Which heros species do I have?

[Justice010]

Hey there,

I want to know the name of this heros species I bought a few months back. I have been searching a lot on the internet but there are so many heros pictures out there that I didn't find a conclusive answer.

I am quite bad in making pictures of my fish. Please tell me if you need another picture to identify this species.

I think it's a heros efasciatus rotkeil but I am not sure which parts are key for identification.
I have bought these as a confirmed couple. The fish in the picture is the male.

How many heros species and sub species are there?

I would like to hear any of your opinions.

 

[Icecold Dan]

Looks like Rotkeil to me. Very similar to the ones I have.

 

[Justice010]

Looks like Rotkeil to me. Very similar to the ones I have.

Thanks, just saw your pictures from another thread.

 

[ryansmith83]

Definitely Heros sp. rotkeil. This fish is claimed to be an undescribed species from Peru but some have questioned that because there is still no hard data showing where they occur in the wild. So the validity of whether it's naturally-occurring is still debatable.

There are five or six officially described species, depending on whether or not you agree with Kullander collapsing appendiculatus into efasciatus (I don't necessarily agree with that):

H. efasciatus
H. appendiculatus
H. notatus
H. severus
H. liberifer
H. spurius

There are also tons of regional variants. Some, like sp. rotkeil (if truly naturally-occurring) or sp. Inirida, probably warrant being officially described as their own species. Others may just be geographical variants with slightly different colors and patterns. For instance, there are Heros from Santarem, Manaus, Uatuma, Tapajos, Araguaia, Paraconi, Trombetas, Tocantins, etc. that all have their own physical appearance, but that doesn't necessarily constitute a whole new species.

And then of course there is the mess of Heros in the hobby, which are often farm-bred and could be any mix of things. Any of those Heros mentioned above could have been interbred for decades to come up with the mix of genetics we call "green severum" in the aquarium trade. You also have the xanthic/leucistic gold severums, derived from greens, and the super red spotted which are intensely-colored and supposedly line-bred from golds. Now it appears people are crossing the super reds with all sorts of stuff to come up with unusual looking hybrid fish. As I said, it's a mess.

 

[jonclark96]

ryansmith83 - a bit of topic, but have you heard of h. spurius in the hobby? I've always found the few pictures on the internet to be interesting fish, but never seen them available.

 

[Justice010]

Definitely Heros sp. rotkeil. This fish is claimed to be an undescribed species from Peru but some have questioned that because there is still no hard data showing where they occur in the wild. So the validity of whether it's naturally-occurring is still debatable.

There are five or six officially described species, depending on whether or not you agree with Kullander collapsing appendiculatus into efasciatus (I don't necessarily agree with that):

H. efasciatus
H. appendiculatus
H. notatus
H. severus
H. liberifer
H. spurius

There are also tons of regional variants. Some, like sp. rotkeil (if truly naturally-occurring) or sp. Inirida, probably warrant being officially described as their own species. Others may just be geographical variants with slightly different colors and patterns. For instance, there are Heros from Santarem, Manaus, Uatuma, Tapajos, Araguaia, Paraconi, Trombetas, Tocantins, etc. that all have their own physical appearance, but that doesn't necessarily constitute a whole new species.

And then of course there is the mess of Heros in the hobby, which are often farm-bred and could be any mix of things. Any of those Heros mentioned above could have been interbred for decades to come up with the mix of genetics we call "green severum" in the aquarium trade. You also have the xanthic/leucistic gold severums, derived from greens, and the super red spotted which are intensely-colored and supposedly line-bred from golds. Now it appears people are crossing the super reds with all sorts of stuff to come up with unusual looking hybrid fish. As I said, it's a mess.

Thanks a lot! I was indeed also wondering whether this fish is a wildtype or not.
I tried to find some literature about the heros species but the few things I found are in Spanish/Portugues

are you by any chance involved in research regarding the subject or do you know groups who are?
As a biology student I am particularly interested

 

[ryansmith83]

ryansmith83 - a bit of topic, but have you heard of h. spurius in the hobby? I've always found the few pictures on the internet to be interesting fish, but never seen them available.

They've not been available in the US. Dr. Joerg Albering in Austria collected them in Bolivia and brought them back to Europe about 10 years ago. To my knowledge they are no longer in trade there, either. I don't think any exports are allowed out of Bolivia, at least not to the US, which is one of the reasons we don't see them. Here are a male and female from Dr. Albering's fish:

Thumbnails Summary

Thanks a lot! I was indeed also wondering whether this fish is a wildtype or not.
I tried to find some literature about the heros species but the few things I found are in Spanish/Portugues

are you by any chance involved in research regarding the subject or do you know groups who are?
As a biology student I am particularly interested

I've been keeping and breeding Heros for about 20+ years but I'm only a hobbyist. Peter Dittrich of Germany wrote a comprehensive book about Heros that includes tons of photos, geographical data/maps/catch locations, etc. You can find it here: https://shop.falter.at/detail/9783943592177

It's in German but I'm sure there are apps for that if you don't speak German. Even the pictures alone are a great resource.

There are a handful of Facebook groups for South American cichlids, and Heros in general.