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Mike, my wife got two juvenile jewel cichlids from you a couple years ago and you weren't sure what species they were at the time. I wasn't too worried about it but they turned out to be male and female and.......well.......they're jewel cichlids........so now I have about 50 of them

anyhow, I was really wanting to try and figure out the species on these. I talked to Ted Judy at FOTAS in November but I hadn't planned on talking to him about them so I wasn't prepared to answer any of his questions. What I did find out was that there have been quite a few species brought into the hobby since the last time I messed with Jewels. I don't think these are the same old Hemichromis gutattus I've had in the past. They havn't gotten as large (seems to me they're topping at about 3", same for you?) and don't seem near as aggressive. Their coloration also seems to stay more brilliant with the exception of a few of the smaller ones that are trying not to get picked on. If you don't happen to know the name, do you remember where you got them? thanks, Kyle

Sorry, I never knew for sure what they were and I can't remember where I got them. I think I picked them up at one of the two local fish stores, probably Exotic Tropicals (now Noah's Ark), as little guys to grow out so that I could photograph an adult in full color. But it's possible that I bought them at a HAAS auction.

I was never sure what they were, and they may be hybrids. I always thought they had the red of Hemichromis lilafili, and they had the central spot of either H. bimaculatus or guttatus. And they did top out at around 3" for me. All I know is that they sure were pretty and I hated getting rid of them, but I was converting the tank to cherry shrimp and nano fish.

If you ever come back this way, I'd be tempted to have you bring me a pair.

If you have some good pics, maybe you can send them to Ted Judy and he can ID them for us. I am not a good photographer and they're not really in a tank that's good for pictures anyway. I am wanting to get rid of all of them so I'd love to send you some. maybe I can arrange something with Gerald one of these days. I do want to hit Eureka Springs again this year so we'll see if I still have any by then. Kyle

I sold some quite a while back that I raised. Probably not the ones in question but these were the Hemichromis lifalili (Blood-Red Jewel Cichlid). If you got them at an auction up here they could be these but there are many varieties.

http://www.google.com/search?q=Hemichromis+species+pictures&hl=en&prmd=imvnsfd&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=3LcRT-jHH8mIsQKnuaHFAw&ved=0CCEQsAQ&biw=1440&bih=785

Hope you figure it out.
Jack