Cichlid ID confirmation please?

[franckd]

One retailer I know has just received those. He sent me the photos with WhatsApp (because his shop is 10 hours by car from where I live) but he didn't reply when I asked him what kind of cichlids they were. I tend to think they're Blue Acaras. But I am not sure. And If so, I am afraid they are short body/balloon fishes (I really dislike short bodies and balloon fishes). Some of them seem to be less short body than others, but here again, I need your point of view. Last question : if they're shot/ballons fishes, can they breed and have "normal" fry, or will the fry be short body/balloon too?

Sorry for my poor English (I am French) but any answer will be welcome. Thanks.

 

[MacZ]

Balloon variant of the German Blue Ram (Microgeophagus ramirezi). Definitely not normal bodied and definitely no Blue Acaras.

 

[franckd]

Balloon variant of the German Blue Ram (Microgeophagus ramirezi). Definitely not normal bodied and definitely no Blue Acaras.

Thank you very much! I am looking for Blue Acara, but it is very, very difficult to find them where I live.

 

[MacZ]

Blue Acara are generally hard to get in local fishstores in Europe. Here in Germany I haven't seen any in stores for years, only online vendors seem to have them.

 

[franckd]

You're right about the Blue Acaras, the only ones I have seen in stores (when I travel in France) are the electric blue morph. Even Indonesian fish farms I am in contact with, don't have the regular ones in their stock list. They just breed the EB ones. And they tend to breed more and more short body/balloon ones (that I really dislike)

Actually I am French, and I live in Africa continent (Morocco) and we don't have much choices here. We have so little choice in fish stores, that I travel across all the country, to go to shops with species I am looking for. We unfortunately have no online store for tropical fishes in this country. And I can't import here, or bring fishes from outside countries when I travel outside Morocco, as the customs are highly complicated and expensive.

The good things is that here, where I live, it's a true paradise for hardscape. I go to the mountains, and near the rivers I can find amazing driftwood and nice rocks.

EDIT some photos :

 

[TClare]

My situation (in Ecuador) is like yours in many ways. Limited availability of species, despite the proximity to the Amazon. Sometimes interesting fish come in to local shops but only briefly and unpredictably, often wrongly labelled. I can order from other cities (also very limited), but the only time I did that I got the wrong cichlids! On the other hand our tap water comes from a pristine mountain stream and is untreated with any chemicals, a river flowing out of a protected cloud forest borders our land so I can get as much clean sand and rocks as I want and I already have more pieces of driftwood than I can use (saved up for the next project...). I also strongly dislike balloon fish and have only seen electric blue acaras for sale, not the wild type.

 

[franckd]

My situation (in Ecuador) is like yours in many ways. Limited availability of species, despite the proximity to the Amazon. Sometimes interesting fish come in to local shops but only briefly and unpredictably, often wrongly labelled. I can order from other cities (also very limited), but the only time I did that I got the wrong cichlids! On the other hand our tap water comes from a pristine mountain stream and is untreated with any chemicals, a river flowing out of a protected cloud forest borders our land so I can get as much clean sand and rocks as I want and I already have more pieces of driftwood than I can use (saved up for the next project...). I also strongly dislike balloon fish and have only seen electric blue acaras for sale, not the wild type.

I relate with all you say. Except for the water here : it's not very good, and we also have a drought problem, especially in the area were I live. You're luckier than. me ;-)

But everything else is the same. Sometimes some retailers don't even know the name of the fish they sell. I bought a tiny puffer fish once. It was not bigger than a pea puffer. I had no idea what it was, and the seller too. I asked him for 3 weeks to contact the farm where he bought it to have the species name. (It was a Fahaka Puffer)

When shops receive rare species, it can go both ways : no one wants to buy them because they're not familiar with the fish. Or they sell them in a few days, because of the rarity. Now I don't hesitate to take the road, and to go 10 hours from home just to buy fishes I want. Because I know it might take years, before I see a specific fish again. To give you an exemple, we have in my town around 6 or 7 stores. 5 years ago, in of of them, I bought 3 Arlequin Rasboras (the shop had only 3). It took 5 years before I could find more here, in the city where I live. Now I have 26 of them, but that's an other story.

 

[demetredanio]

You're right about the Blue Acaras, the only ones I have seen in stores (when I travel in France) are the electric blue morph. Even Indonesian fish farms I am in contact with, don't have the regular ones in their stock list. They just breed the EB ones. And they tend to breed more and more short body/balloon ones (that I really dislike)

Actually I am French, and I live in Africa continent (Morocco) and we don't have much choices here. We have so little choice in fish stores, that I travel across all the country, to go to shops with species I am looking for. We unfortunately have no online store for tropical fishes in this country. And I can't import here, or bring fishes from outside countries when I travel outside Morocco, as the customs are highly complicated and expensive.

The good things is that here, where I live, it's a true paradise for hardscape. I go to the mountains, and near the rivers I can find amazing driftwood and nice rocks.

EDIT some photos :
View attachment 791019
View attachment 791020

that driftwood is AMAZING!!!

 

[franckd]

that driftwood is AMAZING!!!

I am very very lucky. Just like TClare I have more driftwood than I can use right now. I collect them when I go for a walk with friends. Friends know how crazy I am about driftwood, so they even collect some for me. I have so many different type of shapes, size, ... But everything has a price : here we have no choice when it's about fish species.