I have a ton of info since I run the hemichromis five spot jewel page. Haha
the hemichromis elongatus is the fish commonly nicknamed “five star general”. It is the smallest of the 3 five spot jewels.averaging 6-7” total length. They are also the most peaceful ( aggression level 6 out of 10) of the 3 species making them good tank mates with a majority of the CA cichlids. There are currently a few different collection points offered around the US by local hobbyists...
next up is the hemichromis frempongi. They are in the middle of all species. They are more aggressive than then the elongatus with a score of 7-8 out of 10 ( think similar to most amphs that aren’t chanco or trimacs). They also grow a bit larger topping out in the 9-10” range. The one nice thing about them is that the get the deepest reds of all the species. If you keep multiple fish, you will want dithers as their conspecific aggression is pretty gnarly. Another point of interest is that they have really only been readily available in the US market the last 5 years. Before that, I think Rapps imported some in back in 2011 or 12.
finally you have the hemichromis fasciatus. These fish are the most aggressive fish I’ve ever kept. They will pin similar sized Dovii / buttekoferi / umbee in the corner. They appear more similar to the frempongi than the elongatus. The differences being their five spots tend to blend together with the help of some black horizontal spotting / lines. On the aggression scale, I’d place them at a 12 out of 10. They grow the largest averaging 12-13” and their bellies develop a more orange color than red. These fish aren’t for the faint of heart. I once removed about 30 from Wills old pair, placed them in my 6’ 150 gallon and within a few weeks, I was down to 5 or six who were performing the purge!!!
the pic you shared was of zeus. He was 1/2 frempongi and 1/2 fasciatus. I owned him for about a year after Will wanted to make sure all of his pairs were pure.
zeus was the best of both worlds. Looked closer to frempongi with the reds in the chest and belly, grew to only 10” but had a mean streak almost as bad as a pure fasciatus. In my tanks he destroyed a flowerhorn, butterkoferi, Red Devil, and a few others. I was able to locate a pure fasciatus female for him . They bred twice but then I came home from work and he had killed her.
after that I kept him solo which I feel ( I hate giving fish human characteristics) that he became depressed . He stopped attacking the glass, stopped eating regularly and died about 3 months later.
what I will recommend to you is that they can be picky eaters so once you get them taking a certain food, they may not accept others. Also, I noticed that none of them enjoyed tanks that were lower to the ground. They also don’t do well being moved from tank to tank.
I will dig up some pics for you, but I think you will like them. They are amazing fish and watching how quickly they swim and the style of “fighting” they do is so completely different than the liplocking big bruisers I was used to.
