Pelvicachromis sacrimontis

[Fruitbat]

Here's the male of my new pair of Pelvicachromis sacrimontis. This fish is VERY similar to the typical 'kribensis' (Pelvicachromis pulcher) but the red coloration on the males of this type extends through the throat and onto the lower jaw, which is not typical of the 'kribensis'.

-Joe

 

[dss2004]

Beautiful fish. Defintely has more color than the standard krib.

 

[depthC]

Beatiful fish. Much more colorful than the standard pulcher. Is it your intent to breed your pair?

Andrew

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Agreed. Awesome.

 

[Fruitbat]

Thanks for the comments!

depthC....

I definitely plan to breed the pair. They've already picked out a cave and are doing some displaying to each other. The female is nearly as colorful as the male but lacks the red on the majority of the body (she does have a belly that's the same color red as the male).

-Joe

 

[knifefishfreack]

nice the read is very colerful

 

[Orion]

Very beutiful fish.

Good luck with them.

 

[wayne]

Isn't this just a red colour morph of P. pulcher that wasn't accepted as a new species. They look exactly the same as the extra red colour morphs Mary Bailey in the UK bred and distributed. Nice fish though

 

[Fruitbat]

Wayne...

Though I haven't found the article yet, it is my understanding that this fish has now been 'officially' described as Pelvicachromis sacrimontis. It is also called the 'Giant Kribensis' because adults can reach the behemoth size (for a Pelvicachromis) of 6 inches. For quite some time it languished in taxonomic hades as Pelvicachromis sp.aff. pulcher.

-Joe

 

[wayne]

Joe

I had a sniff around although I'm no expert on W Africans. Sacrimontis isn't accepted as a separate species scientifically though it probably should be - it's a larger fish with a different habitat to common pulchers. Loiselle accepted and published the name to early.
The red colour is not distinctive, nor always there - there is a yellow version. The turqoise face stripe is distinctive though.
Anton Lamboj has just released the first good book on W African cichlids for a long time. I may well buy a copy of that. In the meantime I'll email an expert I know