Nomenclature question
Hello -
For many decades, I have always kept Red Devil's and was familiar with the scientific names. In fact, back in the mid to early 80's, I had several questions answered by Aquarium Fish Magazine regarding the possibility of breeding my large male. In each of these correspondences, the scientific name was always printed with the response, in fact one of the questions I posed dealt with a particular name change which occurred back then.
When I first started rearing Red Devils, the scientific name was Heros labius or Heros labiatus. Several years later, they started changing the name from Heros to Cichlidae labius and/or Cichlasoma labiatus. Today, I have noted that they are also using the name Amphilophus labiatus. 
I remember that the original name change from Heros to Cichlidae was an effort to properly show the familial relations as well as reduce the number of animals that had multiple names as a result of different scientist describing the same species.
Thus, what is the current/proper name of the Red Devil? Furthermore, what have all of the different versions been and why are they constantly revising the name?
Thanks.
Art
<<Hello Art,
The name Amphilophus is current and should be final. The genus Cichlasoma was an umbrella for all cichlids from Central America until things got sorted out. Today it has been split into a whole bunch of new genera according to morphological characteristics, so the fish eaters for example are Parapetenia (i.e. friedrichstahli), the rheophile cichlids are Tomocichla (i.e. tuba), the group around the red devil are now Amphilophus. There are still some fish that have not been placed in any of the groups including the salvini and the Jack Dempsey (C. octofasciatum). The genus Heros is now reserved for the fish we know as the Severum (now Heros severus), and includes around a half dozen species. To check on current names you can go to http://www.fishbase.org - this site is pretty current with what is happening in nomenclature. Hope this helps, Oliver >>
 

Identifying an albino ... actually a Xanthic variety...   7/28/06 <<Hello, David. Tom>> A fellow co-worker got married and this killed all her fish. <<Had to re-read this sentence a couple of times, David. I thought you were suggesting that the marriage killed her fish. :)>> He brought it to work to flush. (Wife wouldn't let him flush it in house.) <<I won't even go into the abominable practice of putting fish down by flushing them.>> I adopted the fish and put it in a 39 gallon tank that had three guppies. (Not anymore). <<My hat's off to you for saving the fish, David, though your Guppies wouldn't concur.>> I was very heavy into Africans in the past but have not seen this fish. Please help to identify.... <<Based on your photo (very nice) and this animal's aggressive/murderous behavior, I'd say you've got a Red Devil Cichlid (Cichlasoma labiatus) on your hands. I'll let Bob take a look at the photo for confirmation, though.>> <I concur Tom. RMF> Thank you very much David <<You're welcome, David. Tom>>

2 pictures for you Firemouth Not a Firemouth, Red devil beh.   4/16/08 I have a Firemouth cichlid that I have had for a couple of years now. A few months ago, he started losing his scale color-it almost looked like he was molting. Now, he is completely orange. He has been completely orange now for about three months. He eats well, I give him cichlid pellets, blood worms, etc. he started having the problem when I gave him a bunch of feeder minnows. Water pH is around 7.8, temp is 80 degrees, ammonia level is zero. I regularly do water changes once a month, and he is alone in a 25 gallon tank. He is very large, probably 9 inches long. My question is - what is the matter with him? How can I get his stripes/coloring back? Why does he now look like a giant goldfish with teeth? There are no visible parasites on him. His fins are in perfect shape. Any ideas? I am attaching a couple of pictures showing him when it first started happening, and what he looks like now. Can you help? Thanks----------Wayne <Your Firemouth is really a red devil. Once they change from their grey color to orange they don't go back.-Chuck>