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Help me ID this fish

667 Views 6 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  Sierra255
I was given this fish after he outgrew his 10gal tank, he is in a 30 gal and doing fine now but I am wondering how big he will get, I was told a blue tilapia cichlid. he eats and loves cichlid pellets and does fine with lemon tetras and corydoras. he digs caves in the substrate and hangs out in them. he is currently around 7" anyone have any ideas??


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I don't believe it's a tilapia of any kind, but it does look like it will get big. My guess is that it will get at least a foot long and a lot bulkier. I would say it will need at least a 120 gallon aquarium. I don't know what fish this is, though. I'm just going on my gut feeling when looking at the pictures. It has a big head, big mouth and large tail fin. Those are signs that say to me that it will be a large fish.
Very handsome fellow.
Reminds me of a bass without the grumpy face.

-Stef*
He looks like he is probably some sort of haplochromine lineage cichlid, most of whom get aggressive enough to cause problems in most communities even if they don't attain to large sizes. Specifically, he looks very much like a Victorian cichlid hybrid of some sort (several vics have the black body and red fin edges this fish has), in which case he is unlikely to grow much larger (the largest Haplochomine Vics I am aware of stop at about 8 inches). Could you get a side view of the fish so we can check if he (most likely a he judging from the color) has eggspots? By the way, my second guess is one of the Barumbi Mbo cichlids, but these are sparse in the hobby and are less likely. He's certainly not a traditional tilapia, and the genuine blue tilapia is a much thicker-bodied, less colorful fish.
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He's cool at least a minimum of 50g for that guy
here is a pic of him when he is not so dark. he turns dark after a waterchange/during feeding/when I walk by the tank etc. probably the most friendly and intelligent fish I have ever owned. he gathers up all his pellets and deposits them in his cave until he is ready to eat them or until they are soft I don't know what he is exactly doing. he doesn't disturb vegetation in the tank unless it is in his cave's area. he also doesn't eat the ottos nor the lemon tetras that share his tank.
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From that angle it almost looks like a young Jack Dempsey, but the mouth, tail and markings are wrong for a JD. I'm still stumped.
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