Are these Red Head Tapajos?
- Thread starter Jobu28
- Start date
Yes there is, there is also a Geophagus pictured which is the fish in question.
They don’t look like Geophagus sp. Tapajos, in my opinion they are G. Abalios
The reason your fish are so washed out and barely coloured up is due to the fact that you have a bare bottom tank which is white. The fish naturally try and blend with the substrate and their surrounding. My personal preference is a natural tan coloured sand.
I have a group of 12 Geophagus sp. Pindare ranging in size from 2-3” growing out in a tank with tank sand, driftwood and rocks and they are already displaying stunning colouration. In another similar setup I have 14 G. Winemilleri ranging in size from 2.5-4” in a similarly setup aquarium and they are showing awesome colouration as well.
To emphasise just how much substrate/ decoration such as driftwood affect the colouration of fish, I have 10, 1-1.5” Biotodoma Cupido who already have amazing colouration, again in a similar setup as mentioned above
Some of those geos look like juvenile red heads. I am saying that just based on the large black spot, and the red and blue patterning in the tail. How big are they?
These are 5-6in Tapajo and have shown the red face from 2-3in. Note the "horizontal" tail striping. Some of your fish appear to have "stained glass" tails and others have "vertical" stripes.
I'd agree these are definitely not Red Head Tapajos. The biggest giveaway is the vertical striping on the caudal fin. RHT have horizontal striping. Some of mine had red heads at 2 inches, and all showed a little bit of red by 3 inches.
I've been in the exact situation you are in. I ordered RHT and after a year of no head coloration, I found out they were actually Altifrons.
I've been in the exact situation you are in. I ordered RHT and after a year of no head coloration, I found out they were actually Altifrons.
Here is a picture of mine when I first got them in February 2020:
As you can see, the horizontal stripping on the caudal fin is obvious even at that size.
As you can see, the horizontal stripping on the caudal fin is obvious even at that size.