Silver Saum?

[Tango374]

Pic of adult silver saum...not true GT.

 

[Nova 8]

And another Silver Saum,

True GT's are a myth.

 

[sauroid]

i'm still confused. so the silver/silbersaum is the true green terror Aequidens rivulatus? how come the gold saum still has no definite taxonomic/specific status yet? i even read somewhere that the genus Aequidens is not valid and would be updated sooner or later...

 

[Headrush]

True GT's are a myth.

As I understand it there are 3 fish called GT's:
True Rivulatus
Gold Saum
Silver Saum

try telling the guy selling "True GT's" in the buy n sell they're a myth

 

[Tango374]

No True GT's are not a myth and silver saums are not true GT's.

 

[Nova 8]

GT is just a common name so it can be applied to any number of fish, I can call my Oscar a GT and not be wrong. GT commonly refers to A. rivulatus, Gold Saum and Silver Saum. All of which are true GTs, remember common names can apply to any fish. If you where to say A. rivulatus then you would be refering to one fish and no other fish would be involved in the dicussion. But since GT refers mainly to three you cannot say true GT as they are all true, they all exist, A. rivulatus just came first into the hobby in the US. Also remember that just cause over there in America you got A. rivulatus first doesn't mean the rest of the world did.
Besides I think A. rivulatus don't look as good as the two saums.

 

[Nova 8]

As I understand it there are 3 fish called GT's:
True Rivulatus
Gold Saum
Silver Saum

try telling the guy selling "True GT's" in the buy n sell they're a myth

I'm sure the guys selling "true GTs" would also add in A. rivulatus as GT can refer to all three. True GT is commonly accepted as A. rivulatus but if I was buying a "True" GT I would be looking for the scientific name not the common name as then you could easily get swindled and not have a legal leg to stand on. True GT is just like any other common name, it is local knowledge, don't expect everyone to know what you are talking about.

 

[Acestro]

True GTs are actually not A. rivulatus. A. rivualtus is a FOURTH species on that list.

see this thread: http://www.cichlidae.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2854

That's where I learned the difference. But the state of current scientific names for Aequidens makes common names almost (or just) as useful. "true" GT just refers to what was sold in the 70s and 80s here before the saums. However... brace yourself... the scientific name for "true GTs" is A. "silversaum". But it's not the silver saum being shown above. In fact, I've seen the term "true silversaum" thrown around.

Craziness, I know. But they're all cool fish. Rarity makes some animals more valuable. I do, however, like these true GTs because they have such a variety of colors and dont have the black spots of the saums. A. rivulatus is very rarely imported and is more similar to True GTs than saums...

someday Kullander or some other systematist will save the day.... or maybe make it more confusing. :lol:

 

[Acestro]

That's because they're the same fish. Heh. So essentially, the fish J. Rapps was calling the "true" Aequidens rivulatus should have actually been called the "true" green terror, as a different fish back in 1859 was given the Aequidens rivulatus name, but the people importing the "true" green terrors in the 70's thought they had Aequidens rivulatus, when they actually had an undescribed sp. that Alf calls "Aequidens" spec. "silbersaum".

Taxonomy for the "Aequidens" family is effed and I'm no taxonomist, this is just what I've picked up since buying some of Tom's F1 "true" terrors. The whole family needs to be revised.

that may be the best, most succinct explanation I've seen!



really rough list (and know that there's other "Aequidens" out there...)

A. rivulatus = fish that has never been imported in any numbers
A. "silbersaum" = "True" green terror imported in 70s and 80s (and then 2004 and 2006 by Rapps)
A. "gold saum"? = gold saum
A. "???" = silver saum that looks otherwise identical to gold saum

The silver saum may be a gold saum 'morph', but I've seen no one explain it clearly as it's own species or a morph of golds. I've heard both are found in Hawaii (dang invasive species).

 

[Acestro]

worth mentioning that a fellow named ESPMike (not sure if that's his 'handle' here) is now selling F2s from my stock.

I may try to breed some F1s as well. Sadly, I've not yet heard of anyone else breeding these (they're awfully horny if you can get them together).