When do Johanni Change colour?

I've had 4 Johanni for just under 6 months. They are about 2-3".

They have bred many times for me, with two of them holding at the same time - so I believe 2 female and 2 male (cos the others fight). Around 2 months ago, the males got a couple of markings on their head, like stripes coming through, but these have stayed the same and nothing else has happened.

Just wondering when, on average, the males change to blue?

Yo Efors,

Some pics for you (not very good sorry).

The onle Mbuna they are in with now are Yellow Labs and a 1" Afra (that seems to have escaped being sold by hiding in the Pakistani hills). They were in with larger Afra and Rustys though before I sold.























BOTTOM RIGHT here, I struggled to capture on the photos but you can see the marking coming in? There are a few marks on the body itself too:


A close up via the magic of paint,:raspberry: You can see the black bar coming through on the head and along the body, but it has been like this for ages now...


They even starting breeding when I was taking these pics, the pervs:

blue2fyre said:

Hmm It does seem really odd that they are not changing color yet. Maybe something else in the tank is keeping the males from showing color. The labs look a lot bigger but I can't imagine labs being too mean. Who is the "boss" of the tank? Maybe the males are being bullyed and are trying to "hide" their colors? I'm really not sure

Click to expand...

The boss is a Yellow Lab. It is a lot bigger than the others despite getting them at the same time.

Before I re-organised my fish it was an Afra.

Cheers.

Yep, I've had two of them holding at exactly the same time too ie they got mouthfuls within a day of each other. Not got any holding now, but as the above picture (craply) captures, they are still 'doing the dance' even now.

Hi Efors,

No Agresssion issues with them at all. I've seen the two I believe to be the males fighting, but nothing serious. The tank boss (the Lab) does get involved sometimes, but he usually just breaks up fights etc

Food - NLS, Home Made spirulina flake from a breeder with 20% extra spirulina, sometimes they nick the Catfish Tetra Tabimin. Cucumber if they fancy, most of my fish aren't keen on the fresh veg though.

Light - They had 2x 40" T8s for 3 months. Now they have a single 36" Hagen Glo T5. (which is miles better than the T8s I might add!)

Tank -
PH 7.5
Nitrite - 0
Ammonia - 0
Nitrates - 20-40 (it's 20 out my tap, 40 is the worst I've seen it right before a water change).
Temp - 27 degrees.
Hardness - will have to check, only have paper strip test for this though.

Approx 30-35% water change each week. Plenty of rock and holes as always.