Amphilophus margaritifer

[fishfarm]

a thread from 2006 on the same subject. Ken
http://www.cichlidae.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1542

 

[fishfarm]

Dan Woodland made a couple post on the same thread on cichlidae.com.
"I've sent a message to a guy I know living in the area of lake Peten that also travels extensively throughout Central America. Let's see if he can add any fodder to this thread."
His friends responce:
"No, Dan, unfortunately I haven't.
But what I have seen is the all-gold fish Conkel called margaritifer in the latter edition of CICHLID FISHES OF NORTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA. It was in the market in the town called Rio Dulce, so presumably it was from Lago Izabal."
So maybe this fish does exisit and Don just mixed up where he caught it?? Ken

Spoke to soon, e-mailed Rusty, fish from Lago Izabel is C. bocourti. They turn yellow when dead. Ken

 

[fishfarm]

Heard from Dr Loiselle:

Dear Ken,

I did indeed accompany Don Conkel on a collecting trip to Lago Peten many years ago. We got lots of Thorichthys affinis, some very nice Theraps melanurus and "Cichlasoma" salvini and a few specimens of Astatoheros roberstoni, Parachromis freidricksthali and Petenia splendida, but I do not recall collecting any fish there that even remotely resembled the species pictured. Your fish looks like an Astatoheros, so it is at least possible that the ID is correct. The late Don Rosen collected several nice series of an Astatoheros he keyed out to margaritifer on the Pacific slope of Guatemala. That material is on deposit at the AMNH and I will make a point of checking the melanophore pattern of those specimens on my next trip and see how it compares to your fish.

Ho ela velona!

Paul

 

[Modest_Man]

Interesting, thanks Ken.

 

[armac]

Looks like some of these threads is dredging up interest.

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Donald Conkel

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[Citrinellus]

^ Hmm, so he read the recent threads but didn't comment? Interesting.

 

[Modest_Man]

I wish this was a real fish.

 

[RedH2O]

Cool thread, thanks for bumping it modest_man.

Well the fish was real, it seems to just be lost or extinct now

 

[driftwood]

either way, cool fish, it would look good in my tank, therefore I want one!

I was just thinking the same thing, I love the contrasting colors and markings. Don's a good guy and if anyone was breeding and selling fish at the rate that he is they'd have a few instances where they sell hybridized fish too. I don't believe he would intentionally sell hybrids but then again thats just my opinion. I just don't understand all the Conkel bashing but most of it does seem to come from certain people and I don't care how many COLLECTING trips some go on, they will never have the knowledge Conkel has.

 

[Modest_Man]

I was just thinking the same thing, I love the contrasting colors and markings. Don's a good guy and if anyone was breeding and selling fish at the rate that he is they'd have a few instances where they sell hybridized fish too. I don't believe he would intentionally sell hybrids but then again thats just my opinion. I just don't understand all the Conkel bashing but most of it does seem to come from certain people and I don't care how many COLLECTING trips some go on, they will never have the knowledge Conkel has.

He is intentionally selling hybrids. Look at the bottom of his stock list. Not bashing Don, just saying.