Picked up some Thorichthys Aureum!

[Rafini]

Managed to score 3 Thorichthys Aureum at 10 dollars each today! they look very beautiful and are promising.
Does anybody else currently keep these guys? I find them to be very peaceful so far and I picked up 3 in the hopes that I would get at least one male and a female. I`m not specifically trying to breed them but I would definitely try if I ended up with a pair.

Right now they are just settling into life in my tank so I expect the colors to come out a lot nicer over the next few days, they are in my 120g with an aerating powerhead (not too strong of a current) and some hardy plants

In the background you can see the head of my smaller Thorichthys I already have, he was ID`d here as a T. Meeki, but since I have introduced the Aureum I have found him to look quite a bit like them, if they try to pair though I will remove him.

 

[Buphy]

Look good. I like em.

 

[cichlidfish]

Really nice and good luck with getting a pair. I have 2 about the same size, but so far the female is harassing the male. Are these the red variety? Mine are, but I am wondering if mine are t. mac instead, because mine don't have as much red an blue spots on the fins.

 

[papasmurf]

I have some I picked up about six months ago that are in my pond for the summer....they spawned about a week ago. The vendor was pretty certain that they were Aureus even though I had my doubts that they might be T. Maculipinnis. The look just about like yours and I am fairly certain the ones I have are probably Maculipinnis as they do not have the blue spangling on the back half of the body like Aureus are supposed to have but rather have more of a solid blue like the fish you have pictured. Either way, they are really attractive fish but I would still like to find the true Aureus eventually.

 

[cichlidfish]

I have some I picked up about six months ago that are in my pond for the summer....they spawned about a week ago. The vendor was pretty certain that they were Aureus even though I had my doubts that they might be T. Maculipinnis. The look just about like yours and I am fairly certain the ones I have are probably Maculipinnis as they do not have the blue spangling on the back half of the body like Aureus are supposed to have but rather have more of a solid blue like the fish you have pictured. Either way, they are really attractive fish but I would still like to find the true Aureus eventually.

It's easy to get these fish mixed up when juvis. From what I understand the red like the OP's fish is areus and the fins should have streaks instead of spots/spangles. I bought t. Mac at the same LFS as my "areus" and they look no different. We will see what happens as they grow.

 

[Rafini]

thanks guys, they are settling in really well, the colors are looking a lot more vivd today, i have one that is a little brighter and is developing an orangey tan color on his forehead, I'm thinking this one is most likely the male as he seems to be in charge.

they are very peaceful with eachother, I would say they like the company of their own species. I picked up 3 for $30 so I did my best to eyeball 3 fish that had differing characteristics ( trailers, color intensity, body shape or size etc) hopefully I have at least one male and one female

 

[Rafini]

Sorry there is algae on the glass, but I managed to get a good picture of the best one. the colors are really coming out. a lot more yellow than Thorichthys maculipinnis and also with much less blue sparkles. My other Thorichthys (either meeki or affinis) has much more blue dots on him, a lot more like ellioti than the Aureums I got, and he is much smaller.

Here is my biggest Aureum

the other 2 look just like that but with less vibrant coloration.

and here is my other Thorichthys for comparison, I originally thought it was T. Mac. but people here said most likley a variation of Meeki. either way as you can see there is a lot of blue sparkles all over the fish, my Aureum don't have any like that except a few dots on their face.

 

[papasmurf]

Looking good. I have a bunch of little ones .5"-1" swarming in the pond with a ridiculous amount of otapa swordtail juvies. Surprisingly, the other fish in the pond have not paid much attention to all the smaller fish swimming around but it seems the swordtail fry have a better survival rate probably due to their size. I had a pair of T. Pasionis in the pond too and they staked out a territory (same place the "aureums" spawned) and I think laid eggs too but I do not think they were successful for their first time spawning. In about another week or two I am going to catch the adults and take some photos and may post them here for comparison if I remember. My fish when smaller looked 100% identical to yours and now have the blue stripes in the fins and tailfin. I still think they are probably Mac's but hope I am wrong as Aureus is really difficult to find. I think the last fish you posted as meeki looks certainly has the curved head shape of T. Maculipinnis and not the straight nose like meeki...curious to see what it turns into.