Firemouth cichlid?

[SRT80]

Hi, picked up this firemouth cichlid from Petco. It was the only one I tank. It has no red coloring at all around mouth. Figured it might be stressed or bad water?

Either way, I have it in a 20 gal. Q/T and it's starting to come around and not be a as skittish. Still no coloring after a week.

Is it possible this could be a false firemouth cichlid? I came across them while doing an image search.

It seems happy and healthy. Eating real good so I will just monitor a few more weeks and see what happens.

Thanks.

 

[fishorama]

Well it looks small...& judging by it's big eye to body ratio, maybe stunted...I'm going to guess it's female since it dorsal (top) & bottom fin don't reach beyond the caudal penduncal (meaty part before the tail starts). How big is it? They all look female when small...

 

[SRT80]

Its small. Maybe 2". In a couple weeks I'm gonna put it in my 72 bowfront. Only fish i have in it is a large female Angelfish, electric blue acara, a couple danios and a super red bristle nose pleco. The angel didn't bother the blue acara when I added it so hopefully they wont mind the new addition. Always wanted a firemouth. If it doesnt color up. I wont mind. Poor thing was in a tank being picked on by a bunch of convict cichlids that were 2 and 3 times as big. Thanks.

My 72...

 

[SRT80]

Since moving it to the 72 bowfront, its colored up nice! Doesn't even look like the same fish.

 

[fishorama]

That's a nice tank! I'm a bit confused, the red says young male to me but the rounded anal fin says female. I guess it could be a more colorful female...how big is it now? Females rarely get more than 3 inches at most, males 4-ish. Either way, since you just have the 1 it should be fine.