ID these cichlids?

[chilligirl]

So I bought some mystery fish today.

The first, which were marked "assorted dwarf cichlid", are obviously some sort of apisto. I *think* they're borellii? Can anyone tell? Also, how do I sex them? I *think* I may have a pair. The two fish are pretty much identical, except that one's anal and dorsal fins come to a sharp point (male?), and the other's are slightly rounded at the tips (female?).

The second set of fish were mislabeled I think. The store had them labeled "gold namochromis dwarf cichlid". However, any namochromis I find online look nothing like the fish I've got. These two are a pair (there were two males and one female in the tank with a bunch of firemouths), are obviously rock/cave dwellers, and are very very shy. I have to really look to find them, and actually can only find the one reliably. I'm hoping they'll become less timid once they've "settled in".

Any help id-ing these guys would be much appreciated! :)

a. borellii?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v192/chilliwackpitbull/P1020811.jpg
in the bag
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v192/chilliwackpitbull/P1020831.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v192/chilliwackpitbull/P1020845.jpg
exploring the tank

mystery fish
(bottom right)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v192/chilliwackpitbull/P1020850.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v192/chilliwackpitbull/P1020840.jpg
(bottom right)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v192/chilliwackpitbull/P1020839.jpg
on the left
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v192/chilliwackpitbull/P1020816.jpg
hiding behind the plant while eating
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v192/chilliwackpitbull/P1020819.jpg

sorry, not great pics of that one, I know, but it's hard to photograph such a shy fish!

[elementkid65]

nice ram btw

[chilligirl]

no ideas?

I tried again to get pics this morning. Both fish are still in the tank and doing well. I found them together this morning hiding out in the base of a live plant. Fins were up, they looked relaxed. Of course, as soon as they saw me, they took off like a shot! It's hard to photograph them because they're shy, and they like to hide under things, particularly under the driftwood. They've actually dug out a bit of a cave under the driftwood already. They're pretty non-aggressive with the other fish, but are guarding the area under the driftwood, except from the Pleco.

If it helps, both fish are small. The male is larger, at about or just under an inch long. The female is 3/4 the size of the male. Their body colour is a soft yellowish green (almost bronze). Stripes, which weren't visible in the lfs due to stress, are darker, but I can't tell if they're black or not. I *think* there's a thin red stripe running the edge of the dorsal fins. Their body's oval shaped, and their dorsal and anal fins are a pretty uniform length for the length of their body. The fins are pretty big for such a small fish, about 1/3 the body height each. They're somewhat taller than they are wide. They've got a short, round, face with large eyes.

Anyhow, here are the pics I took this morning. Don't know if they're any better.

the two of them running from the camera
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v192/chilliwackpitbull/P1020863.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v192/chilliwackpitbull/P1020864.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v192/chilliwackpitbull/P1020866.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v192/chilliwackpitbull/P1020867.jpg

in their favourite spot, hanging with the pleco
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v192/chilliwackpitbull/P1020869.jpg

a not bad shot of the striping
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v192/chilliwackpitbull/P1020870.jpg

As mentioned previously, I was told these were nanochromis, but when I looked those up, they look nothing like them. The lfs staff also said they were west african versus south american, but they were in a neutral pH tank with firemouths, so I figured they'd do alright in my tank (pH 7.0). I would really like to know what on earth they are, as well as what their requirements are, so that I can take good care of them!

[chilligirl]

okay, so now I'm really confused.

As mentioned, in the store, both were sort of a pale washed out yellow. I got a better look at them just now. In the pics above, the fish with the clear stripe is the female I believe. The other fish which is more iridescent looking and appears blue/green in the pics is the male. It's hard to get a good look at him, because he's mainly hanging in a little "cave" under a piece of driftwood at the back of the tank. However, what I have seen is completely different from what he looked like in the tank. He's gone from a pale washed out yellow color to a very pretty fish. His colour seems to be a mixture from turquoise through to almost purple, and he's got what looks like a bright orange edge to the edge of his dorsal fin...

oh geez I wish I could get a better look at them! I'm about to do a water change, so maybe I'll have a good peek then...

[chilligirl]

I got a much better look at the male while doing the water change (sorry no pics). His body colour is turquoise. He has a purple/grey stripe running laterally from his mouth to his tail. He has a second, wider stripe of the same colour, which runs over the top third of his body, head to tail, and includes his dorsal fin. The front two thirds of his dorsal fin is edged in turquoise, the back third is edged in orange. He has transverse bars showing up slightly in a dark grey, typical of a juvenile fish. He also has a short dark stripe running from his eye down to the bottom of his head, angling towards the gills.

Any idea what this is?

Both fish are shy, like to dig, and like to hide out in covered areas, under rocks, in caves, etc. They seem peaceful, only mildly defending their two "territories" they've picked out. They're accepting flake, freeze dried bbs, and frozen blood worm. Not at all interested in the peas I just fed. The male came out much more for feeding just now, so hopefully in a few days I'll be able to get some good pics.

[chilligirl]

okay, so I got an ID on the mislabeled mystery fish from another forum, they're Nannacara anomala.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/photos/art_nan_anomala_01.jpg
http://www.gsas.org/Articles/1997/N-anomala-price.html

and another poster stated their sure the "assorted dwarfs" are a. borellii :)

[chilligirl]

hrmm...upon further investigation, I'm not sure if that's right, or if they're dwarf acaras...