# tis this a pink congo???



## RedCichlids (May 18, 2010)

the place i got it from said it is a pink congo but online i cant find any info or pix of it. any have info on it?


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

A pink convict.


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## RedCichlids (May 18, 2010)

****. i dont want a convict. wut does a congo look like?


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

I have never heard of a cichlid called a "congo".


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## bernie comeau (Feb 19, 2007)

RedCichlids said:


> the place i got it from said it is a pink congo but online i cant find any info or pix of it. any have info on it?


Pink Congo is an old common name for a 'pink" convict.Many fish books I had when I was kid called it a pink congo, though I must say I have never actually heard anyone refer to it as that, and can't recall ever seeing them labelled this way in a pet shop. The pink strain was already available in the late 60's and I beleive the strain was first called this to make it sound African and more desireable.


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## Chromedome52 (Jul 25, 2009)

The old 19th edition of Innes says that it was sometimes known commercially as a "Kongo" Cichlid - note the spelling. I seem to remember the name coming from native usage somewhere in Central America, but cannot recall the details, and a google search turns up nothing. It was dropped in favor of Convict because of the confusion caused by the name (duh!).


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Named after a type of monkey commonly found along the river where convicts were first found/exported.


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## bernie comeau (Feb 19, 2007)

Googled "Congo monkey" and "Kongo monkey" but have failed to find anything that refers to monkeys of Central America. Not too sure what the connection would be between a common name of the convict cichlid and Central American monkeys.

When I was a young kid I seen fish books, that were as old as 1930''s and 1940's. The public library had some ancient ones as well as a freind of mine had some that had been his dad's from when his dad was much younger. The only common names I have ever seen for the regular striped convict, in these old books, were zebra cichlid and convict cichlid. Could have been called "Kongo" as well, but not in any book I have ever seen.

I Know for a fact that the 'pink' convict was quite often called pink congo, in books published in the 1960's and 1970's as I had quite a few of these books myself (originally purchased by my older brother) and also took them out of the public library. Spelling was Pink Congo, with a C.


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## Chromedome52 (Jul 25, 2009)

Bernie, The 19th Edition of Innes' Exotic Aquarium Fishes spells it Kongo. This edition was last published in 1966. The "yellow book" started many young aquarists on the true path of fish keeping! It was cheaper than similar TFH books, and had better information, as it was still being updated after Dr. Innes had passed away.

A native term in an undetermined foreign language is not likely to pop up on Google, or any other search engine for that matter. Especially one that hasn't been widely used in 40 years! :wink:


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## bernie comeau (Feb 19, 2007)

Chromedome52 said:


> Bernie, The 19th Edition of Innes' Exotic Aquarium Fishes spells it Kongo. This edition was last published in 1966. The "yellow book" started many young aquarists on the true path of fish keeping! It was cheaper than similar TFH books, and had better information, as it was still being updated after Dr. Innes had passed away.
> 
> A native term in an undetermined foreign language is not likely to pop up on Google, or any other search engine for that matter. Especially one that hasn't been widely used in 40 years! :wink:


Could be. Nevertheless it's only the 'pink' strain that was ever popularily called "pink" congo as NUMEROUS books refferred to it as that. spelled with a C. Like I mentioned previously. old fish books called the regular striped form either zebra cichlid or convict cichlid.

And yes thinking about it, I now recall a few people at the local aquarium society, which I belonged to in the late 1970's, calling the 'pink' strain of convict, pink congos. Thought it was a silly name at the time, for what were nothing more then plain old convicts.


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