carpandy

I'm new to cichlids and twice I've bought fish from Petsmart and they sold me the wrong fish. They sold me what they told me was a Black Convict but after researching on the internet, it appears it is not a Black Convict. It looks more like a Jaguar (large mouth, & similar body shape) but the colors & spot patterns don't really match the jaguar pictures I've seen.

It's basically gold with a lot of black and brown spots & splotches. It's about 3 inches long. I found a picture of the fish I bought on the internet at
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/12317...52550715sGUahk
but there is no fish name on the picture.

Incidentally, I also bought a Firemouth cichlid from the same pet store and when I got it home and did some research, I found it was actually a Black Convict.

A few weeks before I bought what I thought was a Jack Dempsy only to find out it was an Oscar.

God, I'm a sucker, or maybe not. The Oscar was twice as expensive as the JD but I got it at the JD price - I returned it anyway because my tank is too small for an oscar.

Thanks to anyone who can identify the fish at the url listed above.

Andy

Dino

Looks like a baby managuenses cichlid.

They get over a foot in length and are very aggressive.

They are also known as jaugar cichlids.

carpandy

You confirmed my suspicions. It is very aggressive and protective of it's cave but so far it hasn't hurt any of the other fish. It just get's into stare down matches with the Convict and chases it around sometimes.

Thanks for the quick reply.

Dino

Your most welcome.

Allie

That's what I was going to say. Yup they get huge and scary.

Butterfly

If your LFS is so bad at identifying the fish they have it might be helpful if you took a small hand book on fish(such as Simon and Schusters hand book of freshwater fish) to the LFS with you.Then you can look up what your looking at and see if that is what it really is and then decide whether you want it or not, this will also help you know whether you can provide their needs before you buy it.
carol

COBettaCouple

welcome to fishlore.. it's sad that the fish stores rarely know the fish.