Whats This Fish Please?

[deftuch]

Ive had this fish nearly a year now and for some reason i never remebered what it was called. For some reason i have yellow panchax in my head. Whats it called http/db.tt/806DT53o

 

[MBOU]

It is an Orange Chromide, brackish cichlid from Asia, I have only ever seen them really orange at that size but...

easy to keep when maintained correctly ie. in brackish conditions. It can survive in freshwater, but is more susceptible to disease, and often loses its colour. It is also very sensitive to deteriorating water quality and a strict maintenance regime is essential to its good health. Not a species for the general community, but one which provides many rewards to the dedicated hobbyist.

 

[deftuch]

It is an Orange Chromide, brackish cichlid from Asia, I have only ever seen them really orange at that size but...

easy to keep when maintained correctly ie. in brackish conditions. It can survive in freshwater, but is more susceptible to disease, and often loses its colour. It is also very sensitive to deteriorating water quality and a strict maintenance regime is essential to its good health. Not a species for the general community, but one which provides many rewards to the dedicated hobbyist.

thanks. Ive been meaning to upload a pic for ages. Mine has had the same level of colour throughout its life in my tank. I keep excellent water with a ph or between 7.5 and 8.0 a hardness of about 16 and a super stable kh! It feeds well, especially on bloodworm and flakes, im shocked to learn its brackish though. I keep it in a slightly overstocked 180 litre tank with plants and plenty of hiding spots. It hasnt lost its color, its feeding well, chooses to not hide most of the time. Its never shown any signs of unhappyness! I wonder if i should keep it or not?

 

[crazyforcordoras]

Yah its one of the only brackish cichlids. And one of the only cichlids from asia

 

[MBOU]

Its up to you to keep it or not if its doing ok in freshwater, though you might find the reason it hasnt coloured up is through a lack of salt.

Its shops ordering them in off the fishlists, they are just lumped in with all the other cichlids and if you didnt know it was brackish, you wouldnt find out until you got it and generally, they do ok in freshwater especially for short term in the shops. Kind of like Figure 8 puffers (only these fish genuinely do come from tidal brackish areas).

It might be that they were caught quite far up the estury and was considerably less salt but i doubt it, suppliers would catch them where there is a good number of them.

Unless you can find a brackish home for him.... or better still, set up another tank they are a shoaling species of cichlid and you could find a few more

The orange chromide is Etroplus Maculatus, i know there is a green chromide as well, not sure if its a colour variation or sub species.

There is also a freshwater cichlid called Pearly spot cichlid or Etroplus canarensis which is what I had a shoal of a while back shoaling cichlids are awesome!

 

[thereverendturtle]

Green chromides are a totally different fish. Gets close to 16" compared to the 3" of the Orange. They are also captive bred, not wild caught. The wild fish are not a solid bright orange fish. Here's a link with pictures of wild fish.
http/www.fishbase.org/summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=8703