# What type of Cichlid?



## Frosty (Aug 16, 2012)

Anyone know what type of Cichlid this is?
Had him a couple years ago and am keen to get another.
Cheers.


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## Revell13 (Aug 16, 2012)

Nice looking fish mate, sorry I dont know what type of Cichlid it is though.


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## Twitch_80 (Aug 16, 2012)

Looks like a flowerhorn

Generally they have red eyes and the lump on their head should develop a lot more but being young its not unusual to be small. They are often a lot brighter but that has the patterns and colours. Being a hybrid cichlid there is a fair amount of variation.


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## criss_cross (Aug 16, 2012)

looks like a flowerhorn cichlid without the developed horn yet


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## Frosty (Aug 16, 2012)

Thats what my mate said. Flowerhorn, he was a cranky bugger.


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## Twitch_80 (Aug 16, 2012)

lol

a cranky cichlid, never!!


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## Frosty (Aug 16, 2012)

The bump was getting bigger. Was maybe 3 year old in that pic.
Was 15 cm or so long and fearly chunky.
Keen to get another the same or similar.


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## Twitch_80 (Aug 16, 2012)

If you were closer I could help..


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## Frosty (Aug 16, 2012)

Bugger. You mite put me onto someone up this way .


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## fishbot (Aug 16, 2012)

Blackbelt Cichlid.


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## Tsubakai (Aug 16, 2012)

There's a massive variation in flowerhorns, some don't develop the kok (head hump) that the 'breed' is famous for. Some have various intensities of colour. Even within the one generation of offspring there can be big differences in colour and body type. Really high-quality males can easily sell for $500 and upwards. 

The fish in your photo doesn't look like a flowerhorn in the tail end but I'm not much good with cichlid ID's. Good luck with your search. I'm sure you'll have better luck than me at finding a quality fish. I'm going to have to get one shipped up to me I think as the only ones around my area are very low quality fish.


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## GhamMagsBaird89 (Aug 16, 2012)

Hate to argue with everyone here but im 200% sure from looking at that picture that is a Veija synspillum. As i used to breed these guys before i got into herping (oh and a massive red devil was introduced and Evicted everyone (all suicided out of tank) but the look of the "kok" on this one i would be guessing female but if it has developed more it would be a male. Only way i would say this guy would be a flowerhorn would be of very low quality or as flowerhorns are a hybrid consisiting of Many of the Veija Species it could have been a Flowerhorn then rebred back with a Veija. Very argro Fish only good recomendations to put in with these guys are Veija Fenestratus as they both go alright but the can Cross breed leading to the first step to breeding a flowerhorn Hope this is of help
Btw you would be looking at about $100+ depending on how nice his pattern is Ect as pictures never do fish justice


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## brown.snake (Aug 16, 2012)

Redhead Cichlid - Vieja Synspila (Cichlasoma synspilum)


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## Twitch_80 (Aug 16, 2012)

Really doesnt look like a blackbelt, sorry.

Tsubakai you might be right (I know your know your stuff) but what do you mean by the tail? The shape is there, the patches are there it just has an odd patch of colour (not unusual with hybrids).

Its quite possible someone has bred a flowerhorn with an oscar by the colour and lack of kok.

Im still sticking with my first guess though lol

Oh bang brown snake, you might have me there..


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## Pinoy (Aug 16, 2012)

Brown.snakes on it! It's definitiely a synspilum. Not a bad one too. 

I wouldn't say a fen as they normally don't have yellow through the bodies. 
Mainly blue and red. 


Just to clarify, flowerhorns aren't the only cochlids that develop nuchal humps.
Also, not all hybrids are flowerhorns...


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## Twitch_80 (Aug 16, 2012)

Pinoy knows a fair bit more than me, I would go with his thoughts.

Just out of curiosity whats a cochlid?


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## Scleropages (Aug 16, 2012)

Veija synspillum I would say ,it looks nothing like a flowerhorn. If it IS a flowerhorn it would have 90% synspillum at least in it somewhere.


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## brown.snake (Aug 16, 2012)

i have kept this species before also known as the quetzel cichlid, redhead cichlid or firehead cichlid

these fish were used to create the flowerhorn as well as several other species


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## Pinoy (Aug 16, 2012)

Twitch_80 said:


> Pinoy knows a fair bit more than me, I would go with his thoughts.
> 
> Just out of curiosity whats a cochlid?



A cochlid is a fish that comes from using an iPhone as the letters are too damn small and the "o" and "i" are too close together 


And for anyone interested, this is what a flowerhorn looks like






Breeding a coastal with a jungle doesn't automatically make the offspring jags.
And breeding any central american cichlids together doesn't make flowerhorns.


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## Tsubakai (Aug 17, 2012)

The American cichlids have never really been my thing until recently so I'm not much good at id'ing them. The only synspilium's I've seen in the flesh have been enormously obese so this doesn't look like what I associate with that name but now that others have pointed it out I could go with that.

The reason I thought the back half wasn't like most FH's was mainly that there was too much orange (not a colour I've seen in many FH) and the 'flowers' (black dots) are too low on the body. The thing with FH's as others have said is that they are a hybrid. So even taking a classic FH and crossing back to a pure stock fish will still produce FHs, they will just not then look like a classic FH. If people think cross breeding is confusing in reptiles, its only 0.1% of the mess that's been made of some fish lines. However, market forces dictate that if a fish is pretty or unusual enough it will be in demand so hybrids are extremely popular fish in some places.


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## Goppy78 (Aug 17, 2012)

From the pic, would have to go with a pure Redhead as it doesn't have the massive lump or sunken eyes of a Kamfa Flowerhorn (which is a trad Flowerhorn x Vieja).


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## Pinoy (Aug 17, 2012)

Kamfa is not that simple. 

There are no typical traits of a flowerhorn as they come in a million different types/strains with each of them having individual traits that set them apart. There is only one central american that even resembles the flowerhorns of today and that is a good quality trimac. Sure the flowerhorn itself was developed using a number of central american species but they no longer resemble them. Again, not all hybrids are flowerhorns. 

The fish the OP posted looks as a synspilum should and nothing more. 

If that's not enough, maybe try a fish forum or even post it in the fish thread here. I'm sure you'll get the same answer there


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## Umbral (Aug 17, 2012)

It's a keel back!


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