Here,s a tuff pretty fish to id

madf1man · Post by **madf1man** » 01 Sep 2005, 22:11

Heres a pic of a fish I recieved in the purchase of my new 540 gal catfish tank.It was hard to get a true color photo but this is close.In real life he is a dark blue overall and the spots are a very bright lite blue color. The spots actually glow almost like he has a black lite pointed on him.

Post by **Silurus** » 01 Sep 2005, 22:34

Paratilapia polleni

madf1man · Post by **madf1man** » 01 Sep 2005, 22:53

Well I guess not to hard to ID.I,ve been searching the net for days and found nothing. I allready have taken your post and used it in search and have some reading to do now. Now for the usual question,s. Is this a unique fish? It appears to be locally here in Houston Texas USA. No one has none what it is and I myself and have been in and out of the fish buiness for years. Please others post general opinions on this guy. Thanks Trey

zenyfish · Post by **zenyfish** » 01 Sep 2005, 23:21

As are a lot of cichlids from Madagascara, this one's listed as "vulnerable" by IUCN.

http://www.fishbase.org/summary/Species ... fm?id=8786

Post by **medaka** » 01 Sep 2005, 23:31

I believe Our friend coelacanth, has some of these.

Post by **Silurus** » 02 Sep 2005, 01:00

Paratilapia polleni are not that rare in the trade. A quick Google search indicated this species on the stocklists of at least two online dealers.

DeepFriedIctalurus · Post by **DeepFriedIctalurus** » 02 Sep 2005, 02:45

Captivating fish aren't they madf1man? Your small spot's quite a nice one!

Not really rare in the hobby, but not all that common either. I have a beautiful pair of them myself that are probably from Wet Thumb Aquatics' stock, which can be seen here & here.

If nobody in your region breeds Paratilapia, it may be from petsmart's supplier because they stock these at their stores every once in a while..

madf1man · Post by **madf1man** » 02 Sep 2005, 14:42

Been reading up on them last night and this morn(instead of working!!!) I may hang on to this one and see if I can find some more.It is I have to say the most beautiful fresh water fish I,ve seen.Of course thats personal taste I understand. The dark blue and ultraviolet spots are amazing.Now I need to find someone who has them.

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 02 Sep 2005, 19:29

Hi!

Looks more likely to be Paratilapia sp "small spots", now saying what origin is certainly a bit difficult...

maybe you shall try to ask the people from Madgroup or the cichlid room companion!

maybe these pictures could help you: http://burnel.club.fr/Photos/Paratilapia_spp.html

Cheers
Yann

madf1man · Post by **madf1man** » 02 Sep 2005, 20:09

I do believe it to be the small spot by what I have read so far. I have yet to see a photo of one with the head bump like this one though.Not sure if that is an age or sex difference. I have found a local pet store who knows the fish and where he can get them and did indicate that they were uncommon at least for us in the South.The more I learn on this the more I believe I will be keeping a tank that I was getting rid of due to the larger tanks I,m setting up to use for a group of these guys. I hope