Publication2 med aquascape Publication1cs complete | Page 52

Still referred by many as Vieja synspila, a recent taxonomy study has
now found them to be a sister species of Vieja melanura
northern ranges at the Rio Cazones Mexico.
(Juan Miguel 2007) The most southern species is
V. maculicauda, which also has the most wide-
spread range in the complex. This range extends
from the Rio Usumacinta drainage Guatemala
through to Panama (Rio Chagres). Vieja macu-
licauda is mainly described as lacturine but is
very tolerable to different water conditions
where they can also be found in brackish water.
This will most certainly explain the large distribu-
tion range as the fish is able to spread along the
coast lines, entering different river mouths along
the way.
Many species can show a high degree of variabil-
ity across different river populations, most nota-
bly V. melanura (synspila) and P. bifasciatus. This
is where problems have arisen regarding identifi-
cation of aquarium stocks. Many keepers have
foolishly crossed bred different populations thus
creating an aquarium strain which has little re-
semblance to both original populations of fish.
In my opinion this is probably worse than cross
breeding with another species!
First of all, why are Vieja called ‘Old Ladt’? To be
honest I’m not quite sure. The Latin “Vieja” trans-
lates ‘Old Women’ which many people explain is
named after the excellent brood care that these
cichlids can show, but many hobbyists who keep
different genera of cichlids know that this behav-
iour is one thing that many cichlid species exhibit.
The Blackbelt cichlid is very widespread and has
many names in different countries. In Cost Rica, It
is known as ‘Pis pis’!
Distribution
Most of the species are found on the Atlantic
slope of Central America where the river systems
will empty into the Atlantic side of the Ocean or
more specific the Caribbean Sea. Both Paratheraps
guttulatus and zonatus are found in the Pacific
side drainages of Mexico and Guatemala. The
most Northern range of species is Paratheraps
fenestratus, with a distribution from the Rio la
Antigua in the north to Rio Papaloapan in the
south, where it has its largest population. Exotic
populations have also been reported in more
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