Looking for a Male A Thiellei

[Pepbill]

I've had an A. Theilli for almost 11 years now. It has the characteristic white patch right behind it's dorsal.

It was once a pair but lost one about 8 years ago. This fish is my oldest fish and has seen numerous tank disasters and moved at least 4 times. Seeing the ORA video of the Leucocranos inspired me to once again look for a mate. Anyone seen any or have any for sale.. Must be a male or a juvi. This fish rules the roost in the tank and rightfully so.

I don't want to give her up, only person I would even consider would be ORA or possibly Sustainable aquatics.

 

[phender]

I've had an A. Theilli for almost 11 years now. It has the characteristic white patch right behind it's dorsal........

FWIW, leucokranos often have a white spot or stripe behind their dorsal as well.

Do you have a pic of your fish?

 

[Pepbill]

Here you go. Sorry for bad pic.. LEDs suck for taking pictures.

 

[phender]

That pic is good enough. Body shape, head bar, etc., all say theilli to me.

I just hadn't heard the "characteristic white patch" as a form of ID before and I don't think that is valid. I would be interested in where you heard it.

 

[Pepbill]

It's one of those things.. All Theilli's I've seen have the white bar behind the dorsal fin but not all leucocranos have it. It does not automatically ensure it's at Theilli but if it doesn't have it it rules them out. I guess we could count spines and all that scientific stuff but who has time for that.

 

[Winwood]

If it were me I would be tempted to try and get my hands on a juvenile ocellaris from the Phillipines, more specifically Cebu. I believe the overall consensus is all thiellei come from the PI's and at least a good portion of their genetic make up is ocellaris.

Also, I know Walt had trouble getting his theillei to spawn for one reason or another. Perhaps it was because they were both hybrids and didn't recognize one another as potential mates. Every wild photo of them I have seen has always showed them living amongst ocellaris.

Here's a wild photo of both species taking up residency in a merten's carpet.