Anomalochromis thomasi in his best suit.

[gwand]

This African butterfly cichlid and his tank mates are descendants of a line from waters of Guinea. Today he is not defending eggs, fry or territory but for some reason is dressed in his best suit.

 

[Colin_T]

Showing off to the girls or being territorial to the boys.

 

[GaryE]

That's a fish where marketing went wrong. Back when computers seemed science fiction, sellers tried to piggyback it on what was called the butterfly cichlid - now called the Ram. It was sold as the African butterfly, or later on, African Ram, and the comparison hurt it. It isn't some sort of version of the ram, and it has quiet periods colour-wise.

When they decide to fire up the colours, you can see why the comparison was possible. But they are a great fish on their own.

Anomalochromis is a good Genus name, because they are an anomaly.They could be more than one species - similar, but not identical. I don't think anyone is working on that - the scientific grant money goes elsewhere.