KIMNTRACEY Posted June 22, 2008 Report Share Posted June 22, 2008 Had 3 of these but only two left, looks like I've got one of each, believe this one is the male as it is much more spectacular in both size, colour and shape. This is my first fish photo as I just got a new canon camera that has a aquarium setting and it's very easy to take photos. I have cropped it and formatted it to decrease the size of the file. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmxican Posted June 22, 2008 Report Share Posted June 22, 2008 Nice fish!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozarowana Posted June 22, 2008 Report Share Posted June 22, 2008 Just letting you know that there's no evidence that G. dicrozoster are in the country. Your fish is highly likely a G. abalios. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIMNTRACEY Posted June 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2008 the guy I bought them from (who had bred them) said that he was the only person in Australia to have them, but that was just over a year ago and was hoping some more had made it into the country. He's not showing his stripes in this photo, but he definetly has a Y on the 4th and 5th band, and so does the smaller one. My local aquarium store believes he heard some were bought into the country 3 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
japes Posted June 22, 2008 Report Share Posted June 22, 2008 Didn't Pet City have a couple of G. dicrozoster for a while (and probably still do)? I took special notice because one of them had a cloudy or fungus covered eye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozarowana Posted June 23, 2008 Report Share Posted June 23, 2008 As lots of people would know, many geo's are sold/labelled as one thing which turn out to be another. Your fish is too short/high bodied to be a dicro. Do your fish show a black mark on the gill area? The fish with the bad eye at PC were not G. dicrozoster but G. abalios. http://www.geocities.com/eartheatersoz/dicrozoster.html If they do not have all the characteristics they are not dicro's. Dicro's are larvophilous as well and you will find that your fish will be immediate brooders. Any chance of talking to the breeder about this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIMNTRACEY Posted June 24, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2008 Hey Thanks for totally confusing me I've looked at so many websites and so many different types of geophagus now. I met the breeder on this website a couple of years ago, picked up 2 x ghost knife fish from him, he had an amazing setup in his garage at Mt Omnanney, but I don't remember his name or address. The other fish I've got from the same fry, is half the size and has a different shape which is more elongated. Which is why I beleive I've got one of each sex. My local aquarium guy says that it doesn't matter that they are from the same fry when it comes to breeding, but they don't show any signs of trying, we've got a few rocks there that other ciclids have used for laying eggs etc. They are so shy and timid it's hard to get a photo as they are always hiding. When looking at photos of abalios on the web, they don't seem to have any resemblance to mine in colour or shape. I'll try and get a photo of the other one on the weekend, see if I can solve the mystery? :whoa: Thanks for your input, hope you will continue to assist to veryify the correct type of geophagus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moses Posted June 24, 2008 Report Share Posted June 24, 2008 http://www.aceforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=9607&hl=dicrozosterThis may not help much, but the original dicrozosters I sold at between $55-85ea at 6-8cm. The abalios originals I sold at between $85-$125ea at 8-10cm. http://www.aceforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=8632&hl=abalios http://www.aceforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=11875&hl=abalios Sooty got some dicro's in back in 2004. A guy called Brett/discus lover01 in SA was selling dicro fry last year for $15ea Here's a link to his adult breeders. not of the small guys no as the pics turned out shit here is links to the adults picshttp://s114.photobucket.com/albums/n252/buzz01_2006/SAE/?action=view¤t=dicrozosterspair1.jpg http://s114.photobucket.com/albums/n252/buzz01_2006/SAE/?action=view¤t=dicrozosterspair.jpg http://s114.photobucket.com/albums/n252/buzz01_2006/SAE/?action=view¤t=dicrozoster2.jpg http://s114.photobucket.com/albums/n252/buzz01_2006/SAE/?action=view¤t=dicrozosters.jpg Hope that helps a little Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozarowana Posted June 25, 2008 Report Share Posted June 25, 2008 Mods might be good to move these replies to kimntracey's thread in the photo section? Geo identification is very confusing even for people who are into them. I remember when I first got interested everything looked the same. Would the breeder have been Envirofish (Rick), biggish guy? I always thought be had G. brachybranchus but never did see his fish. You should be ok to breed them together, that's if they are male and female. The fish in the pic you put up looks to be a bit stunted or have you altered the pic in some way? Do post up more pics of your fish. Everyone should remember that just because someone has called them one thing doesn't mean that they are. The fish that were long being sold as G. cf. altifrons "Aripuana II" were not even an altifrons. They were larvophilous whereas all altifrons are immediate brooders among other wrong characteristics. Thanks to a few geo hobbyist in aus these fish are/should now be known as G. sp. "Rio Branco". Brett/discus lover01's fish were not G. dicrozoster they looked like G. brachybranchus. I know Brett believed they were dicro's but they look nothing like a dicro. A lot of guys told him this but he still sold them as dicro's... and so the cycle continues. http://www.eartheaters.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1800 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
japes Posted June 25, 2008 Report Share Posted June 25, 2008 Have merged the threads as it will last longer in this section and I'm interested to read where this is going as I'm an Eartheater fan. For sale thread still exists but it's only the original post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIMNTRACEY Posted June 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2008 Went to Pet City on the weekend and they still had 2 x juvenile dicrozosta, (surely they'd have to get it right) As cute as these buggers are they are very camera shy and after about 200 photos I only got a couple that aren't too distorted or out of focus. If I wait until they stop and pose for me, they will be too old to breed. After looking at so many photos of them I now believe the larger one to be female, only because it has a big belly, and the smaller one is more streamlined. I'm open to professional advise, and even more open to find out what they are. What ever they are I like them and want more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozarowana Posted July 2, 2008 Report Share Posted July 2, 2008 From your recent pics they look like G. brachybranchus. The lateral barring and shape is wrong for an abalios. Can you answer for us: 1. Do they get the black mark on the lower gill area? 2. Do they get a black throat area? I have spoken to a wholesaler that says PetCity (and probably all stores) don't change names of fish they get in to sell. So basically they will sell them as what they get them as... even if it's wrong. One example would be Corydoras julii which are infact really C. trilineatus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIMNTRACEY Posted July 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2008 Hi, Thanks for the reply. We have never noticed any black marks around the gill or throat area. My first photo was taken when we had the fish in an aquarium outside and the bands were quite pronounced. The 4th band from the head is shorter and heads on an angle towards the 5th band. I might of assumed it was a Y, after reading about them and convincing myself they were dicrozoster. Since we have moved the fish ito our aquarium inside the house, the bands are hardly ever seen. Also the shape of them, as you have noticed is quite different, they are much curvier and not as flat on the bottom as the other geophagus photos. Geophagus = "Perch" like and yet our fish look more "Bream" like. It could also be the fact that my husband overfeed them as he likes his fish "big and fat". Do you know how to sex these fish? I don't remember the name of the breeder but he was a slightly biggish feller. I didn't think he had a commercial name, he was just a private seller. He did put us onto a chinese guy named DAN who lives at Kingston and I'd hate to pay his water and electrical bills. He had an awesome setup and imports a lot of fish and frogs from China. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozarowana Posted July 3, 2008 Report Share Posted July 3, 2008 Did the guy you get them from have a darkish complexion? I'm pretty sure it would have been Rick his nickname on the forums was Envirofish and he wasn't a business. Am I right in saying you didn't buy them as G. dicrozoster, but as something else and thought they may have been dicros due to their barring pattern? In the pic does the arrow shows a slightly darker mark? What's throwing me off at the moment is the number of bars they are showing, although I've been told there is a lot of variation in G. brachybranchus here. How many bars do they usually show? I'm about 99% sure they are G. brachybranchus, usually sold as red horseface and wrongly sold as G. surinamensis. Easiest way of sexing is when they drop their breeding tubes. Females have a blunt tube and the males a pointy one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIMNTRACEY Posted July 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2008 Hi ozarowana, Well now we know where the throat is yes , it is black. The guy I bought them from did have a dark complexion, and before I bought these fish, I've never even heard of geophagus let alone dicrozosta, so I wrote it down when I bought them. He also told me that he was the only person in Australia to have them. I have only just started to learn more about them, as I'd love to breed them, we've become quite attached to these fish. My husband has had fish for 40 odd years and these two fish are now his favourites (except for his goldfish) We've been checking them out all week and it looks like 4 bars is it. Thank you for identifying them for me, please note, the heading is now changed. Ok , so now we know what we have, where can we find some more?????????????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
japes Posted July 5, 2008 Report Share Posted July 5, 2008 Nice work guys, have updated the title to reflect the advancement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
