Carpintis?

[Anonymous]

So being a relative novice to cichlids, I'd like to get some input from you guys on the Carpintis I've had for about 2 years, first off, can you tell the difference between the carpintis and the texas from the pictures? If yes, is it a carpinitis? He's a beautiful fish with a ton of personality but its the only thing in the tank besides his two pleco tankmates, its kind of a lame tank but I know he'll most likely kill anything else small or dither-wise that I could put in there, any ideas what I could do? And yay yay yay I know its to small of a tank, so far so good though. I've thought about getting rid of him a few times but the gf always protests! So I dunno. Seems they are pretty rare (wrong word to use), took me a rather long time to locate this one and I haven't seen them out in the trade much.

 

[sandnuka]

looks like a carpintis to me, they are super similar to a texas cichlid... I think there called a green texas if I am correct? Usually you can tell them apart from there spot pattern, the tru texas has smaller spots on its body, and the carpinitis has a lil bigger....

if he has been in a 30gal for the last 2 yrs his size is definetly stunted... They are a much larger fish, ive seen one less than a year old over 10" ..... Think they max out around 12 inches. Sounds like you want to keep more than a few cichlids in a tank like a green terror and stuff.... the only way you can do this is with a 75gal plus tank.... if you cant, and need to stay with a 30gal then a different species would be better like apistos, rams, or raise ph a lil and swtich to some african mallawi or smaller tanganyikan shell and sand species.

I gurrantee you will never be able to keep a green terror, texas, or any larger new world cichlid in a tank 55gal or less with more than one fish that are not paired....

she/he is a gorgeous looking fish though.... really small, but other than that looks very healthy and happy.

 

[DMD123]

That is a nice looking fish thats for sure!

 

[fishman09]

2 years in a 30 gallon??

 

[Anonymous]

If someone local would take it and the common pleco in there with it I would switch it to something more size appropriate for sure. Saltwater are such slow growing fish for the most part I wasn't exactly sure how fast they actually grew. Its probably 4-5" tip to tip

 

[fishman09]

on a side note finding true carpintis can be quite difficult as there are multiple hericthys variants that look very similar and are often interbred causing a tank bred strain of something that look like many fish. very similar to the midas complex. if not bought from a reputable source or breeder with provenance you cant really call it a carpintis. true texas or cyanoguttatus is the only cichlid native to north america and will not have the iridescence in the spotting and the spots will be much smaller, whiter and the fish will have a grey or whitish base color. your fish looks like a perfect example of a carpintis with pearly turquoise spot all over with a greener base color. looks very much like an escondido variant of texas to me but no way to know for sure. carpintis would be the correct name but as for variant of carpintis theres no way to know.

 

[Anonymous]

He is fairly aggressive though. Attacked his heater for almost 2 days straight because I rearranged the rocks and his new home was were the heater was. Finally just moved the heater. Doesn't attack the glass but will tell you when he wants fed.

 

[Anonymous]

on a side note finding true carpintis can be quite difficult as there are multiple hericthys variants that look very similar and are often interbred causing a tank bred strain of something that look like many fish. very similar to the midas complex. if not bought from a reputable source or breeder with provenance you cant really call it a carpintis. true texas or cyanoguttatus is the only cichlid native to north america and will not have the iridescence in the spotting and the spots will be much smaller, whiter and the fish will have a grey or whitish base color. your fish looks like a perfect example of a carpintis with pearly turquoise spot all over with a greener base color. looks very much like an escondido variant of texas to me but no way to know for sure. carpintis would be the correct name but as for variant of carpintis theres no way to know.

that is part of the reason the gf likes him and I've kept it this long, his color is very iridescent, under some nice lighting i'm sure it would look amazing, just gave my self an idea. gonna throw one of my led's on the tank real quick and see what it looks like.

 

[DMD123]

that is part of the reason the gf likes him and I've kept it this long, his color is very iridescent, under some nice lighting i'm sure it would look amazing, just gave my self an idea. gonna throw one of my led's on the tank real quick and see what it looks like.

Any pics when you do it.... might just be interesting to see if lighting changes the look.

 

[Anonymous]

So i've had the light on there for 30 min or so and the fish refuses to come out, so may take a while.

 

[sandnuka]

lol... typical new world fish... hides and attacks anything new. lol

 

[Anonymous]

Just did some research, looks like the escondido variant, the turquoise coloring could definitely be described as veiny as opposed to dotted or splotchy and that is what they say a main difference in the escondido is.
Stupid question: Can a fish that has been "stunted" be put in a bigger tank and "un-stunted"

 

[Anonymous]

So if you look at the reflection, you can see the veins i'm talking about. The LED definitely brought out the blue, the fish is still hiding here but was exposed enough to get the general idea what led lighting could do for some of these fish!

 

[sandnuka]

Night and day difference in color! so much more blue, gets that alge green tint out of the water too.... he looks really nice!

As for you question on reverse stunting.... Really depends on how much damage is done.... The fish can still grow in a larger tank, just allot slower than normal.... So you can prevent further damage, but not reverse what has been done.

A sign to tell if your fish is very badly stunted is the gills.... if they are nice and round, thats a good sign.... if they have a "S" or curved look, then there is allot of damage. Also there eyes are usually a little bigger than they should be.... I will find pictures to demonstrate

 

[DMD123]

Very nice, looks like a completely different fish with the LED.

 

[sandnuka]

This is a 6yr old oscar! someone mustve had him in a goldfish bowl or something..... anyeay, notice the large eyes... smaller muscles thru out the body, and the s shape in the gill plate.

 

[DMD123]

Poor thing!

 

[Madness]

2 years is a long time, so to say that it may grow a bit more is probably a stretch. But it is quite possible. My Devils are 3-4" and I have heard that there are brothers and sisters to the few I have left that are 8" now. Mine being small is not due to a small tank, but instead its due to them sharing a large tank with several growouts. The dominant males spray out a hormone to stunt the growth of the others, that is why you always have 1 or 2 that grow much quicker. Pull them out and another couple jump to the front.

If you want to keep it, get it some space, and some serious water changes with good food. You may be surprised.

 

[fishman09]

when it comes to stunting i believe it can be reversed if given proper conditions (larger tank, more water changes, clean diet) my la ceiba freddy male was kepy in a lfs 30 gallon for a year and didnt grow an inch and i had raised a sibling from 3" to 7" from the same tank before i bought my current male. when i bought him he was 2.5" or so and ha grown faster than any other fish ive kept. ive had him for a litlle more than 6 months and is now 9" but i provided a large tank (240 gallon with tankmate for a while, and now a 135 with only the pair) and perform multiple large wc weekly 50-75% on all my tanks. his female was in another tank that had been there for a year also and was 1.5" the whole tme and has grown normally since i bought her and is now about 5" or so after 4 months. i once3 bought a jag from my lfs that had an obvious spinal curve from being stunted but was 13" which is large for a jag. id say get a 3x18" footprint tank minimum with preferably a 75 gallon, change a lot of water and he should grow fine. good luck