Parachromis sp La Ceiba "Yellow Head" Photo
- Thread starter stuckinthemiddle
- Start date
My understanding is that the La Ceiba yellow head, rio dante loisellei (from Rapp's site), etc. are all the same species discovered in Honduras a couple years ago. Whether or not this fish is a new species or not is yet to be determined, however, I believe Rusty Wessel sent a specimen in for DNA analysis and it was decided to be loisellei. At least this is what I have heard, from Aquamojo, a very reputable source we can all agree. I believe the standard, in this situation, is to classify the fish as Parachromis loisellei, and state the source of the population, in which case either La Ceiba, Honduras or Rio Danto will do.
Mine's pushing 6".
These things may be a variant of "Loiselli", but they have attitudes like no other.
I think the forms of their bodies are a bit different too.
IMO waaaay better coloring too.
These things may be a variant of "Loiselli", but they have attitudes like no other.
I think the forms of their bodies are a bit different too.
IMO waaaay better coloring too.
To answer y'alls questions. Stuck your fish is a female, (round body short fins) males are slimmer and fins get very elongated.
The next fish pictured is some kind of Amphilophus, not the same.
I purposly list my fish as Parachromis cf loiselli "La Ceiba" so that people will not confuse them with the domestic loiselli. Rusty "thinks" they are a form of loiselli and that is why I list them as cf loiselli, but personally I do believe that they are loiselli and think they are a new species. I originally listed them as Parachromis sp "Warreni" after my friend who caught all 7 of the wild fish ever caught and only 5 wild fish exist in the hobby. So if anyone says they have a wild fish beside me, Rusty or Warren he's a lier. No DNA has been sent off for testing that I know of. You'd have to have samples collected from wild fish of all the know Parachromis species to comapre it to for identification, sending something off for testing sounds good, but there has to be a database to comapre to, which does not exist to my knowledge. This fish has a very isolated distribution in the Rio Danto Drainage, Honduras, just north of La Ceiba. It has only been caught in one lagoon several miles from the main river. None of the fish we have were caught in the Rio Danto and Rapps in my opinion has them mislabled, but yes his are the same fish. He got them from Rusty's pair. Right now I know of only three breeding pairs in existenece. Mine and Rusty's wild pairs and Mo has a pair of F1 he got from Rusty that recently bred. The first two fish Warren caught were too big to bring back and were relased. This past May's trip we went back to the lagoon and all the trees had been cut down for developement and the lagoon was polluted and had an oil slick on the surface and little if anything was alive in it. So no more of these fish may ever be collected. Rusty thinks they caught the same fish years ago in the Rio Danto, but we have not found it in the river in recent trips. Hopefully it does exist there. But things have really changed (lots of development) in in that area of Honduras in recent years. So keep them pure folks, don't cross them with anything except fish from me, Rusty, Jeff or Mo that are listed as Yellow head, La Ceiba or Rio Danto. Ken
The next fish pictured is some kind of Amphilophus, not the same.
I purposly list my fish as Parachromis cf loiselli "La Ceiba" so that people will not confuse them with the domestic loiselli. Rusty "thinks" they are a form of loiselli and that is why I list them as cf loiselli, but personally I do believe that they are loiselli and think they are a new species. I originally listed them as Parachromis sp "Warreni" after my friend who caught all 7 of the wild fish ever caught and only 5 wild fish exist in the hobby. So if anyone says they have a wild fish beside me, Rusty or Warren he's a lier. No DNA has been sent off for testing that I know of. You'd have to have samples collected from wild fish of all the know Parachromis species to comapre it to for identification, sending something off for testing sounds good, but there has to be a database to comapre to, which does not exist to my knowledge. This fish has a very isolated distribution in the Rio Danto Drainage, Honduras, just north of La Ceiba. It has only been caught in one lagoon several miles from the main river. None of the fish we have were caught in the Rio Danto and Rapps in my opinion has them mislabled, but yes his are the same fish. He got them from Rusty's pair. Right now I know of only three breeding pairs in existenece. Mine and Rusty's wild pairs and Mo has a pair of F1 he got from Rusty that recently bred. The first two fish Warren caught were too big to bring back and were relased. This past May's trip we went back to the lagoon and all the trees had been cut down for developement and the lagoon was polluted and had an oil slick on the surface and little if anything was alive in it. So no more of these fish may ever be collected. Rusty thinks they caught the same fish years ago in the Rio Danto, but we have not found it in the river in recent trips. Hopefully it does exist there. But things have really changed (lots of development) in in that area of Honduras in recent years. So keep them pure folks, don't cross them with anything except fish from me, Rusty, Jeff or Mo that are listed as Yellow head, La Ceiba or Rio Danto. Ken
First of all...I DO have a wild pair of these that I brought back from that trip. They were fry when I brought them home. They are in the pond...an are identical in appearance (only much bigger) than the F1 fry I got from Rusty's pair. I am 100% sure it's the same fish...the pair in the pond do breed on a regular basis, but I let the fry fend for themselves...They are identical to the pair in Rusty's photo. So that's three wild breeding pair in the country. I believe Jeff received the fish that he is selling from Rusty...so....also the same fish and not mislabeled. I will be taking all of the fry i have and giving them to Jeff as well...and more than likely the wild pair from the pond.fishfarm;2411938; said:
To complicate matters Rusty said he was reviewing Michael martins book, "Freshwater Fishes of Honduras" and he said he collected Parachromis in the 70's. He listed the fish as Motaguense.
Rusty has sent clippings for DNA analysis, but has not received anything definitive. Part of the issue is that in order to figure out what it IS you have to decide what it's NOT...and that means submitting samples of other Parachromis from the same region. I know some of this had been done...but not to what extent.
I'm going to disagree on the sex of the fish posted. I think it's a male. I agree that the females have a deeper body. I think the fish in the photo has a slimmer body...and the markings appear to look male as well.
Here's an F1 male:
Here's the pair:
Thanks for clearing that up Ken and Mo, great posts. My personal opinion on these fish is that it doesn't matter where they came from or what they are called, they are just great fish.
cookiemonster;2413130; said:
They are at that. And what I find that's really amazing is how similar they look to some of the other fish. Here's a shot of the F0 Freddies from Cenote Escondido (top three Parachromis two females and a male) The female Loiselli resemble the female Freddie...but the males look very little like the male Freddie.
The bottom two fish are the "Yellow Head" in regular dress. The male top left of the two...the female on the bottom. You can see what Ken and I were referring to about the fish being thicker body and shorter fins. Compare the female to the male. She looks like she has a gut.
He has a much more streamlined body.
Mo, looking at your pictures gets me all excited about growing mine out! Thanks for the motivation.....
