Which Kuhli species

[mikev]

I've been looking through a large knot of new Kuhlis at a store today. They are quite obviously a mix of several species. Any idea of which species are the animals pointed by the arrows in the photos below?



The front one seems to be a nice P.Myersi, but it is the 2nd animal that I wonder about. There are a few like this, with bright lemon color (incorrectly shown on the photo).

A similar animal also appears here:



Just for the fun of it, here is a larger part of the knot:

[loachmom]

I can't help you with identification, but I've never, ever seen that many kuhlis together!

Thanks! It's nice to see such a healthy looking group.

[mikev]

I spent more than an hour watching the knot....despite a bad feeling that with more than twenty of them already in the house I should not be looking at more...

Yes, they do seem healthy, this is already unusual.

[chefkeith]

Great pic. Get the whole tank of them. That's what I'd probably do.

[loachmom]

Great pic. Get the whole tank of them. That's what I'd probably do.

At least get the big one on the rock in the last photo! What's one more?

[Oldfish]

Great looking bunch but I feel sorry for the store clerk who has to catch the "ONE" you want

[loachmom]

Great looking bunch but I feel sorry for the store clerk who has to catch the "ONE" you want

Yes, I wonder if it would even be possible in such a large group.

It would surely take tons of patience!

[Graeme Robson]

I would say it's a massive group of Pangio Myersi and Pangio Kuhli. At what size would you say they are? In most juvenile Pangio Myersi the males are the darker ones with a thin golden line. The females tend to carry a more varied pattern and colour but this fade's away once they grow.

[mikev]

Mostly full grown, 2.5"+. There were a few juvs (1.5"-2") but they are not shown on the picture.

I suppose the bottom fish on the top pic is a male P. Myersi, probably nearly full grown. It is the marked kind I'm really wondering about: since there were several of this other kind, perhaps they are a species or a regional variation.

[mikev]

Great looking bunch but I feel sorry for the store clerk who has to catch the "ONE" you want

Yes, I wonder if it would even be possible in such a large group.

It would surely take tons of patience!

If it comes to it, I'll be the one doing it. Last time I did it, it took about 20 minites per fish... if you don't catch it right away, it takes really long time to figure out where it went.

At least get the big one on the rock in the last photo! What's one more?

Nothing if I could simply put it into a tank, but I don't know which diseases they carry. And quarantining just one fish makes no sense, unless it is really a unique fish, so it is another 5-6 or none....

[Graeme Robson]

At 2,5 inches, i would say these still have a bit of growing to do (Especially the Pangio myersi). These chaps also grow very well in grith remember. I also wonder if these are being found from a new location. Keep us updated on growth/pattern wise.

[mikev]

I probably will not get any unless I notice something really unusual (I'm making serious efforts to resist the temptation), but I know what you are talking about. Most of the fish in this shipment will not grow, only fatten.

As for updating: do you recall my amelanistic kuhli from a year ago? Well, that one did not change at all. It still is only 2.5" and fairly slim, so it is now certain it is a male, adult, and not a Myersi.

[Graeme Robson]

Can i ask you one question Mikev. Do you know the life expectancy of Pangio's?

I do.

[mikev]

I believe that it is around 20yrs and that no one knows for sure.

Why is this relevant? A fish that did not show any growth in nearly two years (since Sep 2005) has to be proclaimed an adult.

[cybermeez]

They look like a mix of P. myersi and P. semicincta, which share habitats in the wild.

The true P. kuhlii is relatively rare and only found in Sumatra. P. kuhlii and P. semicincta are physically indistinguishable from one another. What makes them separate species is where they occur. So, unless you can definitively say the fish is from Sumatra then odds are it's P. semicincta.