P. sp. aff. phoenicurus/aff. tweediei

[David Jones]

Interested by discussions on this forum and the IGL forum on the variants of P. bintan, I decided to order “P. bintan” from Wetspot in Oregon, USA to see what Paro they actually might be. What arrived (1 male 3 females) is something similar, yet distinctly different, from P. bintan. Peter as provisionally ID’d them as P. aff. phoenicurus or P. aff. tweediei with the possibility they could even be P. aff. opallios (each possibility dependent upon the actual source locale of the fish). My request to the staff at WS for any information on the origin of this fish could only be met with the best info being “Southeast Asia”. So the answer does not bring any further clarity to the identification of this variant. These fish are not, at this time, particularly brilliantly colored and are even, in that respect, somewhat subdued. However they are interesting to me as they show what variations of paros are to be found from the wild, albeit without knowing their biotope origin.

These are fairly small/young fish but already the male is displaying. The colors at this time do not seem to match exactly any of the standard, known species. It could be due to the fish being immature, an unusual sport, or possibly, as Peter says, an actual sp. aff. of one of the three known species. A search of the internet for phoenicurus, tweediei, rubrimontis and opallios showed several species/variants close to this fish, but the photo of the fish “P. sp.” in the link provided is a very close match. If I was to guess, I’d say the new fish is a variant of P. tweediei (West Malaysia) due to the somewhat mottled red colors throughout the unpaired fins and other fin patterns and colors, and the fact that WS already has had wild P. nagyi, also from W. Malaysia. But this is just a guess, based on what I can see of patterning of the new fish.

Another two is on order, I hope at least one male arrives which can provide a more clear sample of this interesting variant.

Displaying male 1
[IMG]http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/905/iBCO9P.jpg[/IMG]

Displaying male 2
[IMG]http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/913/wJ5ulZ.jpg[/IMG]

Female showing red colors in unpaired fins
[IMG]http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/661/tJa2nj.jpg[/IMG]

Potential breeding pair
[IMG]http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/540/1WalXA.jpg[/IMG]

Link to similar variant with some slight differences:
http://media.photobucket.com/user/MrTree/media/Labyrinth%20Fish/Parosphromenus/Parosphromenus_sp_male3.jpg.html?

[helene schoubye]

Very interesting fish, – and good photos again.
There are some rather interesting photos of paros in the link you provides as well 🙂 .. I have never seen those before.

[Peter Finke]

These fishes are undoubtedly interesting, but it is not possible to determinate them at present. The information of the the trade (“south-east Asia”) is of no use.

Therefore I want to suggest how to get along: In similar cases – import by the trade without reliable informations on locations and no clear identification as a described species – we have named the fish with the trader’s name and the year. For example: We once had a very nice stock that was imported by a German wholesaler named “Mimbon aquaristics”: it appeared in the German trade in 1998. The fish resembled the species that was later named P. alfredi. But at the time of that import this species was not yet scientifically described (that happened in 2005 only). Today, we are pretty sure that spec. Mimbon 98″ was an alfredi-variant; maybe the true and strict P: alfredi. However, since we did never get any exact information on the location where it had been caught wen cannot be more exact.

So, I suggest that this fish should not been provisionally named “spec. rubrimontis/tweedie/opallios” but “spec. name of the trader and 2015”. Additionally, we shall know that this fish resembles to a certain extent tweediei or phoenicurus or even opallios. But there is no name type “aff. tweedei/phoenicurus/opallios”. This is knowledge but not a type of provisional name.

David, since you informed us about this interesting fish and we cannot be sure that it is a hitherto already described species (I do not think that there could be new species from western Malaysia, but possible from vast Kalimantan and Sumatra) you should tell us the provisional name follwing that type of naming: importer/trader and year (I think: 2015).

Then we wait how the young fish develop. They should be kept separately and bred separately. Maybe a new import delivers more information. If not, we must possibly live with that provisional name for a long time, perhaps forever.

[Stefanie Rick]

Very beautiful fish – even not showing their full colouration now. Very good photos, too. And rather interesting to watch the further development.

[David Jones]

[quote=”Peter Finke” post=4998]
So, I suggest that this fish should not been provisionally named “spec. rubrimontis/tweedie/opallios” but “spec. name of the trader and 2015”. [/quote]

Thank you, Peter, for the suggestion on how to refer to these fish and for the history of the use of that naming convention with the species from Mimbon Aquaristics imported in 1998.

Following your suggestion, these fish should be referred to as Parosphromenus sp. “The Cichlid Exchange” 2015.
Although there is a business association with the retail outlet, Wetspot, The Cichlid Exchange was the importer, housing facility and seller of these fish to me, and therefore, according to the suggested formula, should be part of the provisional name.

Also I received some more paros from the same source, but of a pair of this new variant, the male did not survive the overnight shipping and that was the last of them. So I have one male and at least four females.

Here is part of the new group
[IMG]http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/538/bHdfAE.jpg[/IMG]

And a lovely pair
[IMG]http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/673/6dWwrn.jpg[/IMG]

[David Jones]

With the further process of finding an appropriate way to refer to this fish, it has been decided to give it the provisional name of P. spec. “TCE 2015”. The “TCE” portion of the name refers to and is an acronym for “The Cichlid Exchange” (the importer) followed by “2015” (the year of import ). We use the acronym of the sake of ease. Because this thread was started with what is now seen to be an inadequate title/name for the fish (P. sp. aff. phoenicurus/aff. tweediei), it will be closed out, and all further posts, comments and photos will be posted to a new thread P. spec. “TCE 2015”. Please post any further comments to that new thread, keeping in mind that although no further posts will be enabled here, this current thread will still be available for viewing reference.

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