Vieja, but which species?

[Midas]

I have a friend who picked this fish up from someone who was baby-sitting it (for 3 yrs) and who had decided to sell it.

Looks like it is some kind of Vieja, but which species I am not sure. Any Ideas?

[Midas]

A shot of the head:

[josh_shilling]

fenestratum , 100% sure. NICE find.

[chc]

Originally posted by josh_shilling
fenestratum , 100% sure. NICE find.

Indeed! Great fish!

[Midas]

Thanks guys, much apprieciated

Fenestratum was also the best match I could come up with, but the pics I found didn't convince me 100%. You don't see very many of these here in NZ, makes it an even better find.

[chc]

Congratulations! I didn't originally see you were from New Zealand (beautiful country by the way).

That fish would be a fantastic specimen anywhere, but I know you guys down there have some tight import restrictions.

Love to see more pix!

[Midas]

Cheers, we are even having some decent warm weather at the moment too which makes it all the better.

Yeah it can be a bit tricky getting some fish in. Although I think from the sounds of it Australia is worse than us for most cichlids. The advantage we have over them is that we don't have anywhere where the water is warm enough for them to become established in the wild, so the authorites are a bit more relaxed. Cold tolerant species are another story though. Our native fish are mostly fairly small so it doesn't take much to eat them. Even Gambusia are classed as noxious because they kill the native fish, and they are tiny.

Just as well they aren't too tight on cichlids, as otherwise we would be stuffed for selection. There isn't enough of a fish keeping population base here for there to really be self sustaining breeding population in home aquaria, so we are quite reliant on imports. Australia probably has a better chance of sustaining populations of fish that are no longer allowable imports, as there are alot more fish keepers there.

I do have some pics in the gallery of my own fish, nothing too spectacular though.