Name these jewels

[tjudy]

Here are a few Hemichromis I ran across recently at a friend's fishroom. I am not even going to suggest what I think that they are, just to see if my reasoning agrees with anyone here.

Number 1

Number 2 (lateral spot is taller than it is wide, but just barely)

Number 3

 

[Chugger]

1. i belive is from the stellifer types

2. i belive would be a leouteinx type

3. a very nice german bred guttus

 

[retro_gk]

1) Hard to tell wihout a lateral view, might be H. stellifer
2) H. guttatus
3) H. lifalili

 

[tjudy]

#1 H. stellifer - but I am not sure about from where.

#2 H. letourneux - I am basing this on the size and shape of the black spots, and that there is no evidence of a spot on teh caudal peduncle. It looks like a H. lifalili with less irreidescence and an ovoid lateral spot... which is a good way to describe H. letourneux.

What says 'gutattus' to you? I was thinking maybe that as well, but the shape of the lateral spot and the lack of a caudal spot leads me away from it being H. gutattus.

#3 H. lifalili - classic in my opinion. THe big round lateral spot combined with the large amount of irridescent spots.

 

[retro_gk]

Ted, H. letourneauxi as I know it is a green fish without much irridescence and, the vertically elongated lateral spot is a characteristic of H. guttatus. Thus my ID.

 

[tjudy]

Good points. I wish I had flat picture of the side of the fish. The lateral spot is hardly taller than it is wide, but more noticeably ovoid that the H. lifalili that were in the next tank.

Hemichromis are tough to ID.

 

[retro_gk]

Here is a previous thread I posted on H. letourneauxi

 

[Chugger]

hey, those r the same type of fish i got from rehoboth, acouple of years ago, i got them as hemichromis cristaus sp, but he wasn't sure, i'll try to find the pic, but it's not a good one and send it too you, tell me what you think.

 

[tjudy]

Same fish IMO.... H. letourneuxi.

I think that all the fish I pictures were imported by Toyin last year when he had a few different Hemichromis on his list. The H. cristatus were H letourneuxi from everyone I have talked to about them.

 

[retro_gk]

Here is the fish Chugger is talking about...

 

[Chugger]

thanks for posting it, the fish in the pic is a female, so she was on the small side

 

[tjudy]

Lots of yellow in the eye, the anterior of the gill cover spot and a hint of yellow around the lateral spot, which is well developed. Hint of blue sheen in the fins. I copied the image into Photoshop and went on a color search in those areas too. I am thinking H. cristatus.

 

[Chugger]

dam i wish i had gotten more of them back then, she didn't get that big, and like i said had the shape of a cristatus, but i just thought the color was off

 

[Randall]

Hemichromis spp.

Hi guys,

It's difficult to tell from the photos furnished, but from what I can see, photo 1 is Hemichromis stellifer (if the barely visible light-colored markings on the flanks are blue scale edges), photo 2 is H. letourneauxi, photo 3 is an aquarium strain of H. guttatus (Chugger is right in that this heavily-spangled strain was originally developed in Germany, and photo 4 is H. letourneauxi.

All the best,

Randall Kohn

 

[tjudy]

Randall, what indicates that number 3 is gutattus rather than lifilili? Based upon the descriptions I have read and images I have seen it matches lifilili. That body spot is in no way oviod. When I first saw the fish the size and roundness of the spot was the first characteristic that registered.

 

[Randall]

Hemichromis guttatus vs. H. lifalili

Hello Ted,

I'm not positive that Tom's third photo is H. guttatus, especially since there is only one photo that depicts a young, tank-raised specimen. Some characters only become more prominent in maturity. However, the fish depicted possesses a sloping to slighly convex head profile, and from what I can see, the bottom fourth or so of the midlateral blotch is transversed by the midlateral line. If this is so (my vision is not what it used to be), both characters are consistant with H. guttatus. H. lifalili, on the other hand, possesses a highly concave head profile (not sloping nor convex), and its midlateral blotch is situated completely above the midlateral line.

All the best,

Randall Kohn

 

[tjudy]

Fair enough. In the image of the lifalili/gutattus that larger fish is leaning towards the camera and the shot was taken from above the fish (I know... stoop down Ted!) Here are a couple pictures of the same fish that are not as good as the one already exhibited, but I was stooping down for these.

Also, I do not know exactly how old these fish are, but the larger fish is easily 4 inches long. The owner has been in posession of them for close to a year, and he said they were all at least 2" when he got them.
http://webpages.charter.net/tedjudy/fish images/JF_hemichromis_sp_002.jpg