

Wow Anne - Those are fantastic pictures! Really hard to find decent pictures on the internet.

Randall - Thanks for the info. I guess time will tell. And haha the egg thing. I guess my parents should have given me a 'talk' when I was a kid!

 

[Neil]

Nice pics from all of you!

Zeco,

WELCOME TO THE FORUM

Your fish are probably dorsigera. Aside from the body color (red or blue) I usually look at the back part of the fish. if it is plain and lacks vertical stripes, it is usually a curviceps. if it has several rows of of darker-colored bands, it is usually a dorsigera. The other characteristics for differentiating these 2 species are stated above.

Neil

 

[mm12463]

Laetacara Dorsigera Pair?

About a month ago I picked 4 of these and have since moved 2 to a ten gallon with 4 Harlequin Raspboras and 2 ottos. Think these 2 are a pair? I think they might be based on what has been posted here on sexing them. One does seem to chase the other. The left one has the more pronounced forehead and deep body along with a slightly longer anal fin. The other is small, shorter anal fin and is followed closely by the larger one.

This is the new home.

What yah think? Pair? The other 2 I think might be a pair also that I left in my 20 gallon. Not sure. Trying to get pictures to compare them.

 

[Neil]

That's a pair. good luck with them.

Neil

 

[mm12463]

You just made my day!!! I'm so excited at the possibility of spawning these little guys. God it will be so cool to take pictures too! Woo. What scares me now is I think the other 2 in my 20 gallon might be a pair also. If they both spawn?? I'm going to have to buy a third tank. Yikes. Time to sell a TV or couch.

 

[mm12463]

Updated 2/5/04

Snapped another photo of the male in the 10 gallon. They look so much better in there with lower kelvin lights and black Eco Complete substrate.

Still working on getting them to breed.