What kind of cichlid?

[OneLady]

The LFS sold me a cichlid that was labled as a redfin blue neon. I loved it because the fins are a true red, not like the orange, red fin borley. I did a google search and found nothing. Does anyone know what this fish might be?

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/learjet1956/New121.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/learjet1956/New120.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/learjet1956/New117.jpg

The 3rd picture kind of shows the red tail. My fish is very camera shy, so the pics are not real good. If I am in the room without a camera, it swims up to the glass.

[kcooley]

its a red empress

[fish_freak]

^^^agreed^^^

[OneLady]

WOW!! I sure hope you are right, that's a beautiful fish. I should go back and get more. One store had them for $25 each and the other I bought it from was 9.99.

[kcooley]

the difference is the quality of fish. i paid $75 for an f0. it is BRIGHT blue faced with red scales. less dominant males will not color as well, especially when tank bred.

[liv2padl]

in my opinion, if that's a Red Empress, i'll eat it. the Red Empress, aka Protomelas taeniolatus looks like this: http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/haps/malawi71.jpg

and herein lies the problem of 'trade names' and marketing poetic license. if the LFS would use the latin names of the fish they sell, there would be no confusion.

i think your fish is most likely Aulonocara stuartgranti Lumbaulo "Blue Neon" but in the juvenile stage, it's hard to be sure. it may be Aulonocara steveni blue neon. another option is Haplochromis, borleyi red fin.

on the other hand, i could be all wet. ;)

[YoFishboy]

Here is a site that shows a female red empress....http://malawicichlids.com/mw08087a.htm I think if your fish was less stressed when the pic was taken, you would see more of that upper, horizontal black stripe...I still can not tell for certain that is a female empress, but, as liv2padl states, it could be another Hap....IMO, definately not a female aulonocara of any type though....I've bred and seen many aulonocara, and have never seen a female that looks like that....they generally have vertical stripes and a larger eye..like this....http://malawicichlids.com/mw08006a.htm....still, I'm not willing to eat it....hehe!

[OneLady]

Look at the 1st young male under images......

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1369


my fish looks just like it with a red tail. I'm not sure it is a male, but that picture looks too much like my fish.

[YoFishboy]

If that is how he looks in "real life", then it's likely you have an empress...take another pic of yours if you can..cover the flash with a piece of paper angled upward to lessen the wash out affect...either way, it's a nice looking fish! Enjoy!

[kcooley]

it seems as though it is missing the random spotting along the spine.

[OneLady]

new pics, still not real good.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/learjet1956/New008.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/learjet1956/New007.jpg

Someone from another forum seems to think it is a Haplochromis Red Tail Sheller. I tend to agree. Google- Platytaeniodus sp. “redtail sheller”

[OneLady]

Oops, wrong Google search words.

http://african-cichlid.com/RedTailSheller.htm

[YoFishboy]

Yea, that looks about right....here is a link....http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=2587

check the female on the images list....

[OneLady]

Thanks everyone. I am confident that I have a Victorian redtail sheller, and probably a female. Thanks YoFishBoy, I wouldn't have thought to look up the profile.