What species are these geo

[anewbie]

@Wills or any other expert can you identify what species of fish these geo are:

They were sold to me as xxx (dont' want to bias your evaluation); but i don't believe they are xxx. I believe they are mostly yyy and zzz (again trying to not bias your evaluation). I looked carefully at pictures on seriouslyfish but there are sample variation which makes it very painful. I also read this paper:
https/www.gbif.org/species/119600283

(which might bias your opinion). It seems very difficult to find true experts.

 

[GaryE]

They look like Geophagus dicrozoster to me. The small black line is the thing that makes me think that.

Do they all have the marking? It's a species identifier, and you wouldn't be the first to get winemilleri (different cheek stripe) too. it isn't clear on some fish in the photo.

 

[AquaBarb]

Yes with the black stripe on the gill plate id go with Dicrozoster too. Geos are difficult to distinguish between the species tbf

 

[Ichthys]

I see a spotty tail and a stripey tail, so there’s at least two species there. I’m not a Geo expert so I would only be guessing at which ones.

 

[anewbie]

Both winemilleri and dicrozoster have mark on the gill plate; however dicrozoster have 7 vertical stripes and winemilleri 4. I believe there are 3 species in that bag of 7 fishes. 1 or 2 of them do not have gill mark meaning they are likely abalios or G. brokopondo;

This is the paper i've been looking at but not sure if it is accurate - that is if the black stress mark are uniform per species or if there is variations.

In my photograph if you look at 3rd picture furthers to the right has no cheek mark. Again i'm not sure if that is a reliable marker.

The fish next to the one above has a 'Y' shape after the black spot (moving towards the tail) which doesnt' seem to show up in the paper i mentioned. Different species; variation in marking; hybrid ?

Geophagus winemilleri

Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Free and Open Access to Biodiversity Data.

www.gbif.org

 

[Wills]

I'm glad you've mentioned they could be a mix of species as thats what I was thinking, stripes vs spots in the tails is a often a good guide and the black chin strap in combination can help you work out the rest but all 4 look like a different species... could they be hybrids?

Wills

 

[anewbie]

I'm glad you've mentioned they could be a mix of species as thats what I was thinking, stripes vs spots in the tails is a often a good guide and the black chin strap in combination can help you work out the rest but all 4 look like a different species... could they be hybrids?

Wills

They could be but if we trust the importer they were wild caught. I know that several geo naturally occur together but i don't know if hybrids naturally occur with these species. What i don't know is how exact the marking are on each species or if there are naturally occurring variations in the marking.