Need help identifying cichlids

P

portosat

poor college student
Apr 2, 2005
28
0
0
chicago
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
 
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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.
 
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?
 
nah i dont think its a front....I think it may be a kenyi


Looks like this one:
M_lombardoi-juv.jpg
 
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.....?
 
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.
 
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.
 
Definitely africans. The yellow one looks too much like an electric yellow to not be an electric yellow. Not sure about the blue one.
 
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