Russ, they are very likely phoenicurus, the male exhibits all of the species’ chracteristics.
But I want to defend the cautious style of our census. With fish from the trade we can nearly never be sure of their true identiy. The trade has often proved the suspicion that they are unwilling or unable to give correct informations on the licorice gouramies in their tanks (“deissneri”). But this begins with the sources in Asia. This was one of the very few cases that we experienced the first import ever of a newly descrpted species bearing the right name.