Black acara?

[ryansmith83]

“Black Acara” was a common name for Cichlasoma. They were also called “Port Cichlids.” This is a group of similar-looking species of Cichlasoma that are identified by location, number of hard spines in the anal fin, presence/lack of scales in the dorsal and anal fin bases, etc.

The most common and widespread seems to be C. amazonarum. Then you have the southernmost species with pretty green and blue iridescence, C. dimerus. C. bimaculatum is the official “black acara” if memory serves me correctly, but they are more drab and brown than the ones in your photos. C. portalegrense was the “port acara/cichlid” and at one point I think they were all considered that species, but their range is now considered much more restricted and other species have been described. So using that common name is a bit confusing now.

IMO yours look like amazonarum but you’d need good shots of their anal fins extended so you could count the spines and also see if the scales overlap into the base of the fins.

The best people to ask about Cichlasoma IMO are @dogofwar @Mahlerfan and Ken Davis, but I don’t know if any of them still post here.

 

[Backfromthedead]

Nice pickup. I became interested in these when i saw them on rapps stocklist a couple years back. They can get pretty chunky/largish for acaras and ive seen some really beautiful examples. I'll be watching for updates.

 

[duanes]

“Black Acara” was a common name for Cichlasoma. They were also called “Port Cichlids.” This is a group of similar-looking species of Cichlasoma that are identified by location, number of hard spines in the anal fin, presence/lack of scales in the dorsal and anal fin bases, etc.

The most common and widespread seems to be C. amazonarum. Then you have the southernmost species with pretty green and blue iridescence, C. dimerus. C. bimaculatum is the official “black acara” if memory serves me correctly, but they are more drab and brown than the ones in your photos. C. portalegrense was the “port acara/cichlid” and at one point I think they were all considered that species, but their range is now considered much more restricted and other species have been described. So using that common name is a bit confusing now.

IMO yours look like amazonarum but you’d need good shots of their anal fins extended so you could count the spines and also see if the scales overlap into the base of the fins.

The best people to ask about Cichlasoma IMO are @dogofwar @Mahlerfan and Ken Davis, but I don’t know if any of them still post here.

Agree with this, the common name could mean any of about a dozen species of the Cichlasoma genus.
So yes it looks like one of those, they can be quite chameleon like under different conditions.
Here is Cichlasoma dimerus "Bella Union" Uruguay to compare,

Above in a brightly lit tank.
Below pulled right from my pond

 

[Mitchell The Monster]

“Black Acara” was a common name for Cichlasoma. They were also called “Port Cichlids.” This is a group of similar-looking species of Cichlasoma that are identified by location, number of hard spines in the anal fin, presence/lack of scales in the dorsal and anal fin bases, etc.

The most common and widespread seems to be C. amazonarum. Then you have the southernmost species with pretty green and blue iridescence, C. dimerus. C. bimaculatum is the official “black acara” if memory serves me correctly, but they are more drab and brown than the ones in your photos. C. portalegrense was the “port acara/cichlid” and at one point I think they were all considered that species, but their range is now considered much more restricted and other species have been described. So using that common name is a bit confusing now.

IMO yours look like amazonarum but you’d need good shots of their anal fins extended so you could count the spines and also see if the scales overlap into the base of the fins.

The best people to ask about Cichlasoma IMO are @dogofwar @Mahlerfan and Ken Davis, but I don’t know if any of them still post here.

I want to get them established eating and doing well then during a water change I’ll net them and try and get some good pictures for you. Thanks very much. Quite informative

 

[duanes]

In many cases its a matter of counting soft fin rays in telling one from the other.
Or knowing which river system one comes from to determine species.
For example Cichlasoma orientale, comes only from the Bandi river system,
while Cichlasoma orinocense comes from the Rio Meta system in Colombia, whereas C portaleguense is restricted to Porto Alegre Brazil.
I find them all very difficult to tell apart, just by looking.
This is why when I posted the pic of C dimerous, I included "Bella Union" Uruguay. Without that info, it could have been any of the dozen Cichlasoma species.
Back in the old days, they were all just considered port cichlids, or port acaras, and they all looked alike.
No one knew there were at least 12 separate species.

 

[newworld]

Given the discussion using common names I've never heard of the black port/acara associated with anything other than bimaculatum?

 

[ryansmith83]

Given the discussion using common names I've never heard of the black port/acara associated with anything other than bimaculatum?

If you look at all the old books I think the “port cichlids” were always considered Cichlasoma portalegrense (or as they were called then, Aequidens portalegrensis). But most of them were probably not truly C. portalegrense due to their restricted range.

 

[newworld]

Yes I agree but I recall black port/acara as usually restricted to bimaculatum