# my cutteri



## hydrophyte (Dec 16, 2009)

Hi All, I am a new member here. I haven't really kept so many cichlids--most of my aquarium-keeping has involved livebearers and planted tanks--but I am becoming more and more intersted in them.

I have shot of one of my fish that I got just the other night. I had this guy in a rather dingy growout tank for a while, but he has gotten to be pretty handsome so I decided to get him into a real display tank.

His colors are still rather washed out, but they should deepen as the plants grow up and throw some more shade.

I acquired this fish as _Archocentrus cutteri_. Does anybody know what the correct miniker is? I seem to remember hearing that _Archocentrus_ and similar groups were recently revised, and that _cutteri_ is not really a valid species. I would like to know better if anybody has an idea of the correct name(?).

Oh, whoops, I see that I must have five posts before including image links. I will work on some additional posts. Cheers


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## hydrophyte (Dec 16, 2009)

Here he is...


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## hydrophyte (Dec 16, 2009)

Whoops, double-post.


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## mlancaster (Jul 24, 2009)

You cutteri looks great. Do you have him a mate? Well assuming he is a male, I have not kept cutteri but thought he looked like a male comapring to cons.

Welcome to the forum and thanks for the pic.

Thanks,
Matt


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## hydrophyte (Dec 16, 2009)

He is a male. He had paired with another individual, who laid eggs a few times, but then they failed to get along as they grew larger so I split them up.

Thanks for the welcome!


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Cutteri used to be considered a regional variant of Spilurus, but are now considered a full species once again. And yes, they have been moved about somewhat and are now currently considered _Cryptoheros._ Cutteri is generally used for the 'common name' as well.


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## MonteSS (Dec 8, 2008)

Welcome. Nice Cutti

I saw your amazing tanks on the other board and they are inspirational.

...Bill


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## hydrophyte (Dec 16, 2009)

Thanks, so it's _Cryptoheros cutteri_. I am pleased to know the real name.

Hey MonteSS which other forums are you on?


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## MonteSS (Dec 8, 2008)

MFK.

...Bill


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Well, they are _Cryptoheros _now ... but someone is finally working on the whole convict group (_Amatitlania, Archocentrus, Cryptoheros_) I believe as their doctoral thesis. So it is subject to change once again.

And for your apistos, maybe *Dutch Dude* or *Apistomaster* might comment on them over here in the SA folder. While I am sure they are hongsloi, I am not the best when it comes to apistos.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

dwarfpike said:


> Cutteri used to be considered a regional variant of Spilurus, but are now considered a full species once again. And yes, they have been moved about somewhat and are now currently considered _Cryptoheros._ Cutteri is generally used for the 'common name' as well.


You need serious help.....


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## Dark_Magic (Dec 22, 2009)

nice fish


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## Dark_Magic (Dec 22, 2009)

nice fish


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## CiChLiD LoVeR128 (Mar 22, 2006)

Wow beautiful male Cutteri! I love Cutteri! They are great fish!


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

TheFishGuy said:


> You need serious help.....


... or beer. :thumb:


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

MMnnnn... Beer....

Very nice male cutteri by the way. I'm going with archocentrus by the way...


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Yes, the greatest part of having the holidays in Canada is stronger beer!! :thumb:

And you liar, you are going with _Cichlasoma_ and you know it!!! :lol:


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## illy-d (Nov 6, 2005)

dwarfpike said:


> Yes, the greatest part of having the holidays in Canada is stronger beer!! :thumb:


If your going to be in BC be sure to visit a BC Liqour Store (The government run ones) and check out some of the beers available from the various micro-brews (or visit the brew pubs directly).

Some of my personal favourites include the offerings from Phillips, Dead Frog, Granville Island, Central City, Russels, and Tree (but only their 'Thirsty Beaver').


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Talking with the higher ups... saying cichlasom is not 'wrong'.......


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

*illy-d* - It's all about the Kilkenny when I am up here though, as they won't import it to the states.

*TFG* - Yes, I saw that thread. They also said _Heros_ would be 'more' accurate.


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## hydrophyte (Dec 16, 2009)

Well whatever I'll just go with _Cryptoheros_ for now it sounds good enough for me.

He is just a real attractive fish anyway.

My cutteri has a much nicer shape than any of the "Honduran red point" whatever-they-are that I also have.










We drink plenty of beer for Christmas and the whole rest of the year too here in Wisconsin.

With my first swipe I actually wrote "Honduran red *pint*". That sounds like some kind of beer, don't you think? But I suppose it would be a watery Central American beer.


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## hydrophyte (Dec 16, 2009)

Here is a shot from last night.










Now that he feels more at home his colors have deepened. I removed the Honduran red points. For a couple of days after taking those fish out the cutteri was reclusive, but now he is back out swimming around in the open again.

Here is the view down through the top of the tank.










The plants are growing in well. You can still see the edges of the trellis rafts, but I have been pruning and training the plants to cover them up more quickly.

The plants are nice cover for the cutteri. He goes back underneath to retire from time to time.


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## hydrophyte (Dec 16, 2009)

Here's aquick update form this tank where I have the cutteri. I don't much care for the tannish-yellow wall as a background for picture-taking--it looks OK in real life--so I hung up a wrinkled bedsheet just to get an idea of how it would look with white.










This image is a montage made with a shot at slower shutter speed, which I used to cut and paste the underwater area. This corrected for my camera's tendency to overemphasize glare and shadow.

The fish are all doing great. It took some trial and error, but I am happy with the stocking combination that I have in there now. I didn't like the red points so much, so I moved them. I had been asking around small, mellow Tanganyikans, such as _Paracyprichromis_, but opted instead for a group of five _Ilyodon furcidens_ (Goodeidae) as fish to swimm around in the middle and upper areas of the tank. I really like these fish a lot.


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## MonteSS (Dec 8, 2008)

Looks great. I assume the plants will fill in even more?

..Bill


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## hydrophyte (Dec 16, 2009)

Thanks very much. The plants will grow in some more, but I don't want them to get so big that they start shading the underwater area. I can trip the stem plants to control their size. I'll also have to eventually remove the _Cyrtosperma johnstonii_ (a really cool plant) because it will eventually grow too large.

When viewed from our couch the underwater area and the fish are more prominent, which is how I wanted the display. However, if you walk up to the tank you get a better view of the emersed plants. Here is a shot down inside.










I am trying to grow the plants up somewhat bigger so that they will cover the trellis rafts. In this picture you can see parts of the foam raft in front of the _Lipia nodiflora_, (another cool plant), the darker green plant on the right just to the left of the swordplant.


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## hydrophyte (Dec 16, 2009)

I haven't been back to this thread in a while. I have a quick photo update for this 50-gallon tank. It has come a long way.


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## Boston_Guapote (Jun 2, 2003)

Very nice Cutteri. One of my faves.


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## CiChLiD LoVeR128 (Mar 22, 2006)

Very beautiful tank and fish! I love Cutteri! Very fun fish! I also love Goodeids! Very nice furcidens! Cool setup! Good luck!


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## hydrophyte (Dec 16, 2009)

Thanks very much. I like these fish in this tank too very much. I love goodeids--maybe they are my favorite kind of fish--but I don't have much of a collection because I have found them to be so demanding. You really have to feed them a lot to get them to grow up big and attractive and breed very well.

Here's another view of the planting in the tank.


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## justin3p0 (Apr 5, 2010)

speaking of beer tailgating at noter dame is always a great time! To bad they dont do a whole lot of winning....

anyways i have always wanted a tank to have that kind of look can you please tell me what kind of plants those are and where i may find them???

great tank by the way


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## hydrophyte (Dec 16, 2009)

There is a forum all about ripariums over at AquaticPlantEnthusiasts.com. You can find lots of suggestions for plant selection over there. Here is the link...

http://www.aquaticplantenthusiasts.com/ripariums/


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