trying to identify these tetras...

[Magnum Man]

a while back, I bought a dozen of what were supposed to be Nematobrycon lacortei ( Rainbow Emperor Tetras ), well, they came in tiny, and even a blind guy, could tell there were several varieties in the bag... about half, ended up being palmeri's and I can see at least two, I believe are Hyphessobrycon melanostichos ( Royal Lapis Tetras ), and I'm hoping the rest will actually be the Nematobrycon lacortei, that I actually ordered...

Do you think the top fish in these two pictures are Hyphessobrycon melanostichos???

 

[GaryE]

They could be female melanostichos - were they selling that very expensive fish? That's usually a good way to eliminate possibilities.

 

[Magnum Man]

BTW, I didn't buy these from Dan's, his pictures are just easy to use for identification...

this is supposed to be the lacortei

this is supposed to be a melanostichos

and this a palmeri

 

[Magnum Man]

on the melanostichos I believe they are still juvenal, and they do have more color than my camera picks up

 

[GaryE]

I've kept melanostichos, and the fish catching person would be in serious trouble if the powers that be knew two of them had been sent by mistake. In general, each one would cost the same as a bag of young emperors.

There are other possibilities though. Species "blue black" looks like that too, but is rarer. Females are often a little tougher to ID. The one in the picture is portly, so that's an adult, egg filled female to me.

 

[Magnum Man]

this is her??? looking right at the camera in the center

 

[Magnum Man]

and I'm hoping this is one of the lacortei, in the center

 

[Sgooosh]

a while back, I bought a dozen of what were supposed to be Nematobrycon lacortei ( Rainbow Emperor Tetras ), well, they came in tiny, and even a blind guy, could tell there were several varieties in the bag... about half, ended up being palmeri's and I can see at least two, I believe are Hyphessobrycon melanostichos ( Royal Lapis Tetras ), and I'm hoping the rest will actually be the Nematobrycon lacortei, that I actually ordered...

Do you think the top fish in these two pictures are Hyphessobrycon melanostichos???
View attachment 371015
View attachment 371022

BTW, I didn't buy these from Dan's, his pictures are just easy to use for identification...

this is supposed to be the lacortei
View attachment 371024

this is supposed to be a melanostichos
View attachment 371025

and this a palmeri
View attachment 371027

woah, the top two are so similar. I don't keep many tetras but I'm skeptical that those are melanostichos becuase of how the black strip is thicker in the middle but in the photos of melanostichos it is thicker in the back part

 

[Magnum Man]

... and I'm OK with what I got, these came from Aqua Importers, so-were assumed wild caught, and ya get what ya get... it would be nice if I could Identify my own fish though... these have been here for 6 months or so...

 

[Sgooosh]

... and I'm OK with what I got, these came from Aqua Importers, so-were assumed wild caught, and ya get what ya get... it would be nice if I could Identify my own fish though... these have been here for6 months or so...

Oh man, do they not have a return policy or something? or is it just a risk you have to take when they're listed as wild caught?