Let's have another go at this fish ID!

[Aquafreak]

Here it is yet again. Let the guessing begin.

[BigOh]

Looks like an African Cichlid hybrid of some sort.

[Tightdog1]

some sort of african

[Aquafreak]

Here's another angle of the same fish.

[Aquafreak]

Anyone ever seen anything like this before tho? Someone's gotta know what it's a hybrid of.

[BigOh]

Aulonocara x ??

[Aquafreak]

This ain't some homebred fish I don't think, I've seen them for sale quiet a few times, but the shop keepers has no clue what it is. So I had thought someone would know what it is or what it's a hybrid from, like the blood parrot, it's origins are widely known.

[Marcus]

I agree part Aulonocara and oddly enough, I want to say Tilapia mossambicus. Something about the face.

[pierre_john]

I think that you have is a female red zebra. Hopefully I have the pics of their fish and I will send them to you once I find them. But I am sure that is was they are called.

[Marcus]

I can guarantee you that it is not a female red zebra.

[BigOh]

Yeah ... definitely not a Red Zebra.

I'm checking w/ some cichlid buddies ... hopefully something comes to light.

The mouth is certainly interesting. I was thinking at first something from the Copadichromis genus mixed w/ Aulonocara. However, I'm not great at guessing so I passed the buck to some friends.

Definitely curious .....

[tuthelimit]

Wow, weird looking.

My guess is a kind of Tilapia. You can't mistake those lips anywhere.

ttl

[AikidoGuy]

it definatly has the body shape of a juvi Buttikoferi, even the fins are all the same. and the jaw structure is right on but the color .. nope?

[tyler]

very attractive, whatever it is.

[Mattimeo]

a dyed tilapia mossambica...

[Aquafreak]

I can assure you the fish ain't dyed, it was around 1.5-2 inches when I first bought it, and now it's around 5 inches, all colors are natural, well definately not dyed from food or anything like that since I got it. Unless it was "permanently" dyed before I bought it, I don't see any reason why those colors ain't natural for this "hybrid" or whatever species it is.

[Marcus]

What did they sell it to you as? And don't tell me a Red Cichlid!! :D

[roper930]

I have no clue what it is, but I just had to say it is a beautiful fish!! :D

Beth

[Marcus]

OK, let's see if we can get headed in the right direction. The mouth/head area and coloration are what prompted me to go with Tilapia. Check these out and see if we are headed in the right direction. Pay close attention to the patterning:

http://cichlidae.netliberte.org/CICHLIDS/photo/Oreo_mossambicus_rose.jpg

http://www.iees.ch/EcoEng991/images/tilapia.jpg

http://starbulletin.com/96/06/20/business/fish.gif

Ok, the mouth and head are not exact and the lips are more exaggerated but these could have been modified by the genes of the following. Check out the shape and patterning in Aquafreak's fish's dorsal:

http://www.cichlidlovers.com/a-OB-red-het2.JPG

http://www.neptuneaquatics.com/images/Aulonocara%20sp%20Albino%20Eureka%20Red.jpg

http://www.aquarienclub.de/pics/aulonocara_rubinrot.jpg

[oscarlvr]

albino zebra, heres 2 of mine, yours has more color in the tail


http://home.mhtv.ca/~bobfields/fish3.gif



bob

[Aquafreak]

albino zebras has a different head, and this was sold as "assorted cichlid" hehe.

[Aquafreak]

Marcus has got the closes guess so far that I see, that first fish look a hellalot like mine, just mine has incredible and I do mean incredible pink color pigments all through the fish. Seems we're getting very close to the true identity of this strange cichlid.

[oscarlvr]

dont forget they egg spot on the anal fin, which would lead me away from thinking the talapia, most pet stores sell their mixed zebras as assorted, as they dont know themself what they have.

marcus how big do those talapia get, my friend has one thats at least 10 plus, and a very aggresive eater.


bob

[Barbie]

Egg spots on the anal fin would be attributed to whatever the tilapia was crossed with IMO. The facial structure looks nothing like a zebra IMO, and definitely has more the shape of the aulonacara that Marcus posted. The eyeset has more resemblence to the tilapia also.

Then again, who would be silly enough to disagree with Marcus? He can find 15 pictures to make his point with in less time than I can type a reply :D

Barbie

[Darkangel]

I am thinking it is definently a tilipia of some type. Are those egg spots or just glare or some other anomaly? They do not really look like egg spots in those two pictures. One tilipia in particuler has some markings on the anal fin that look like that. That would be Oreochromis aureus. It also has all the same patterns throughout the body. This fish could be a xanthic form of that fish. Also lets not discount that it could be an undescribed species of Tilipia or Oreochromis. Sometimes odd fish come in as something other then what they should or mixed in with something else. Whatever it is it is very nice looking. The light is not changing this fishes colour at all is it? Do you feed a lot of krill or brine shrimp? Those foods enhance colours in the red spectrum. It is a type of shrimp that gives flamingos their pink colour. If you ever do find out what it is I hope you post it so we all can know.

[Aquafreak]

Those are indeed egg spots on the anal fin.
In reply to Darkangel's post, no the lighting does not affect the fish's color at all, in the 2 photos I've provided you'll see why, the first photo actually had one actinic together with the normal white spectrum flourescent, and the second photo is of the fish in only its normal lighting.
For the second query, since the day I got this fish, I've only fed it the OSI cichlid pellets. I've fed nothing else other than that, so I suppose the fish's color is all natural, cause I haven't fed any hormones and or even frozen food for that matter, let alone fresh krill or brineshrimp.

Nice guess so far by everyone, this time the thread seems to be getting somewhere for once, btw this is the 3rd time I've put up these photos for identification, and none has come as far as marcus so far, good work and thanks for all your opinions.

[Cypherman]

Very cuurious...But arent most Tilapia native to continental Africa, while Aulonocara are Malawiian? That makes it very unlikely they could cross. I'm at a loss too, but my guess is its some sort of tilapia...An oddly patterned Red Tilapia, perhaps...

Cool fish though. ;)

[O-man21]

I looked it up in a book....
I think it might be a variation of a chromide, scientific name: Etroplus sp.

I'm looking at a orange chromide, but it looks A LOT like the fish in the picture, just a different color,
might be a red or pink variation.

[O-man21]

or it could possibly be a "albino" mojarra. Scientific name: Herichthys bocourti

[Marcus]

OK, first off, it is not H. bocourti, E. maculata or any other CA or Asian cichild. Guaranteed.

As far as whether a Tilapia could cross with a Lake Malawi Aulonocara, stranger things have happened. By the way, there are Tilapia species indigenous to Lake Malawi. Both genre have similar breeding styles and due to the fecundity of most Tilapia species it would not surprise me in the least. In addition to this, in aquariums, fish are much more like to breed across genus boundries.

[BigOh]

Marcus,

Someone's judgement that I trust very much felt you were on the money. ;) Aul x Tilapia

Honestly, I can't figure out why these people think that fish is a Red Zebra. I mean it REALLY does not look anything like a red zebra. lol.

[Cypherman]

Yea I realize there are tilapias native to the lakes, thats why I said most were native to continental africa. And yes, it looks nothing like a red zebra lol, the only thing thats similar is the pale white coloration. And its not S.A. or C.A; no American cichlid has egg spots.

I guess it could be a Tilapia x Aulonocara...I dont know enough about them to really say otherwise, but they seem too dissimilar for it to work, plus there really aren't that many aulonocara features that I can see...