# Amatitlania "Rio Choluteca" Orange dorsal



## chrispyweld (Dec 20, 2005)

Anyone else have these little guys??

I have four of them and I have to say that so far I am not impressed with them at all. They seem to have even less color then normal cons. My male has markings more like a sajica with he T-bar type marking instead of a cons stripes and the females are nothing worth mentioning. They have very little orange on the body where a normal con would and when in breeding dress (though they have not bred just gone through the motions) the lower half turns solid black and the top half almost white so no color is visible at all. And I have seen no orange on their fins to speak of.

Mine are still pretty small in the 1-2in range I'm wondering if they are going to get any better looking?


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

I just got rid of mine, they were to slow growing for someone with as little patients as myself, I much prefer normal LFS convicts to them.


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## jamesman_1994 (Jun 23, 2009)

well i have some cons and the female is the one with the orange in the dorsal..... i have a very indavidual male..... he has a hump on his forhead. simular to that of a midas but not as large but they r still a very bland coloured fish. that is y i am getting rid of mine. but my brother likes them so i am giving them to him. they cost next to nothing and r very agresive so if u have more expensive fish in the tank i suggest that u remove them


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## chrispyweld (Dec 20, 2005)

This is a "new" variation and not a regular con. They stay smaller maxing out at around three inches according to the importer. I am just not that impressed with their color and think the name is little misleading.

They are in their own tank I was planing on getting some breeding going but they seem pretty lame.


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## dogofwar (Apr 5, 2004)

I have a couple of pairs and enjoy them quite a bit.

I've found that the males max out at about 3" and the females stay quite a bit smaller and develop some nice orange coloration.

They are what they are. Mother Nature made "convicts" that live in Rio Choluteca the way they are because they're perfectly suited to that habitat. Which is interesting enough for me to devote tank space to them


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## jgentry (Jul 3, 2008)

As stated they stay small. The females take some time to develope the orange on the fin. Mine turn pretty much jet black when breeding. They are a pretty cool little fish in my opinion. Much more suited for someone that wants a pair of fish in a 10-20g tank then regular cons. Plus they have a ton of attitude.


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

In order for me to keep them I would want to buy a large pair, because in the 6+ months I owned them they grew maybe 0.5cm, at 50% water changes weekly, which is not near fast enough for me, I don't have that kind of patients.


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## chrispyweld (Dec 20, 2005)

The smaller size is great since they are only in a 29g and maybe being moved down to a 20 Long.

If they get more colorful with time I will keep them around. IME standard cons are about as colorful as they get when small and it seems to fade away from there so I was concerned that this is as good as it gets. I got them for my daughters tank, orange is her favorite color. She just keeps asking me where it is. :-?

They do have that great con personality! :thumb:

I have been unable to find any pics of them online other then the pic of Ken's in the net. Do any of you have the a good pic of adult coloration?


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## dogofwar (Apr 5, 2004)

That's really unusually slow growth. I have offspring of my original pair that have grown from egg to 2+" in 6 months! Maybe you have all females? They stay smaller.

I need to have someone take some good pics of them (and my other "wild convicts")...



gage said:


> In order for me to keep them I would want to buy a large pair, because in the 6+ months I owned them they grew maybe 0.5cm, at 50% water changes weekly, which is not near fast enough for me, I don't have that kind of patients.


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## chrispyweld (Dec 20, 2005)

Well I woke up this morning with eggs in one of the pots. Not too surprising they have been going through the motions for a week or so. The female is about a inch and though her cave is in the back left corner of the tank she will go after anything anywhere in the tank. Even the male is hidden in a pirate skull and wont come out for food. She is a feisty little thing to say the least. :lol:

I will keep the other two females in the tank as long as I can. The mother is the least attractive of the bunch so if I can get him to pair with another female after this batch I would be happy.

I'll try and post some pics when the eggs hatch.


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## LittleFrog (Jun 28, 2006)

I have a pair of Amatitlania Nigrofasciatus "Rio Choluteca" from Spencer, if that's the same as the Amatitlania "Rio Choluteca" Orange dorsal that you guys have, my experience is the opposite. My female is about 2 inches long and has a bright orange dorsal with a tinge of blue at the top edge and bright blue and yellow on her lower fins. She also has orange on her belly, though not as much right now as when she's breeding. I find her quite attractive, and even the male is quite nice at about 2.5 inches. He's already got a bit of a hump and some nice trailing fins with a hint of blue in them.


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

dogofwar said:


> That's really unusually slow growth. I have offspring of my original pair that have grown from egg to 2+" in 6 months! Maybe you have all females? They stay smaller.
> 
> I need to have someone take some good pics of them (and my other "wild convicts")...
> 
> ...


should they not have had the orange bellies and fins already though?


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## chrispyweld (Dec 20, 2005)

I got these from Ken so I assume they are the real deal. 
They are not yet 2in though by any means, maybe the male.

The eggs hatched and she is guarding them between one of the pots and a plant so I can't see them. Soon enough I assume they will be out and about though.


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## dogofwar (Apr 5, 2004)

"should they not have had the orange bellies and fins already though?"

The females should, at least orange near the dorsal. Mine do


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## chrispyweld (Dec 20, 2005)

I just started to see some orange on one of the females. Two vertical stripes in the dorsal fin. Hopefully the others will develop this too and it will fill in a little more. I'm gonna say they are about one inch and the male an inch and a half.

Mama's still tending the wigglers and dad is defending the territory well. Should see some swimmers in the next couple days.


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

dogofwar said:


> "should they not have had the orange bellies and fins already though?"
> 
> The females should, at least orange near the dorsal. Mine do


none of mine had any orange...


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## LittleFrog (Jun 28, 2006)

I haven't been able to get a decent picture of mine yet, little buggers never stay still, lol, and they just spawned yesterday. If you go to this link though, and scroll down to the third post, mine look exactly like the male and female pictured.


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## chrispyweld (Dec 20, 2005)

What link????


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## LittleFrog (Jun 28, 2006)

Woops, that'll teach me to post before I'm fully awake, lol. Here's the link: http://www.cichlidae.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5678&sid=5d5f5f3ff2bfa0a42f5e07d1e1d08eb2


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## chrispyweld (Dec 20, 2005)

Thanks. I will give them more time. I got them from Ken so I assume they will come around. At least I hope so.


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## chrispyweld (Dec 20, 2005)

So as of this morning I got swimmers. It amazes me how territorial these are at such a small size. Even though they are 1 and _maybe_ 2in they have the other two up in the far corner of the tank. They are as far apart as possible and it is still not enough room.

It appeared that the male was getting ready to spawn with another female about two days ago. Now that the fry are swimmers that looks to be a lost cause. I'll try to post some pics when I find the charger for my brand new camera. :roll:


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