# neon jewel



## nifferty (Jun 11, 2012)

hi guys , 
just registered . so *** just moved from keeping a standard community tank with all the usual suspects in it to deciding on keeping cichlids . 
i went for the humble firemouth of which i have four juvaniles . my folks came a visit and brought me a pair of neon jewel cichlids on the advise of the shop they would be fine together . to be fair there are no problems the neon jewels are breeding they do keep the firemouths and bristlenose and syno cats away from there little territory but other than that they are ok . info on neon jewels is poor and conflicting to say the least *** found info saying they are american info saying african info saying super aggresive info saying aggressive only when breeding . 
any of you guys willing to share any of your knowlege /experiences with them would be much appreciated .

thanks 
nicky


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## CjCichlid (Sep 14, 2005)

By "Neon Jewel" I'm guessing you are talking about whats often refereed to as a Blood Red Jewel cichlid (Hemichromis lifalili). They are an African riverine cichlid I believe... Here is a link to a profile sheet: http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/hemichromis-lifalili/


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## bernie comeau (Feb 19, 2007)

A neon jewel is what is often also called Hemichromis sp. 'neon'. http://www.oceanoblu.com/stocklist/scheda/339/hemichromis-sp-neon The look can vary somewhat from the pic of this juvie, but basically this type of jewel has signicantly more blue spots (iridiosphores) then the common, regular jewel. It is not known where this jewel originates from but it is generally thought to be a line bred aqaurium strain from Asian breeders, and not an undescribed species that originates from the wild, as the name Hemichromis sp. 'neon' would imply. This name would be just another common name for this strain. It maybe a line bred strain of the common jewel, Hemichromis guttatus, or it may have been produced by cross breeding various Hemichromis species. Neon jewels are commonly available at an LFS, including the big box stores.

Most jewels sold as Hemichromis lifalili are in fact, just a colorfull strain of the common jewel, H. guttatus. In a lot of literature and on the internet, you will often find the common jewel refferred to as H. bimaculatus. But the real H. bimaculatus, however, is suposedely extremely rare in the hobby.

And yes, jewel cichlids are west African cichlids. What size of tank are they in with the firemouths?


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## Azedenkae (Apr 19, 2012)

As above.

Neon jewels really are just a type of red forest jewel. They are african, but are substrate-layers like central americans hence are commonly confused as americans.


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## nifferty (Jun 11, 2012)

Hi they are in a 50gallon tank


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