female johannis

[fiske]

Hello, has anyone here ever bred Lake Malawi johanni cichlids and can give a definite description of what a female looks like. I have found varying descriptions from both sexes being blue and black to females being yellow or orange. A local pet store always has blue and black ones of both stripe patterns but I have never seen anything that I could identify as a female. Any pictures or links to pictures would also be helpful. Thanks.

[kay-bee]

There are two types of 'johanni'.

The first, melanochromis johannii (they're all born yellowish and the males turn black+blue, the females remain yellowish). These are usually sold as "johanii". Some would say these are the true johanni.

Then there's melanochromis cyaneorhabdos (a.k.a. maingano). Both genders start off being bluish/blue+black. These are usually sold as "electric blue johanni's".

[liv2padl]

http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/aquarium/mel_maingano.html
http://malawicichlids.com/mw09003i.htm
http://filaman.ifm-geomar.de/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=46243

Melanochromis johanni
It's easy to see the difference between the sexes, the male has got light/dark-blue stripes along the sides of the body (see picture below) while the female is orange/yellow over the entire body.

The genus Melanochromis is derived from the Greek word melanos meaning black and the Latin word chromis meaning sea fish - meaning black fish. Males have an overall dark colour when breeding. The species name cyaneorhabdos is derived from the Greek word cyaneo meaning blue and rhabdos meaning bar- referring to their blue markings. It is a member of the M. johanni complex and is closely related to the Melanochromis johanni. Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos was formerly known as Melanochromis "maingano" or misspelled as "manigano

[fish_breeder_05]

I have trouble telling the diff. between a female M.J. and an electric yellow lab.!!

[~*LuvMyKribs*~]

Yep it really depends on which species you are talking about, M. johanii, or the "electric blue johanii" aka maingano or M. cyaneorhabdos.

If you have true johanii, then telling males from females (when they are mature) is quite easy. If you have maingano, you may need to vent them to sex them accurately.

Johanii: http://www.malawimayhem.com/profile_show.php?id=288
Maingano:http://www.malawimayhem.com/profile_show.php?id=309

I for one cannot readily tell male maingano and johanii apart, as I have never kept them.

:)
-Diana

[MTroisi]

On this web site it says yellow to orange. http://www.timstropicals.com/Inventory/African/JohanniInfo.asp
I did see young ones in petco. Hope this helps.

Mary

[scholar]

There is a third Johanni call Interruptus which has vertical lines as well. :)

Yellow labs have the black border on their fins, t he shape of the body and the head is also different than the Johanni female which is more tangerine than yellow! :)