View Full Version : Need help identifying cichlids
portosat
04-02-2005, 9:35 PM
I recently purchased 2 cichlids, I've seen a few profiles that kind of match up but I want to be sure so that I can treat them right and pick good tankmates for them
pictures are linked (I don't have software to resize images so they're a meg a piece so I don't want them to slow the page loading):
http://kyser.org/nick/blue1.jpg
http://kyser.org/nick/orange1.jpg
Anyone that can help, would be greatly appreciated...
smiles,
nk
55 gallon - 2 unidentified cichlids and a pleco
asd159263
04-02-2005, 10:20 PM
the orange one is a yellow lab/electric yellow lab
the blueone looks like a frontosa juvie but i am not sure about that one.
portosat
04-02-2005, 10:25 PM
from the pictures I found of the frontosa I don't think that's close, completely differant shape. In addition, can anyone help with male/female or is it too early to tell?
asd159263
04-02-2005, 10:39 PM
yellow labs need to be vented(male and female look the same)
btw are you sure they are not frontosa fry. here is a pic http://frontosa.com/pics/gallery/485.jpg i may be wrong, but from your pic (even tho a bit blurrry) it kinda looks like a front although its stripping is a bit different
Seaman
04-02-2005, 11:23 PM
nah i dont think its a front....I think it may be a kenyi
Looks like this one:
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/Fishpics/M_lombardoi-juv.jpg
portosat
04-02-2005, 11:28 PM
I was think Kenyi, but the blue is female, and the fish is being incredibly agressive, so I was wondering if it could be male of another species, or maybe I just have 2 females, The supposed electric yellow lab doesn't have a black line like all the pictures I see, and is a lot more orange, is that female or.....?
musky48in
04-03-2005, 12:46 AM
The yellow one may still be a yellow lab or one that has been crossed. You see them all the time at stores like petco and petsmart. They sell them as yellow labs or they are in the assorted cichlids tank. Also juvi. yellows labs sometimes develop their black lines later in life. But there is no way by looking that you can tell if it is a male or female. Have to hold it in your hand and look at the underside. Still very hard to do.
~*LuvMyKribs*~
04-03-2005, 1:59 AM
Does not look at all like a yellow lab to me, and if it is then its an extremely bad hybrid. Most likely a female saulosi or a red zebra.
The blue one is a Kenyi (Maylandia lombardoi), and both males and females are blue like that when they are juvies. Once they mature the males turn yellow... so yours at that size could be either. You'll have to wait until it gets older to know for sure.
Venting doesnt really work unless the fish are mature, and *usually* by then you can tell anyways.
chinnp
04-03-2005, 4:11 AM
Definitely africans. The yellow one looks too much like an electric yellow to not be an electric yellow. Not sure about the blue one.
~*LuvMyKribs*~
04-04-2005, 12:10 AM
Definately not a pure Yellow Lab. Most likely one of those yellow lab/zebra hybrids floating around. Looks to me more like a zebra, but has some yellow lab in him.
portosat
04-04-2005, 12:53 AM
looking at pictures of the zebra and at fish labeled red zebra at a fish store I went to today, I'm pretty sure that's him/her. I know what yellow labs look like and I don't see much similarity
asd159263
04-04-2005, 9:21 PM
the reason i said it was a yellow lab is because i have one just like it. i do agree it is a hybrid and in my case he is a mean little SOB. i am thinking or selling or trading him in, he is not letting the other yellow labs chill