Publication2 med aquascape Publication1cs complete

Said to be discovered by the late Jean Claude Nourissat in 1983, the fish was given the tempo- rary name of Theraps sp "33", this was referring to the amount of kilometres away from the Coat- zacoalcos, Veracruz where the fish was first found, some 28 years later and the status of this cichlid is still un-described. For many years now the fish is widely known as Paratheraps sp. 'coatzacoalcos', this refers to the range of the species in the Coatzacoalcos river system in the Tehuantepec isthmus in Mexico. Of interest reading through Robert.Millers 1974 description of V. regani, 18 other species of fish fauna are described in the Rio Almoloya (Coatzacoalcos) which included C. zonatum. This tells us that they were indeed observed before, but not as a potentially un-described species. So what changed? There have been a lot of questions regarding this cichlid, mostly the confusion with another very similar looking fish, Paratheraps zonatus (Meek 1905). This cichlid was once regarded as a possible variation of zonatus, however, many experts be- lieve that there are enough different traits be- tween the two fish to separate and regard sp. 'coatzacoalcos’ as its own valid species. In fact a lot of so called zonatus keepers are probably una- ware that they are very likely keeping sp. 'coatzacoalcos' populations. We have to be careful when trying to separate the two fish, as there is no clear cut answer to the problem and not many experts appear to be committing themselves. Paratheraps sp. ‘coatzacoalcos’ have quite a large distribution range in the Coatzacoalcos system tributaries (Atlantic side) like Rio Jaltepec, Rio Junapan, Rio Ajal, Rio Grande. The “true” zonatus populations are noted to be in the Pacific side, Rio Tehuantepec, Rio Niltepec and Rio Zanatepec. Paratheraps sp. 'coatzacoalcos' has quite a bit of variability in their coloration and varies from different populations. Some are blue others green. Some have a golden brown sheen to their appear- ance (this more so in females) and display a lot of red speckling on the face. I’ve personally found slight variability can also be present with the same population within aquarium conditions. They aren't widely available in the UK hobby, but more so around the continents like Germany and the Netherlands. Rio Ajal, Rio Grande and Rio Junapan are perhaps the most widely kept populations available in the hobby. a newly discovered popula- tion were collected by Rusty Wessel. 29

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