Lemon Forest Jewel

[Mike & Diane Wise <apistowise@bewellnet.com>]

I know this isn't about apistos, but maybe someone out there can answer
my question.  At an auction last Fall I got some fish called "Lemon
Forest Jewels".  They were small and looked like Hemichormis cristatus,
the dwarf Forest Jewel.  As they grew, they got larger than H.
cristatus, about the size of the common jewel in the hobby.  After
checking Loiselle's key to the genus Hemichormis in an old Buntbarsche
Bulletin, they keyed out to be H. lifalili, except that, when in brood
dress, the area above the anal fin up to about mid-flank isn't bright
red, but olive-yellow.  The rest of the body was bright red with
metallic blue spots just like H. lifalili. They don't have a caudal
spot, only a bold opercular spot and a narrow, less prominent, oval
patch slightly above and behind mid-flank.  The flank spot has a pale
gold halo around it, much fainter than that seen on H. cristatus.  When
out of brood dress that are a pinkish olive color and the halo around
the flank spot remains visible.

Any information/history on this fish would be greatly appreciated.

Mike Wise