Help id fish

[angrycow]

Hi everyone, are these A. Panduro or Nijessni, thanks for the help

[BigDaddy]

These are two different fish right, not the same fish two different photos?

Hard to tell with the first photo.  The lack of a caudal spot and the fact that you can't see the dorsal fin make it hard to identify correctly.

The second photo, if it is the same fish then wow.. if not I would not label as a panduro.  The cadual spot does not extend into the peduncle.  As well, it is missing the red margin on the caudal fin... I've never seen a stressed nijsseni loose the red colouration, so I don't think photo #2 is a nijsseni either.

[fischkopp]

I agree with BigDaddy: its very hard to tell, which species it is. More pictures from different situations will help. So what I can say for now:

I think the first picture shows a male and the second a female, just by looking at their general body shape and coloration.

With the current pictures and refering to CA1&2 by U. Römer, I would say you have a pair of  A. nijsseni.

[angrycow]

you're bigdaddy, 2 different fish, the dorsal fin of the fish on the first photo is the exact same as the second.  I tried to get a better pic of it but there was a definite lack of cooperation.

I will try to get some more photos later

thanks for the help

[BigDaddy]

This is one of the best photos to use to help tell the difference between panduro and nijsseni males and females:



[attachment deleted by admin]

[BigDaddy]

Female panduros also tend to have a more defined cheek stripe whereas female nijsseni (like the photo above) tend to have an irregular blotch (depending on mood and aggression levels)

[angrycow]

Female panduros also tend to have a more defined cheek stripe whereas female nijsseni (like the photo above) tend to have an irregular blotch (depending on mood and aggression levels)

alright, so if the first photo is a female panduro, which I was fairly sure of in the first place, what the heck is the second fish.  The pelvic fins on the second fish do get dark, the pic posted doesn't really show that, also the aggresion level that the fish in pic 1 display to the other is fairly high, but not sustained.

Oh well, I really wanted a m/f panduro pair.  Guess I'll have to look for a male

thanks

[BigDaddy]

The top pic may be a male panduro or nijsseni.  Males will have yellow to clear ventral fins, females will have definite black and yellow ventral fins.

Here is a pic of my panduro breeding pair:



Here is a pic of the male where you can see his ventral fins have no black, and the caudal spot extends past the peduncle and into the caudal fin:



The other main difference between panduro and nijsseni is that the anterior dorsal fins will have shorter membranes on nijsseni than on panduro.  Not much help if you haven't seen both species to be able to compare the difference....

[fischkopp]

I took another look into the "Cichlid Atlas":

To differentiate between female A. panduro and A. nijsseni we have to look at the shape of the first dorsal membranes: they are extended for A. panduro and truncated for A. nijsseni. The spot pattern doesnt really help as it varys from fish to fish and depending on the mood. All in all it is very similar between both species. Even the the red line on the caudal fins can be missing.

Hence (with looking at your picasa pictures) I would say fish one is for sure a female A. panduro. Fish two is very likely a second female, if you bought both together. It looks younger and smaller and may be supressed by fish one and hence not showing prettier colors.

[angrycow]

thanks for the help, much appreciated