What Cichlid Is This Really?

[Ogrt48]

He's supposed to be a texas cichlid but he looks nothing like my beautiful texas boy. Nothing at all like him. He looks and behaves a lot more like my five star jewel fish but a greenish body instead of silver. He is extremely mean to most fish. He's ok with the red devil, pink convict and oscar in that tank, but only because I added them at the same time. Anyone else goes in there and they die. I just had to pull half a tiger barb out of his stuck mouth...

 

[scrappy]

He looks vaguely like a juvenile Jack Dempsey. Below is pics of my 2 Jack Dempseys taken last year (they were about 2-3 inches long then):

My pair look very similar now a year on (and twice as big), but they looked very different as juveniles as shown above.

ps. yes one is almost black in colour, its not a lighting effect they really did look that different

 

[Ogrt48]

He looks vaguely like a juvenile Jack Dempsey. Below is pics of my 2 Jack Dempseys taken last year (they were about 2-3 inches long then):

My pair look very similar now a year on (and twice as big), but they looked very different as juveniles as shown above.

ps. yes one is almost black in colour, its not a lighting effect they really did look that different

Hm, he does look a lot like them, the first one atleast. Can't really see the second. These guys supposed to be so mean?

 

[scrappy]

They have a reputation for being pugnacious and aggresive towards other fish, though to be fair i havent seen ANY aggresive behaviour from mine who were housed with Sajica, Blue Acaras & even the smaller Firemouths. It may be that they were all housed together as juveniles but i have moved my JD's into another tank since my Sajica are breeding and they integrated with the other inhabitants of that tank (Blue Loach, Synodontis Eupterus and even a little Blue tetra) without any agression showing.

One thing i will say though is they are VERY greedy fish

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Its not a Dempsey.

Its a member of the Parachromis Genus. Looks like P. Motaguense to me.

Its not the Red Tiger variety of the Motaguense though, looks like the regular golden. I had two that were very similar to yours in both colour and pattern, and they sure knew how to punk the other fish they were growing out with.

Profile for P. Motaguense - Motaguense, Motaguense 2, Motaguense 3.

All 3 profiles will say similar things, but its better to look at a few different sources than just one.

 

[freddyk]

That looks like a juvenile Parachromis Managuensis to me (aka jaguar cichlid). These guys are fast, super aggressive, and will eventually clear out your tank. A single specimen should have 100 gallons in the long term.

 

[Ogrt48]

Wow, I just spent an hour reading about them.. They sound completely evil.

 

[williamc]

were those at walmart I think I saw some of those

 

[Jim Curtis]

Dude read post dates.