Do I have L. curviceps or L. dorsiger?

[jrp]

Last week I purchased two pair of Laetacara curviceps (as labelled in the store) for my 58 gallon tank. From the photos I have seen in Baensch and around the internet, they could just as well be Laetacara dorsiger. Can someone take a look at the pictures of my fish and let me know if you are able to identify which species is correct?


One of the males

The male again

One of the females

Thanks in advance,
jrp

 

[Cichlids1]

Well...the male looks like my dorsiger. The red breast right under the chin stands out to me. When in spawning mode, they will get a deep red. My females didn't look like yours. That looks more like the curviceps. Her black band wasn't as prominant. My females showed more red than the males did. I'm only basing this on what I remember from when I kept them. I will dig around in some of my older pictures and see if I can find ones I took of my fish.

 

[Z Man]

Looks like Dorsiger to me. I never saw any Curviceps with that deep red color on their breast.
Z-Man

 

[jrp]

Thanks for the replies. I have read about the red coloration found on L. dorsiger but had not observed it on my fish yet. The camera flash exaggerated the colors quite a bit on the first photo, but they are not as apparent under normal light. That male has more red today, so I'll be calling them L. dorsiger unless someone else chimes in.

Thanks again,
jrp

 

[Neil]

jrp,

WELCOME TO THE FORUM

I am putting my vote in for dorsigera as well. There are several facters that are diagnostic, but kind of had to tell from the pics and your posts. The red color being the biggest. Looks kind of more like the body shape and background color of dorsigera too. I see a full ring of red on the caudal fin and some red on the dorsal spot. Gotta be dorsigera! I suspect that whether you are seeing it or not there is a red chest on the female too.
Neil

 

[Randall]

Laetacara dorsigera

Dear JRP,

Congratulations on your L. dorsigera (The head shape is a definate giveaway). Enjoy them!

All the best,

Randall Kohn

 

[apistodave]

:lol: Curviceps