[robertprice]

This attrative fish 8 inch from the Rio San Juan on the Pacific Slope of Colombia may be the pearliest of all cichlids. It has a dark green to gray ground color with irregular dark body blotches and wine colored fins. It is covered fron tail to eye with iridescent blue-green pearls. Breeders turn bright yellow gold with red belly highlightsd, darkpearls and 2 jagged rows of splotches, one under the dorsal fin and another at midbody. It is a close related of C. ornatum, and they may be subspecies of the same fish, as their ranges meet at the Colombia-Ecuador border. Those listed as ornatum tend to be yellower.

They are seldom seen in captivity and considered rare, so little additional info is available. The like temperature of about 80 degrees. Youtube has several good videos of them. The first few pictures at "Images of Cichlasoma gephryum" are them: there are also pictures of festae, ornatum and hybrids included.