# Andinoacara - Green Terror Complex



## myster619 (Jan 29, 2014)

Apparently there are different species of this green terror type. Which one is which?

Andinoacara blombergi 
Andinoacara rivulatus 
Andinoacara stalsbergi
Andinoacara aequinoctialis
White Saum
Gold Saum

Can we settle the differences once and for all? Pictures and sources will be preferred when discussing.

What species are they and what is the difference?


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

The confusion comes from decades of misidentification, disagreements as to where fish originated, and miscommunication. In recent years things have been relatively settled, but the old incorrect information is everywhere, and it will never be completely removed. Discussions on the ID of the Green Terrors have occurred here before, but it has been a few years, and I'm not sure the more recent name corrections have been discussed.

Those photos are both _Andinoacara rivulatus_, according to current classification, also known as White and Gold Saums. They are color morphs of the same species, I believe the Gold is the dominant gene as I have seen Whites come from spawns of two Golds. Some were calling it _A. aequinoctialis_ for a while, but that name is considered a synonym for _rivulatus_. It is the most common species of the Green Terror group found in the hobby. It is somewhat ironic that this fish turned out to be the real _rivulatus_.

The original "Green Terror", _A. stalsbergi_, is also known as the Silver/Silber Saum, which is found primarily in Peru. It has a dark body with iridescent spots, basically the reverse pattern to these fish. Confusion about where the original importation came from caused a great deal of trouble on ID, and it was mistakenly thought to be the "true" _rivulatus_ for many years. There are a number of pictures around, but I don't have one myself. I do not like to borrow/steal other people's intellectual property, so I will not post one.

_A. blombergi_ is a recently described species, which is from a remote region of Ecuador. It more closely resembles _stalsbergi_, but is geographically isolated from the range of that species. May not even be in the hobby; if anyone has them, they aren't talking. When Alf Stalsberg first found it in the Rio Esmereldas he believed it to be the true _rivulatus_, but others have shown that it was, in fact, another unknown species, which has now been described. His photos are the only ones I've seen of this fish.

So, at the moment there are three species of Green Terrors, one of which has two color morphs. Should any more show up, I'm sure they will be welcomed. Personally, I'd be happy to see _A. blombergi_, but it is from a region that I believe is only rarely collected, and not commercially.


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## myster619 (Jan 29, 2014)

Yea I thought the same two different color morphs of the same species. But then the acara king Alf Stalsberg says DNA test proves that they are two different species.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=205134&start=30


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

Yes, *four years ago* Alf thought that the Gold Saum was _aequinoctialis_. However, if you read down the thread, you will note that he mentions that the Gold Saum species also has white edged fish (which some mistakenly called "Silversaum" in the thread rather than "White Saum"). Both color forms occur in the wild together in a few locations. The Rio Esmereldas species, which he thought was _rivulatus_, is the one described as _blombergi_ in 2012. Add to these two species the one named for him, _A. stalsbergi_, and you have the three different species, each with distinct DNA, which could only tell us that there were three distinct species, not what the species were. The latter two have a different body color pattern and the fin borders are much narrower than the Gold Saum, and are quite different looking than the White Saum form of _rivulatus_.

Information in a four year old thread is no longer valid. That's what I meant when I said there's a lot of old information out there that is out of date.


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## cprings (Sep 10, 2003)

In a couple years this thread will be out of date as well  Seems like the classification species and genus changes every few years for the Green Terror, Gold Saum, and Silver Saum. Either way, it will always be one of my favorites. Great info Mr Chromedome!


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