# Rhomb?



## kane (Jul 9, 2003)

Hi all

What rhomb is this?

cheers

kane


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## memento (Jun 3, 2009)

It's a wet one


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## kane (Jul 9, 2003)

alright alright lol joker









What river/country do you think it is from?


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## memento (Jun 3, 2009)

Unless you caught it yourself, it's pretty close to impossible to tell it geographical origin just by the looks of it.
Some exceptions of course, like the Xingu population that has very distinctive characters.

All else is just wild guessing. Hence the old saying "a rhomb is a rhomb".

One of the problems is, S.rhombeus is a complex species. It's not just one species, but includes several cryptic species.
So looking at morpholigical appearances and attributing them to either geographical origin or waterquality, ignores the simple fact that we still don't know what these cryptic species are.
So a character attributed to a certain watertype, could as well be a character to one of these cryptic species and be found in several watersystems in several countries.

Just an example of the problems that rise if we pay to much attention to geographical origin, is S.gibbus. A species that looks a lot like rhombeus, but is only found in Rio Araguaya and Tocantins.
I've seen several specimen being identified as gibbus, just because they look like a slightly elongated rhom and locality matched.
No one ever seemed to wonder though, why these wouldn't be S.rhombeus from that region...
The only characters used are a slightly elongated body, and geographical origin.
I'm pretty sure that if you ask the same question about yóur fish and claim it's from Araguaya, people will tell you it's a gibbus.

Imo however, I've only seen 2 that actually _cóuld_ be S.gibbus, all else are rhombeus. Elongation ratios just seemed unlikely for an ID as gibbus.

So basically, when it comes down to rhoms, don't rely on characters that are supposed to tell it's geographical origin.
Most of them are fairytales that became accepted for Holy Truth...

Untill we get a full revision of the species, a rhom is a rhom


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## kane (Jul 9, 2003)

thanx momento that clears that up lol no seriously i hear wot ur saying all that matters is its a rhomb and be happy with it.









And am i happy with it hell yes looks beautiful soooo active after a 2 hours of sticking it in the tank it was swimming every where attacking the glass, its really curious keeps coming to the front to have a look.









Cheers

kane


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## lorteti hr (May 29, 2011)

wow very nice rhomb you got there..


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## kane (Jul 9, 2003)

cheers lorteti









kane


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## t00nCiNaToR (Apr 27, 2004)

You can call it a Blue Diamond Rhom if it makes you feel better, Fish stores do that a lot... but it will always be... a Rhom, and a nice one too!


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## kane (Jul 9, 2003)

Cheers toon


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