# Cichlid ID help?



## Sizuper (Oct 4, 2017)

Hi All,

I've got a few more cichlids that are giving me a tough time with identification. Hoping the experts here will recognize them.A couple I think I have right, a couple I have no idea.

Here is the first one. Have no idea what this one is and can't find any that resemble it in the online galleries:










The next two might just be color variations of Blue Tilapia, but I caught a half dozen in the same body of water and they were all very typical Blue Tilapia stripes/markings, and didn't look like these two.


















This one I am pretty sure is a Jack Dempsey, but the head & mouth don't give me confidence in the ID:










This one I am thinking is a hybrid between a Texas Cichlid and a Spotted Sunfish, but maybe it's just one of the Texas species?










And finally, another assumed hybrid, this one a Bluegill x Texas Cichlid. It has the stripes and operculum of a bluegill, but the head bump, the thick stripe on the forehead, the mouth and the pelvic fin all look like cichlid.


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

First two are different types of "Tilapia", there are several species and hybrids raised as food fish and gone feral in Florida. Third is a Dempsey, that body shape is classic. Last two appear to be _Lepomis punctatus_, Spotted Sunfish, native to FL. FYI, A Sunfish and a Cichlid cannot hybridize, the chromosomes are too incompatible.


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## Sizuper (Oct 4, 2017)

Mr Chromedome said:


> First two are different types of "Tilapia", there are several species and hybrids raised as food fish and gone feral in Florida. Third is a Dempsey, that body shape is classic. Last two appear to be _Lepomis punctatus_, Spotted Sunfish, native to FL. FYI, A Sunfish and a Cichlid cannot hybridize, the chromosomes are too incompatible.


Thanks! That last part is especially good to know for ID purposes going forward.


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## Sizuper (Oct 4, 2017)

How about that first one? Some sort of tilapia hybrid, too? Never seen that sort of single, thick, horizontal chartreuse stripe down the side (plus both sides had that big, light pink spot and fringe above the anal fin.

The more I look at the 2nd one, the more I think that it's a hybrid between blue tilapia and banded tilapia (which have both been documented in that pond).


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

First one is also a tilapia. Probably a commercial hybrid.

could be T. zillii but I would expect a redder belly.


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## Sizuper (Oct 4, 2017)

Narwhal72 said:


> First one is also a tilapia. Probably a commercial hybrid.
> 
> could be T. zillii but I would expect a redder belly.


Thanks Narwhal!


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