"LARGEMOUTH HAP"...P. ORTHOSTOMA...A. AENEOCOLOR..

[SGypsyMermaid]

and now for a little more victorian confusion...

i won an auction for two colonies of victoria basin fish that were sold under the names "lake edward largemouth haps", and "haplochromis aeneocolor". the seller didn't have any pictures, so i had to do some research. in the course of my research, i discovered that these two fish were both sometimes referred to as 'largemouths'.

i found that the h. aenocolor's most current designation is astatotilapia aeneocolor and that there is/was a lake victoria population and a lake albert population.

i identified the "lake edward largemouth haps" as pyxichromis orthostoma, and until just recently, i believed that the fish are/were found in lake edward. however, greenwood indicates that they were found in lake salisbury. various other sources indicate lakes edward, kiyoga, and nawampassa.

i originally believed that there were only two fish in the pyxichromis genus, but greenwood indicates that in addition to p. orthostoma and p. paraorthostoma, that a third species which superficially resembled p. orthostoma was caught in lake victoria. i wonder if that was the same fish that is listed in barron's as pyxichromis sp. gold large mouth(not to be confused with 'harpagochromis "golden duck"'), but barron's indicates that the gold large mouth is found in lakes nawampasa and kiyoga...

pics of p. orthostoma:

http://cichlidae.netliberte.org/CICHLIDS/photo/pyxi_orthostoma_male_parade2.jpg
http://perso.club-internet.fr/burnel/Victo/pyxi.jpg
http://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/Endangered/haploo.jpg

pics of a. aeneocolor:

http://perso.club-internet.fr/burnel/Victo/Aaeneocolor.JPG
http://cichlidae.netliberte.org/CICHLIDS/photo/YellowBelly2.jpg (l. albert)
http://cichlidae.netliberte.org/CICHLIDS/photo/astato_aeneocolor.jpg

and now i'm really confused--i don't know if the fish that i'd identified are in fact p. orthostoma, or just an aeneocolor variant, or something else--curiouser and curiouser... :confused:

[Sean]

When Michael Oliver, who has the site The Cichlid Fishes Of Lake Malawi, he wrote me this e-mail about Greenwoods frustration with the whole situation.

"Incidentally, I looked at a bit of your site and when I saw Astatotilapia
aeneocolor, it jogged a memory. As you may know, aeneocolor meens brass- colored. Before he published the description and scientific name, Humphry Greenwood used his own informal names to keep track of this and the many other new finds in and around Victoria, Edward, and Kivu. He loved all the fish, but was understandably frustrated by so many new forms to sort out and describe, and the consternation sometimes showed through his informal names. This one, he called "Haplochromis brassy bastard." Another one (not sure which) was similar but distinct, and was "H. para-brassy bastard"!" :lol:

So you have to figure if Greenwood gets frustrated figuring this all out at the lake, than hobbyists should be duelly frustrated by Lake Victoria Basin Cichlids.

So for all you that have used many terms for your cichlids you are not alone.

[SGypsyMermaid]

This one, he called "Haplochromis brassy bastard." Another one (not sure which) was similar but distinct, and was "H. para-brassy bastard"!" :lol:

.

:rofl:

[samak]

Hello, H.orthostoma is a piscivorous prédator from Kyoga and Salisbury lakes and he 's not reported from Edward lake. he becomes 17 cm long. H.aenneocolor comes from Edward and Georges lakes, he lives in the open water and belongs to the insectivorous trophic group.
Friendly Christophe