Cichlasoma sp. 'Esmeraldas Gold'

[ryansmith83]

Several months ago, Jeff Rapps listed an unknown honey-colored Cichlasoma that comes from the Rio Esmeraldas in Ecuador. He'd never seen the fish before and wasn't sure on the proper ID. Fin ray counts didn't match any of the known Aequidens or Cichlasoma in that region. They were only about 1.5 - 2" at the time. I decided to buy a few.

They act like typical acara-types, boisterous and active with large appetites. They settled into quarantine very quickly and started establishing their pecking order.

 

[ryansmith83]

Almost exactly a month after receiving them, while still in quarantine, I came home one day to find a clutch of eggs on the bottom of the bare tank. This put them spawning at 2 - 2.5" in size.

 

[ryansmith83]

After moving all six fish into their own 55 gallon, the pair continued to spawn frequently and did a good job guarding the eggs. Unfortunately, the wrigglers disappeared every time.

I attempted removing one spawn and the eggs hatched, but the wrigglers all bloated and died before any reached free-swimming.

 

[ryansmith83]

 

[ryansmith83]

Over the weekend I had another spawn and I decided to do something I rarely do; I removed the four extra fish and left the pair with the eggs. Usually I avoid this because male acaras have a tendency to butcher the females, but so far they're cooperating. They also have day-old wrigglers. You cannot see them in this video but they are buried in a pit between the flat stone and the clay cave. My hope is to get them at least to free-swimming, but the fry are incredibly tiny and seem weak.

 

[ryansmith83]

So, what are they? No one really knows. Because the scales extend into the dorsal and anal fins, they would be classified as Cichlasoma. I reached out to Dr. Sven Kullander because of his extensive knowledge of Cichlasoma and this was his reply:

Hi Ryan

They look like/are Cichlasoma amazonarum, but seem to lack dark pigment. Based on the youtube video they have spotted caudal fin and scales on the base of the soft dorsal fin. The rest of the very pale coloration,and the fin shape of the male, and the size difference between male and female support the identification.

On the basis only the video, I could of course be 100% wrong (happens sometimes).

Best regards

Sven

The fish essentially look like a xanthic/leucistic version of a Cichlasoma. While their eyes are black, there is no black pigment anywhere else on the fish. The bodies are a honey-blonde color with yellow in the fins. Is this fish actually living in the wild somewhere? Are they a morph that was discovered and pond-bred or farm-bred in Ecuador? No one really seems to know for sure.

The goal now is to grow out some fry and see if they also have no black pigmentation. At this point it's hard to say if the fry will even survive, which could be a hint that these are weaker genetically or maybe even some kind of unnatural hybrid. Either way it's been interesting to grow them out and try to identify them.

 

[tlindsey]

Congrats on the rare pickup and hopefully you will figure out rearing the fry.

 

[ryansmith83]

Congrats on the rare pickup and hopefully you will figure out rearing the fry.

Thanks. Jeff is still selling them for anyone who wants a cute, feisty, small-growing acara. I love the body shape on them and the attitude. They're constantly chasing and flaring gills, but they don't inflict any damage.

 

[tlindsey]

The remind me of Thread fin especially the male with the long trailing fins.

 

[RD.]

Very cool, thanks for the detailed info & good luck with getting some grow outs.