Have we found out what the "Cichlasoma sp. esmeraldas gold" acara are yet?

[Hybridfish7]

I still have mine, couldn't sell her off, but I'm scaping a blackwater tank for her soon.
Besides that, have we found out what species these gold acaras are yet? I know they were speculated to be axanthic c.amazonarum, and Jeff Rapps had that up on his website, but I noticed he took that off, and just kept them as "cichlasoma sp. esmeraldas gold".
here's mine for now
dorsal fin: 16 hard rays, 9-10 soft rays
anal fin: 4 hard rays, 7-8 soft rays

 

[Mr geophagus]

I don’t think so.

 

[Gourami Swami]

Really beautiful fish! Not sure what the species is, and if Rapps doesn't know, the rest of us won't! But I wouldn't let that bother you, it's an "esmeraldas gold acara" for all intensive purposes

 

[ryansmith83]

Sven Kullander said that based on my pictures and videos, they were likely xanthic/leucistic C. amazonarum. He couldn't say for sure because he'd never seen them but all the other features matched.

I searched through some South American fish exporters on Facebook and the earliest evidence I found of them was a post from 2015 or 2016 labeling them simply "acara." This was an exporter in Peru and he claimed they were caught in Peru, while Jeff says they are from Ecuador. So I feel like there's some gray area there that we're not getting the full story about.

The trick would be to do a DNA study to compare them to other Cichlasoma but that's very expensive and you'd have to collect several individuals from each species, and I'm not sure anyone really has the interest in funding that.

 

[Hybridfish7]

interesting, i'll keep that in mind

 

[SunsetPets]

I have this line but the rare xanthic platinum white

 

[Hybridfish7]

I have this line but the rare xanthic platinum white

View attachment 1533515

Wow, where'd you get it? Where are you located?

 

[SunsetPets]

Wow, where'd you get it? Where are you located?

Do you still have yours ?? I got it from a breeder here in Southern California. Where are you located ?

 

[Hybridfish7]

Do you still have yours ?? I got it from a breeder here in Southern California. Where are you located ?

Unfortunately she died this last fall. Does the breeder have more by chance? I will say yours looks a little different, but mine also looked like that when I first got her.

 

[SunsetPets]

I'll check... there was a couple left. If you are local you can come check them out I have them in my shop