Bought as deissneri… But it’s red…

[Christian Hidalgo]

So the title basically sums it up. I bought a “pair” of Parosphromenus “deissneri”, after two weeks I could tell they were 2 females (or maybe males/females of another species). Last week during my first photo session, I noticed the “deissneri female”, who is about 2cm (3/4 inch), was colouring red. So, asking on a dutch forum with 2 or 3 paro keepers they told me to come to this forum. The possoble options they gave me were: anjunganensis, phoenicurus and sumatranus. Searching on the internet I thought of these options: opallius or rubrimontis male, or filamentosus female.
What do you think?
(These photographs aren’t really good, my phone’s got problems with it’s auto focus… However, the coloration on the photographs is pretty accurate)

[helene schoubye]

🙂 Its completely impossible to say much about the excact species or variation, – but one thing is sure, its not deissneri.

They resemble a little my phoenicurus or tweediei females, but it will take a male to really know for sure. I would say there may be a chance one of these could actually be male, and just not showing it yet.
Perhaps the fish are young and still maturing.

So lets wait a little and then try to make more photos.

[Christian Hidalgo]

Almost 4 months later, here I am again. For a while, I was sure it was a P. anjunganensis, but yesterday, I saw a second fluorescent ring on the tail.
Does anybody know what it could be?
I want to put this fish in a bigger tank with at least a pair of it’s kind, but I don’t want hybrids. Again, excuse me for the poor quality photos.

[Peter Finke]

Obviously, from time to time I must tell a serious word to some of our new members.

There are structural markers and distinctions of colours that permit to distinguish between Paro-species und -variants. Additionally, there are differences in behaviour, say courtship head down or head up, or else.The most easily to detect marker is whether the fish has a rounded tail fin or a tail formed in another a way. But this is by far not sufficient. There are many species/variants with rounded fins, as bintan or alfredi or anjunganensis for instance. Another rather clearly to distinguish marker ist the length of the ventral filaments. But again, this is not sufficient. In the case of the two slim-bodied species (parvulus and ornaticauda) we have that structural marker, too. But in all the others you need colours, too.

So, in many cases we need colour markers, in addition to structural markers. If the animals are too young, one is unable to say the species. With female fish it is the same, apart from a few clear cases. Even in species mit non-rounded tails in males we have often rounded tails in females (e.g. deissneri).In all other cases, you need g o o d photographs to say anything reliable. Look at the photos in the Finke/Hallmann-book on Paroshromenus and you will see what that does mean. Here, in the forums of the PP, we sometimes had good photos, either; among our members are some (very few!) good photographers. But most photos we see here are simply too bad to say anything of value. It is difficult to shoot good Paro-photos, but without them we are stirring in the dark.

The only thing one can say with your photos here is that your fish is certainly not deissneri and cetainly not anjunganensis. If you want to hear more, you must deliver very good, big, sharp, clear photos. Better, you deliver the source of your fish additionally. Most Paros in the tanks of our members are from the trade. There are big differences in the continents and countries, the companies and shops concerning trading Paros. The best advice is to buy your fish from a good breeder personally. If you will come to our second Hamburg meeting this September, then you can obtain offspring of many rightly determined species. I know that this is often impossible. But then you will come across all sorts of nonsense names.

There is no alternative: At least, you must deliver photos of best quality. Otherwise you cannot hope for a precise answer but suspicions only that name at least four or six species; if the variants should be included still many more.

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