I've kept this simple and with the a cichal Newbie in mind - Hope this helps!!
Okay, I thought it might help to have a Juvenile Cichla ID thread as you constantly see “Please ID” threads popping up all the time on this forum. There is a Cichla ID sticky but geared more towards mature or larger cichla.
As a lot of experienced cichla keepers know identifying some Juvenile Cichlas can be a bit tricky to impossible really because quite frankly a lot look the same in appearance as Juveniles and especially if you don't know what to look for. There are sometimes small identifying traits or more obvious ones where you can confidently identify a Juvenile Cichla. I have compiled a number a different photo’s below to help show you some of the traits and differences in Juvenile Cichlas so you can compare when trying to identify your Juvenile Cichla.
Now some of these photos are fish of my own that I raised and others are from reputable venders and photo’s I pulled here and there to compile together here in this thread for reference, heck you may even see your fish in here..lol
The key here is side by side photos and examples of some types of Juvenile cichla for comparison. Here’s the deal though and why identifying Juvenile cichla can be tricky… A same species of cichla can and most often look different depending on its origin. Simply put a WC cichla, say a Orino from one river in SA can look different from another Orino from a different river in SA changing it's appearance in color and or pattern slightly. Some differences are quite noticeable and others aren’t as much. Also, another thing that will play a factor is your captive bread cichla vs your wild caught. A wild caught cichla usually is much brighter in color and pattern where your F1 captive breeds seem to be more faded with less pronounced patterns.. So for you newbies, you can see why identifying a Juvenile cichla can be tricky knowing even the same species can look different depending on where it was caught or if it’s an F1 or wild caught.
Below I have added several photo’s of some of the more common cichla’s available and all the photo’s are of Juvenile Cichlas under 6”.
It would be great if other experienced cichla keepers that have Juvenile photo’s of a (known/verified) cichla species post them here as examples or add a species I haven't noted yet and note what sp it is for further reference and to expand the number of Juvenile species covered here (NOTHING OVER 6” PLZ) I’d like to keep this exclusively Juvenile Cichla ONLY (thx)
And hopefully this helps some people identify their peacock bass!!
We'll start with a
Juvenile Temensis Cichla
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Juvenile Azul or Piquiti Cichla
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Juvenile Xingu Cichla
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Juvenile Orinocinisis Cichla
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Juvenile Ocellaris Cichla
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Juvenile Monoculus Cichla
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Juvenile Peruvian Monoculus Cichla
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Juvenile Brokopondo Ocellaris Cichla
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Juvenile Kelberi & Kelberi Bahia Cichla
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Hope this Helps Someone out here!!
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