What kind of Afican cichlid is this. Blue Zebra?

[vanpudin]

I'm fostering 3 babies i took home from friends house. He's got a tank full of them. I really have no business keeping them inless i converted my 55g to a cichlid only tank. May be ill change my mind though. Other wise ill need to find them a home after there about 3.5-4'' long.

[vanpudin]

Heres another pic... My firemouth lookin also. I've been bending the rules on fishkeeping. I know if im not carefull. There will be bad results.

[vanpudin]

Oh, and the Krib their to. Will see. May purchase 29g from friend to replace 20g. Can't see having 3 tanks in my townhome.

[kay-bee]

They're possibly kenyi (metriaclima lombardoi).

[Coler]

I don't know what they are I'm afraid. They have elements of looking like aulonocara (peacocks) especially the eyes, but the colouration is not something I'm familiar with in a peacock...hybrid ?

Anyway, this will bump it for you.

[vanpudin]

Possibly... My friend who i got these babies from thought it might be blue zebra, but he's not sure. Is it possible that the babies are from to different african cichlids as he had several diferent african cichlid fish.

Anymore opinions? Thanks

[mee-mee]

Looks like it could be a Blue Zebra....but here is a pix of juvie BZ...
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/45/111434111_2b762aa19c.jpg?v=0

so it could very well be a hybrid...really can't pinpoint it...:huh: especially if the other cichlids in the other tank are cross breeding...

[mee-mee]

What kinds of cichlids does your friend have in his tank...:)

[vanpudin]

yea, 2 of them have have vertical black bars on them. Not deep in color but noticeable. On the larger one its light blue in colour but black bars bearly noticable at best.

[vanpudin]

Well whole stock in his large tank in which babies came from, died when he went on vacation. My friend is still not sure exactly what happened. They were diiferent kind of Africans, some expensive. If i remember, some i think were black and white striped and had the funny rasied forehead. I don't realy know my cichlids very well yet. Now he re did his whole tank, basicaly starting over with mostly young more common and less expensive african cichlids.
He's got another tank which contains the babies like the 3 i got. there must be at least 50 of them in there about 1-1.5'' long.

These babies have a lighter blue color than the pic just shown. They also look alittle darker on pic than just looking at them in tank.
May post a new pic later. They move too much to get good pic.

[vanpudin]

now larger one has black bars .
They must come and go with mood
here is another pic.

[mystic1]

not sure if this will help but I have included a picture of a female kenyi (deeper blue when younger) and a cobalt blue, see if yours resemble these at all.

[cdfishie123]

PROBLY A HYBRID

[DeRo316]

Id say the stripes rule out a cobalt zebra. Im thinking either female kenyi or male Metriaclima/Pseudotropheus/Melanochromis

[tarheels910]

Yea. Definately a Kenyi. When they get older the males will turn orange and the females will stay blue.

[vanpudin]

Just got pics of mom fish and babies... Tell me what u think.. Do u know what kind now?

[vanpudin]

Yet another pic. Thanks to all who have reply... Will try to get pics from tank the female fish came from with other fish in tank.

[Visualeyes2]

in a tank of mixed africans they're probably mutts, but one of the parents is probably a kenyi. a female's eggs can be fertilized by more than one male in the tank. the stripes are markedly kenyi, but they are not as sharply defined and colored as a full blooded kenyi.

[tarheels910]

As I said earlier. Definately Kenyi. Getting those last pictures made it easy for others to see that they are Kenyi.

[mezzy]

Kenyi all the way