# Geophagus ID help, please!



## parrot1974 (Jun 8, 2014)

Can anyone please help ID these 8-9cm long Geos? I am presuming they're Geos, they were sold as Altifrons, but they're not. Main points are - at least 6 (if not 7 vertical stress-bars. one and two form a y, third contains small spot (very faint), four and five form a y. Can't tell if the last one on the caudal peduncle covers all or just top half. Thin edge of red on top of dorsal fin and top of caudal fin, dark red splodge on bottom of caudal fin and four clear orange-red vertical bars (not spotted at all) on the caudal fin. Pelvic fins are orange with no markings other than white edge. No pre-opercular marks. Background is silver-gold wth lateral green-blue spotting that goes two-thirds of the way up the body. I wondered about G. dicrozoster but they don't have the pre-opercular mark at all and the caudal fins are clearly and consistently marked, not variable at all. Iris is black. Any help appreciated!


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## apmorgan93 (Jan 29, 2013)

Using those pictures its hard to tell. However this thread has some wonderful pictures to help tell the differences between them.

http://www.theokaa.org/vb40/showthread. ... us-abalios


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

From the caudal pattern, I would say those are all still juveniles. Bear in mind that _Geophagus altifrons_ gets up to 30cm, so your fish would still be quite young. Many species have similar juvenile patterns, and are only distinguishable as adults (this is mentioned in the thread that *apmorgan93* linked, as well). As juveniles, all species can show stress bars, but even adult _altifrons_ will show the stress bars occasionally. The complete absence of a lateral spot, however, AFAIK is unique to _altifrons_. The fish look really nice; I would simply wait for them to mature and show their adult coloration.


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

They are still too young to really tell but they are going to fall into the G. altifrons group (G. altifrons, G. abalios, G. megasema). Most likely will be G. altifrons as they are the most common.

andy


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## papasmurf (May 21, 2003)

Small spot = Altifrons or Neambi. I am betting they are probably Abalios as they seem to be the most common and are usually sold under the "surinamensis" tag.


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