What fish is this??

[vinman]

It all depends on the stock someone works with. There are pleanty of hybrid Kenyi on the market. If your using crapy stock you will produce crapy fish. You can find a lot of pic's on the net of Kenyi of questionable lineage . Notice in the first link you can get a nice profile of the head of the fish is a little too narrow for a kenyi

I'm sorry but Kenyi don't change the shape of their stripes as they grow. I too have bred many of Kenyi and also had wild stock for breeders a few different times over the 33 years I been keeping Malawi cichlids. None of the pure Kenyi I ever seen or produced displayed thin pinstripes for bars. To prove my point here are some tiny kenyi fry other people bred, a lot smaller than the OP's fish . Notice how they start off thick at the top of the fish and get narrow and the extend toward the belly. Even if the bars are more even thickness the bars are never that narrow as the OP's fish

http://www.cichlidforums.com/gallery...yi-fry/cat/503

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mandris/3196057204/

http://www.myfishtank.net/freshwater...kenyi-cichlid/


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVl0qxr7zqQ


Here are some F1 Kenyi fry and subadults

http://www.duzzee.ca/attachments/pho...0321_16515.jpg

http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?...buna-for-sale/

[Wyomingite]

Nice pics, but they really prove nothing, see the links I provided below of kenyi with thinner stripes...

I've seen variation in fish from the same brood. And the stripes will change and also extend further into the dorsal up to 'bout 2". Now, I can see where this is goin' already, you are gonna say that I've had "crappy" stock. And I'll say maybe I have had at times. But not every time.

As for hybridization, I will openly state that hybridization in mbuna is used way too often as an explanation for phenotypic anomalies and as a cover when someone doesn't know what a species is. Female mbuna differentiate mates by both color/pattern and pheromonal cues. Both in the lake itself and in aquariums, it has been shown that female mbuna will rarely mate with another species, and the species must be closely enough related to have similar colors and pheromonal signals. In 28 years of breeding mbuna, I have NEVER been able to force a hybrid nor have I ever met anyone face to face who has. Yet I've managed to spawn 42 different mbuna species straight up, with no issues. I'll call B.S. on 90% of I.D.'s that say "hybrid". Granted, hybridization does occur, both naturally in Lake Malawi and in the aquarium. But it isn't the catch-all excuse for any fish that does not meet the standard it is often used as. See the links below, there are hundreds more where they came from.

http://people.umass.edu/juanes/Jorda...eia%202003.pdf

http://chemlife.umd.edu/biology/shaw...al.%202006.pdf

http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.o...0/675.full.pdf

http://www.pnas.org/content/100/24/14074.long

Variation of stripes in Kenyi:

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/blu...7614980001734/

http://www.yasamvesaglik.com/forum/a...yi-ciklet.html

http://www.cichlids.com/pictures/pic...lombardoi.html

http://www.fishbase.org/photos/Pictu...ecies&TotRec=2

There are dozens of other pics out there illustrating the variation of striping in Maylandia lombardoi, both wild and aquarium-raised specimens.

So, like I said, I'd bet money it's probably a full blood kenyi. And I seriously doubt you'll be able to prove otherwise.

WYite

[vinman]

Yes i know all about color/pattern and pheromonal having to do with choosing mates also sound in the newiest thing they just found out.

I agree you, you will get some variation in the bars but there are no pic's of wild or F1, F2, or F3 with that thin of a stripe also the face is to thin. Kenyi have a blunt face with a protruded mouth. I hope the OP take a pic of this fish as a full adult so you can see the bars will not change. Even Males will go from a solid gold to barred pattern but the barred patter is the same as when they are young. Too many people base the ID on Aquarium Strain fish instead of useing wild stock. I know I have had these wild many times and also have the privlage to go to the importers in NY and NJ to pick out my stock. I never see a fish like the OP's. Please if you can Find me a wild or traceible stock to WC that have that thin of a stripe becaise I can not find any . I can post pleanty of Kenyi with narrow faces and pin strips adult for you if you like.

[chickenlady]

I know almost nothing of these types of fish, so I can't say what it is. But to my untrained eyes, all of the pictures I looked at, look nothing like the fish needing an
ID. The top dorsal is taller than the other fish for one thing. That is what strikes me the most. Also the shape seems different to me. I don't know, but they really don't look like the same breed of fish to me.