please tell me what my fish is..?

rrcoolj

While I disagree on the species I do agree that Goldfish are a terrible as far as feeders go. I suggest a good pellet diet like NLS or Hikari gold.

Kymmmy

Yes, this is a photo of Henry that my partner took to put on this site :)

Henry is approx. 29 cm in length (head to back tail) and about 10 cm in height (height does not include his fins)

He is a very social fish but wants nothing more than to actually break through the glass and eat the noses of anyone that presses their nose on the glass of the tank. He is very playful and does respond to my partner the most...to the point where my partner went to NZ for 10 days so Henry chose not to eat, sat on the bottom of the tank after 2 days of him being gone....as soon as my partner walked through the door, opened the lid and tried to get him to eat...it was like there was nothing wrong with him...( I was so worried)

The Tank he is in is 4ft x 3ft (42cm depth)...

We generally do not feed him feeder fish, we put some in to see what he would do...we put them in 4 days ago and he doesn't bother with them...

Both fish that have been suggested here do have similarities...BUT IM STILL CONFUSED!! hahaha.

As for his age...we believe he is about 4 years old. He does have several colours in him...yellow, gren, blue, pink, black. His colour seems to change with his moods...for eg; when he seems to be sleeping he looks brown in colour all over......He baffles me. But he is also our first larger fish.

Is there any more information I can provide?? More pictures maybe??

I do have a video of him...I will try to put it up

Thank you for your help so far everyone.

rrcoolj

More picture might help and so i stand corrected it is definalty not a juvinile. I still believe it is a species of vieja if not a black belt then some sort of hybrid. Hybrid viejas are very common in the hobby.

jeaninel

I also firmly agree that it is some sort of Vieja...Maculicauda or maybe Fenestratus or could be a Vieja hybrid as mentioned. It's not a Flowerhorn.

Kymmmy

Just thought i'd let you all know that I have loaded up some other photos and also a video of Henry 'doing what he does best' with my son...

I can not thank everyone who has responded to my post, you have all been great help and every post I have looked further into...It is quite hard to figure out what a fish is when 1. your not sure what he is 2. was given very cloudy information to start with. lol...we feel now we are on the right track to figure out where our little pride and joy comes from and also to learn other information so we can care for him the best way possible...We would love to breed little Henrys....but we don't know if we can because we don't know what fish to put in there LOL...We also do not know what steps to take to actually breed him (lol)....so this is the beginning of a long journey for us!

Thank you all so much..any further info that u can provide would be awesome <3

thefishboy

Wow wow wow isnt he a beauty!!!!! And the water is so clear!! He doesnt look like a flower horn to me....

Kymmmy

LOL....one other thing...

Is Henry a Henry or is Henry really a Henretta? LOL...I don't know whether to buy the Tonka Truck or the Barbie for xmas hahahahaha

thefishboy

LOl!! iTS PRETTY HARD TO TELL AS WE DONT KNOW WHAT HE IS... soz for caps!!
He doesnt really look like a fenestratus.. ...He looks to me like a maculicauda..
Black Belt Cichlid would be my guess... If he was he would be a male it sayd they have humps..

rrcoolj

The pictures help. I am now almost certain it is a black belt cichlid. A very healthy and stunning one at that. It also looks male because of the prominent nuchal hump on his head. Females aren't known to get nuchal humps for the most part. You have provided a very large clean home for your fish and I am very pleased to see someone practicing good husbandry.

You could breed your big male but introducing a female to a fish that has been solo for a long time could lead to a dead female. First you would have to find a female black belt and you would probably have to breed them through a divider. Adding target fish like small convicts would help. That way the female can breed without being mauled by the male. Because the male has lived by himself for so long he probably hasn't developed good social skills and thinks the whole tank is his so when you introduce another fish he will seek to eliminate them. That's why wet pets or solo fish are soo hard to breed and it's why people suggest buying 4-6 juviniles and letting them pair up so they can acquire social skills and pick their partners. Honestly I would try your hand at something smaller and easier like Kribensis or convicts. If I remember right viejas usually have fragile pair bonds unless raised in certain circumstances which means that the pair is very prone to breaking up and one of the partners being killed.

jeaninel

Aaawww...I love the video. Henry is quite the character, isn't he. That's what I love about Central American cichlids, they're loaded with personality.