Is this a Firemouth?

[min]

Hi, I thought this was a Firemouth but my brother isn't so sure. He has bright blue scales, almost orange fins when riled and blue flecks and lines in them although its not obvious in these pictures. He laso has the same blue around his eyes and on his mouth. He isn't red or pink anywhere. Certainly he doesn't look like any pictures I have found. There is also a much smaller female but she was camera shy! I would say the bigger fish is about 4 inches long and he is growing fast almost like he is finding Miracle Gro to eat, smaller one is much slower growing. They are diggers and very entertaining to watch, they also seem to watch me! Its like something out of Finding Nemo in my tank.

Thanks muchlies!

Min

[min]

Sorry, link didn't work, hope this pic does!!

[jonah]

It might be Throichthys azureus, a relative of fire mouth. A side picture would be better. They look similar.

[min]

Thanks :o) Here's another picture. When I get a background on my tank I'll get a better colour interpretation as you cant see just how blue he is or the fin colours. The smaller female is almost white but goes darker and her vertical stripes can be very clear but she isn't as blue. I have had him a little over a month and he has almost double his size, when he first came he was slightly smaller than the Krib I have. The fish shop said he would max at 6 inches but I'm not so sure now.

[Poet8102]

That is certainly not a firemouth. If I am correct, it is a Blue Acara. They do max out at around 6-8" so you don't have to worry about it getting bigger than that. They are pretty cool fish. Have fun with them.

[GoatPervertor]

Ditto, thats no firemouth.

[min]

Thanks guys. I am relatively new to fish keeping but my brother and father have been doing it for years. My Cichlids are in a community tank and seem really friendly.There is also a Krib in there that killed two males of her own species but is nice and calm now she is alone. I looked at pictures of Blue Acara's before. My fish has an almost golden colour along the bottom and gold fins with a blue stripe topped by an almost bright red on the dorsal. The fins by their gills have a bright blue stripe. I would describe the blue as sky blue. I so wish I could get a better picture! When I was first looking my mother was convinced they were young Firemouths but I thought the colour and shape were way off from pictures.

I love em anyway, they are great characters in the tank.

Thanks again :o)

[min]

Bigger of the two...........

[min]

Smaller of the two....

[RedParrotBubbles85]

those arent blue acaras. blue acaras have a very different shape then that fish.

[Poet8102]

Yeah, I realized that after I saw the other pics. I don't know what they are though.

[RedParrotBubbles85]

the top one may be a firmouth but a very young one and it has no color on its throat yet

[jonah]

I'm sticking with my Thor. azureus guess. If I can find a usb cord I'll load a couple of pictures of mine.

[jonah]

Male azureus.

[jonah]

Female azureus.

[bevoman]

Jonah,
Looks like you nailed it!
"Hook em"

[jonah]

They're probably the second or third most popular Thorichthys species available after T. meeki and T. ellioti.

Boomer Sooner

[min]

Thanks Jonah, looks like my fish! Have to say though the little one of mine doesn't have the pointed dorsal yours shows, is that just because she is young? No stripe yet either although the bigger one has that.

IF they were young Firemouths, when would the red appear then? There isn't any sign of any colour aside from blue and the gold colour (very pretty shiny gold too).........

[jonah]

The stripe seems to come and go, the female is about 3" long (7.5cm?). The pointed dorsal fins usually comes with age as long as nobody is pecking at them. The male actually has a long streamer at the end of his caudal fin.

Your fish also might be T. ellioti. They look pretty similar to azureus.

[min]

Yes he does have the streamer and its more pronounced now than it was. I was looking again at mine and she is 5cms at the most, really small. She isn't as shy as the male either and swims around on full view. The male tends to stay behind the plants. He reminds me of a KitKat advert in the UK where things always happen when you aren't looking. I only got the pictures yesterday because he hadn't seen me, a split second later and he went back into hiding again. Shame really as he is so beautiful.

[Jason_S]

not sure if this will help, but here are a couple pics of my, what I believe to be, Thorichthys maculipinnis (formerly ellioti).

http://www.fishprofiles.net/files/~jason_r_s/maculipinnis.jpg

and

http://gallery.consumerreview.com/webcrossing/images/04-07-04Thorichthysmaculipinnis.jpg

the throat area is a very dark orange and there are purplish blue irridescent spots all over the body. I was going to say your fish was T. maculipinnis until Jonah posted the pic of T. azureus. Haven't seen pics of them before and I will say your pics look more like his than mine.

Jason

[min]

I think mine look much more like your first picture than Jonah's now I have seen them. My male has a deep orange underside and what was blue is more a lilac/blueish colour as he gets bigger. The smaller one is gradually getting more colourful. I assume its the female. Where the bigger one has pointed tips, almost streamer, on his dorsal and points on his tail the smaller one doesn't have either.

They are easily the favourite fish I have in my tank and although I wonder now if they should have been in a community tank they do actually co exist very well with everything in it. My Krib swims with them most of the time and all three spend large amounts of time seeming to watch whats going on in the room outside the tank (can they see out or do they see a reflection?). I did my usual daily head count a couple of weeks ago and was one neon tetra down which I had expected as it was looking a bit tired but I didn't realise the Krib would drag it around eating it after it had died! She cleans up better than my snail does.

Thanks for the pictures :o)

Minj