“The unexpected often happens” says the well-known proverb. That’s what happened to us with Thorichthys affinis. Some time ago we received juveniles of – according to the breeder – Thorichthys meeki, the firemouth cichlid. The 3-4 cm long juveniles didn’t have much to offer in terms of color, but they were extremely harmonious in terms of body shape. We therefore stocked an aquarium in our office display with 10 of these lovely fish. „Meekis” had already lived in the facility in the past and had always given us and our customers a lot of pleasure.
Time passed, the fish grew up and today they are 6-8 cm long (total length, including tail fin). Pairs have been found and the animals are also reproducing. Thorichthys are open breeders (this means that the clutch is laid openly on a stone, root or similar, in contrast to the hiding breeders, which do this in a cave), although our animals spawned somewhat hidden in semi-caves in a stone structure. The parents’ brood care is very intensive, the other tankmates (a shoal of Poecilia salvatoris and some Hyphessobrycon bentosi) had to retreat to small areas of the aquarium (dimensions: 120 x 36 x 48 cm, L x H x D) where they are left alone. In general, the parents are very reserved. None of the by-fish are injured. The impressive Thorichthys-typical threat with lowered mouth bottom is obviously sufficient. Even supernumerary, unfeminized males fight with each other, but there are never any injuries. One thing surprised us: T. meeki always has a blood-red mouth bottom and breast and our animals here “only” show a strong yellow-orange. On the other hand, the fins of our animals are beautifully marked, while those of the firemouth have much fewer highlights.
In fact, we didn’t get any meekis at all, as a quick research revealed, but the closely related species T. affinis. There are two different colored varieties of this “dwarf meeki”. One with an orange-red mouth bottom from the area of Lake Peten in Guatemala (this is also the type locality of the species, which was scientifically described as Heros affinis as early as 1862) and one from Belize, which has a more yellow mouth bottom. Apparently our animals belong to the Belize population.
We have not had any Thorichthys affinis on offer for over 20 years. This relatively small Thorichthys species (it rarely grows to over 10 cm in length) can justifiably be described as a rarity. Due to their compatibility and small size, they can also be kept well in groups in aquaria of normal dimensions and the whole spectrum of fascinating cichlid behavior can be studied. Whether the classic red firemouth or this yellow dwarf meeki is the more beautiful species? That is certainly in the eye of the beholder. In any case, we really like the T. affinis!
For our customers: T. affinis has code 637500 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply the wholesale trade.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
