The cichlids of the genus Mesoheros

" Comparatively, cichlids are less diverse along the Pacific side of South America, with only a handful of genera and less than twenty species found in the rivers from the Peruvian coast all the way to the Darien Gap, the border between Colombia and Panama. Besides the eight species of Andinocara, Kronoheros umbriferus, and several Geophagus species, there are four Mesoheros and one Chocoheros found in the region. These cichlids are actually closer related to the Central American cichlids than to any South American genus. Either they have recolonized South America or they are the remnant group of cichlids now extinct elsewhere on the continent, since there are no other heroine cichlids found on the Pacific side south of the San Juan drainage. The sometimes overlapping distribution of Mesoheros has caused a lot of confusion in the hobby, but these colorful cichlids would be excellent aquarium fish, if they were not so large and aggressive "