are these afa cobues or not?

[fish_chic]

okay i had special order Cynotilapia afra (Cobue) and i went and picked them up yesterday. so they are 1 inch and i got 16 of them for 5.99 each. they also came me store credit of $36 for the other mbunas i brought in, which i used towards the purchase of afas. so what do you guys think are they real afa cobues. the reason i am asking is bc on another forum MFT they said that they wheren't sure if they where afas at all let alone cobues. they said that they think that they are cobalt blue zebras. the thing is i can't find any pics of afa cobue fry any where on the net to compare them too. so i need you guys suggestions and experts to help me out on this one. did i get ripped off or what?


sorry about the bad pics i took them late last night and i was in a hurry to get them posted on the other fish forum.

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w292/tony_heather_2007/cobuepics005.jpg
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w292/tony_heather_2007/cobuepics004.jpg
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w292/tony_heather_2007/cobuepics012.jpg
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w292/tony_heather_2007/cobuepics006-1.jpg
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w292/tony_heather_2007/cobuepics008.jpg
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w292/tony_heather_2007/cobuepics002.jpg
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w292/tony_heather_2007/cobuepics001.jpg

[YoFishboy]

Yea...those are cobalts...here is the cobue.....

http://www.african-cichlid.com/AfraCobue.htm

Even if they were young males, there would be some evidence of barring if they were cobue, and some white on the dorsal.

Here is a cobalt site....

http://www.mit.edu/~lxs/cichlids/blue-cobalt.html

[GirlieGirl8521]

Those are definitely not Afra Cobue. ;) I agree...they are Cobalts. Juvie cobue are a purplish brown...males usually get a dark purplish/blue before turning the light purple and will have visible barring, even when young.

Bad picture of one of my young males:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y130/SouthernGirl8504/Mbuna%20tank/lonemaleac.jpg

And they turn into
<------ that (in my avatar)

[fish_chic]

i am so pissed right now i paided a lot of money for them and i really wanted to breed the afras. so i have called my other lfs to see if they can help me find the afras. i also called the lfs where i got the cobalts (well in there terms there are afras :duh:) and she claimed to tell me that they are afras. bc she has been ordering fish from her dealer for the past 10 yrs or so and if that is what she ordered (afras) then that is what i got. i asked to just call her dealer to see if she had mixed up the order or something. i am hoping she did and i can get what i what. in the mean time does anyone have any type of afra for sale?

[GirlieGirl8521]

Here is an auction on Aquabid for C. Afra Jallo Reef http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwcichlidsmmb&1171836326

Heres an auction for C. afra Lion Lupingu: http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwcichlidsmmb&1172192641
They are expensive, but really pretty. :)

I'd wait until you get rid of some of the Cobalts though. You don't have much room left. ;)

And if you still are going to try to get Afra Cobue, then I'd just try to find them. I wouldn't mix the different Afra types. You'll have some weird colors then. :D


and she claimed to tell me that they are afras. bc she has been ordering fish from her dealer for the past 10 yrs or so and if that is what she ordered (afras) then that is what i got.
If you look through the profiles of C. afras on cichlidforum.com, you'll see that they all have stripes.

[fish_chic]

Here is an auction on Aquabid for C. Afra Jallo Reef http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwcichlidsmmb&1171836326

Heres an auction for C. afra Lion Lupingu: http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwcichlidsmmb&1172192641
They are expensive, but really pretty. :)

I'd wait until you get rid of some of the Cobalts though. You don't have much room left. ;)

And if you still are going to try to get Afra Cobue, then I'd just try to find them. I wouldn't mix the different Afra types. You'll have some weird colors then. :D


If you look through the profiles of C. afras on cichlidforum.com, you'll see that they all have stripes.

when i do find the afras i will be taking all the cobalts out. i don't want to mix anything. i want to get into breeding afras. so i like doing the one species at a time thing. and when i purchased the afras i didn't realize that they have stripes when they are an 1 inch big. i thought that they get there stripes when they get bigger. so this has to do with me not being able to see pictures of them when they are fry (only when they are adults) but now i know what they look like when they are fry so i can make a better decision later. thanks for the help everyone i will keep you posted if i find the afras.

[YoFishboy]

On the bright side, your cobalts are beautiful!;)

[mike dunagan]

:mad2: As we all know those are colbat zebra, I would say that I would be upset. The price of 6 bucks for 1 inch even for colbats is high. I mean you can get them for 3-4 at that size. Now if the LFS thinks that her dealer never makes mistakes then I am amazed. I have not been to a store or worked at one, or talked to people who have that dealers have not set a order in wrong. I see it happen all the time. Every store gets something wrong in each shipment. It seems to me that if they will not correct this situation then I would not shop there. :mad2: How can you trust them again. If they can be fooled so easly I doubt that I would trust much that they tell me. Anyone who knows africans would be able to spot this mistake. Your lfs needs help...

but those are great colbalts

[mg6682]

Sorry to hear about that - if you decide on the cobue, try the "orange back" variety, they are stunning. Heres a photo of a wild caught one

[GirlieGirl8521]

I agree..the orangebacks are beautiful. :) Thats what mine are...but they were tank bred.

[mg6682]

I agree..the orangebacks are beautiful. :) Thats what mine are...but they were tank bred.

I noticed that - the one in the picture isnt mine by the way, it was taken from the LFS's website. Since seeing that photo, I've tracked tons down, but never like that one. When I do find them, I'll set up a tank just for them.