# ID Beautiful Little Dwarf Pikes



## stoxox (Dec 21, 2013)

Saw these at the LFS and decided to make some space for them.. These were shipped from Brazil as Crenicichla regani.. but I'm pretty sure they're not regani.. Found some pix that look pretty much identical to them - labelled Crenicichla aff. notophthalmus "Orinoco"..

Gonna try to post a quick pic.. A male and female... (sorry about the dirty glass)..









Any help would be appreciated..


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## stoxox (Dec 21, 2013)

or maybe they're just notophthalmus? They're only about 1"-1.5" long..

again, sorry about the glass..


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

The good news is that they are definitely some species of Dwarf Pike, which are wonderful fish to work with and watch. I've seen many places selling fish as "Dwarf Pikes" that were not only not Dwarf, they were some of the biggest species in the Genus. They can't be a species with "Orinoco" location if they came from Brazil, as the Orinoco does not flow through that country. It does flow through Columbia and Venezuela. However, your second guess of _Cr. notophthalmus_ may be correct as they do have the necessary characters. The name _regani_ is often applied to any Dwarf Pike that comes into the hobby via commercial sources, as most of them usually are that species. I would grow them up a bit and post a photo over at the CRC forum for ID when they mature some.

There used to be a great site for information about Pikes, belonged to Vin Cutty, who has kept most every species of Pike Cichlid that has entered the hobby, and a few that hadn't been in the hobby until he collected them. Unfortunately, that site appears to be gone except for the entry page, which has links that don't work. Only alternative for good information on this group would be to join cichlidae.com as a paid member so that you can access the full profiles of the species.


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## stoxox (Dec 21, 2013)

Thanks Mr Chromedome,

I'm waiting on the importer to see if we can find out more about location.. Those last pix were kind of embarressing with the glass so dirty and all.. had to get some better ones.. It was all the red in the dorsal fins that caught my eye - couldn't stop thinking about these fish and eventually had to go back there and get them all! - I have no self control.. :? 

























Gonna head over to CRC..

btw, here's a link to Vinny Kutty's site.. This one seems to be working at the moment:
http://www.oocities.org/vinnykutty/index.html


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

Thanks for the link, it seems to be an archive of the old site, which suggests that he isn't doing any updating on it. It does agree with the idea that these are _notophthalmus_ - take good care of them, they have not been common for many years!

If you find yourself with an excess, maybe we can try to figure out a way to get a few across the border into the US! I'd love to have that species, spawned _regani_ many years ago. Wonderful little fish.


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## stoxox (Dec 21, 2013)

thx, yes trying to keep them happy.. was kind of hoping they were an undescribed species.. but notophthalmus is ok too (i'll look for the extended dorsal rays on the males as they mature).. hope they keep all the red too.. and yes, if i end up with excess, i'm sure we can figure something out!


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## joemc (Sep 23, 2012)

Nice find, I don't know much about pikes but have a look at the 'citrus' pike and see if it is a good match


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