L. curviceps

[Dr. Qwert]

Hi all,
i have a pair of curviceps which spawned a couple weeks ago, the fry didn't survive due to the tank mates but that's beside the point to the question i have.
anyway as people know who have had curviceps when they get excited like when they're breeding they can change colour very quickly & go dark, however now that they have gone back to normal colours one of them has left a patch the dark colour only on the right side of its face, it has lasted a couple of days. is that normal? it seems very stange.
thanks,
regards, David

[briztoon]

Hi Dr. Qwert,

Sorry can not help with your question. But I have a question for you. When you say dark, do you mean a very intense dark blue, or do they turn a dark grey/black colour?

[Dr. Qwert]

they go a real intence dark blue, here's a picture from their 1st spawn & since then they've gone even more intence when spawning/flaring at other fish
http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/ff354/Dr_Qwert/Lc2.jpg

[Hassles]

Hi all,
i have a pair of curviceps which spawned a couple weeks ago, the fry didn't survive due to the tank mates but that's beside the point to the question i have.
anyway as people know who have had curviceps when they get excited like when they're breeding they can change colour very quickly & go dark, however now that they have gone back to normal colours one of them has left a patch the dark colour only on the right side of its face, it has lasted a couple of days. is that normal? it seems very stange.
thanks,
regards, David

it's not a good sign at all. I have experienced this myself and have always lost the fish. It has been suggested that fish suffering from this (melanosarcoma - a malignant growth) be humanely sacrificed.

Right side of head discoloured black because of colour controlling nerve pinched by thyroid tumor.

I have a fish with this condition at present. I have attempted previously to treat this but have never realised succes.

Note: Diagnostic info taken from the "Handbook Of Fish Diseases" by Dieter Untergasser

take care

[Dr. Qwert]

gargh, now i'm really worried i thought it was just a benign little querk. does that imply that i have something wrong with my tank like there's some form of carcinogen present or some other problem? i presume it's not contageous, or is that just me being overly optimistic? or is it a genetic trait? the water parameters are fine & otherwise he seems like a completely healthy fish so i'll see how it progresses & hope you're wrong :roll: . what are the possible treatments for it, there wouldn't be much if it was a tumour would there?

thanks hassles

[briztoon]

Hey Dr. Qwert,

I am by no means an expert on Laetacara species, but I suspect your fish may not be curviceps, but rather a form of dorsigera.

Last year two lots came in to a LFS up here that were being sold as curviceps. I wasn't so sure they were, so posted up an ID thread on an international forum. Here's the post.

http://forum.apistogramma.com/showthread.php?t=9759&page=2

If a laetacara shows vertical banding on the rear half of the fish and the male has a large iridescent blotch in it's dorsal fin, then it's not a curviceps.

[Dr. Qwert]

i'm not quite understanding what you are saying about the verticle banding on the rear of the fish?
so are you saying they're most likely a hybrid curviceps & dorsigera?
the fish in focus of the previously posted picture from memory is the female & the one closer to the eggs in the background is the male (which has the problem with its pigmentation).

here is another picture of the fish when i first brought them home still in the Q tank.
http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/ff354/Dr_Qwert/P5110342.jpg

it wouldn't surprise me if the seller is somewhere on this forum, did anyone sell 4 'L. curviceps' at the last EDAS auction for $8?
if they aren't what they were claimed to be i can't really complain at that price & i'll focus my efforts on breeding my 2 apisto species

[Hassles]

having lost fish affected as yours is I have never lost additional fish so you need not be concerned.

take care

[briztoon]

I'm not suggesting they are a hybrid. I was just saying we had some laetacara imported late last year that were imported as curviceps, but turned out to be a sub-species or an as yet unclassified species more closely related to dorsigera.

If you look at the picture below of my dorsigera, you can see the rear half of the fish has six vertical bands or stripes.
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd105/pk3333/L%20dorsigera/010-1.jpg

Where as curviceps do not show any stripes, but a uniform colour along thier flank.
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd105/pk3333/L%20curviceps/Newphotos001.jpg
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd105/pk3333/L%20curviceps/A4-1.jpg

The new Laetacara look very much like curviceps.
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd105/pk3333/071.jpg
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd105/pk3333/011-1.jpg
But they show traits that are only supposed to be found in dorsigera and not in curviceps. It's not really clear in my photos of the new laetacara, but the definately have vertical bands on the rear half of the fish and the males (top photo) also have the iridescent patch in thier dorsal fin, which male curviceps do not have. Oh and the female in the last photo has grabbed a pellet that was a little large for her and that's why her mouth looks messy as she tried eating it and keeping it away from the others.

[Dr. Qwert]

ok thanks, now i understand what you're saying.

good news (i think at least) on the "curvicep" with the miscolouration, the colour in his face has subsided & now is back in sync with the rest of his body, with the full colour range!
hassless: you said that it was most likely a tumour pinching the nerve, is i possible that it could get pinched by a bruise or alike, as i said earlier these are getting kept with apisto macs in a stadard 3f tank & both are breeding. i have a couple times hadto seperate the males to stop them fighting, could this have caused the pinching of the nerve, hence it managing to heal?

thankyou both for your help

[Hassles]

ok thanks, now i understand what you're saying.

good news (i think at least) on the "curvicep" with the miscolouration, the colour in his face has subsided & now is back in sync with the rest of his body, with the full colour range!
hassless: you said that it was most likely a tumour pinching the nerve, is i possible that it could get pinched by a bruise or alike, as i said earlier these are getting kept with apisto macs in a stadard 3f tank & both are breeding. i have a couple times hadto seperate the males to stop them fighting, could this have caused the pinching of the nerve, hence it managing to heal?

thankyou both for your help

To be quite frank I have no idea. The diagnosis of fish alimants is akin to practising Voodoo. Consider yourself fortunate your fish has survived.

take care