yellow lab is now black!?

[djmodifyd]

I have a question for you guys......in my african mbuna tank....i have 2 yellow labs.

one of them turned black basically over night :eek:

so now i have one that is bright yellow, and one that is black!

my water is fine..
ph: 8
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 15

what could cause this?

he is swimming around just fine, and eating just fine.....he is just now black...

is this normal?

thanks for your help

[DeputyChiefJR]

I'd love to see a pic!!!! Sounds cool as long as he's ok

[djmodifyd]

http://www.djmodifyd.com/pictures/blacklab1.jpg
http://www.djmodifyd.com/pictures/blacklab2.jpg

i just took those with my phone

[DeputyChiefJR]

Wow, I have no rational explanation unless you were slipped a hybrid...I've heard of many African Cichlids switching color (my kenyi is halfway between blue and gold now) but never a yellow lab and never something so drastic

[liv2padl]

i've never seen nor heard of such a thing. i suspect it isn't a yellow lab at all but rather, a melanochromis hybrid.

[stingray4540]

I would say that you had a juvenile male M. johanni. The females and juveniles are yellow, but the males turn blue as they reach maturity. Your other "yellow lab" might also be anoother juvenile johonni. Some good pics would help, also check out the species profiles at www.malawimayhem.com for Melenchromis Johonni and type yellow lab in the search bar. at any rate the fish in that pic is not a yellow lab but most definately a Melenchromis species.

[kay-bee]

Your fish is most likely a melanochromis johanni as stingray suggested, or less likely a melanochromis interruptus http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=758, due to the broken horizontal stripe pattern.

Both species start off yellowish and males transform to black/blue as your fish did. Coloration aside, yellow labs have distinct head and mouth shapes (adapted for a largely invertebrate diet) which to me set them apart from most other mbuna.

[scholar]

The pic definitely says not a yellow lab.

If it was solid yellow, then I say a faux Johanni male. Because of the vertical lines. Nor necessary a hybrid.

The faux Johanni's naturally have the vertical lines with orange/yellow females.

A better pic will tell. also a pic of the other yellow will help for IDing.

[djmodifyd]

thankss for the quick replys guys...here is a picture of my other "yellow lab"

he/she is camera shy, so it was really hard to get a good picture.

http://www.djmodifyd.com/pictures/yellowlab1.jpg
http://www.djmodifyd.com/pictures/yellowlab2.jpg

[DeputyChiefJR]

I think it's a she, the black on the fins is very light...

[liv2padl]

i'm not sure THAT'S a Labidochromis caeruleus either.

[~*LuvMyKribs*~]

I think it's a she, the black on the fins is very light...

And you can never sex a cichlid based on its darkness/lightness either.... this will change depending on many variables.

-Diana

[god61021]

im 100% sure neither of those are yellow labs and my main piece of evidence is the pattern on the face though there are other signs like everyother feature on those fish that says they are not yellow labs the face pattern is the killer.i dont mess with the aggressive mbunas so i cant tell you what they are,but they are deffinately not yellow labs.