Cichlid ID

M

mchernecki

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Dec 17, 2002
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Manitoba, Canada
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Hi,
Last week I purchased a replacement Pseudotropheus socolofi for the male that I lost recently. I just noticed that this guy is slightly different than my female Socolofi and the fry that I have. Mine have about 9-10 faint bars, that show once in a while. The new guy has only 4-5 bars and the bars start at the bottom and come to a point near the top of the body. I went back to the LFS and there seems to be a few of these mixed with the normal Socolofi, and some are starting to show a yellow tint. Could this cichlid be a Kennyi rather than a Socolofi. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Mike
 
Currently, he (or is it maybe a she) is just hanging out in a cave, digging holes and swims to every corner of the tank every few hours. My deceased male was always following the female and watching out for her. Too soon to tell what this new one is up to. Can it cross breed with my Socolofi, hope not. Could this be a Kennyi or maybe something else, the bands are darker blue, most Kennyi I have seen have stripes that are more black. I should mention that this one has not shown any color change,yet, but the couple that are at the LFS are showing a change to yellow/orange.

Thanks
Mike
 
the ps.socolofi are bright blue booth male and female,the m.lombardo "kennyi" male yellow with bars ,female blue/lilac whith bars,the shape of the body of these two species are not simular,If they swim in the same tank you can easy select them apart.
 
I know you can tell them apart, but I am trying to find out what the mystery cichlid is. I am assumming it is a Kennyi. At the LFS they had about 100 Socolofi fry about 3/4"- 1" in size. After I came home I found that this fish was not a Socolofi. After returning to the LFS about week or so later I noticed that there was about 5 of these mystery cichlids mixed in with the Socolofi and that a couple of them were showing signs of a color change. If you compare this cichlid to the Socolofi it had the same blue coloring and faint bars, but the bars count was about half that of the Socolofi, and they were not continuous bars but 3/4 bars starting from the top, with some starting from the bottom. It has been a couple weeks and my mystery cichlid has not changed color it is still light blue, but if it swims past bright light it has a yellow/orage tint. As it grows the body shape is more elliptical and shorter than my Socolofi fry which tend to grow longer rather shorter and taller in the middle. I would like to id this cichlid, I plan to keep it and buy another one or two. I am not sure if it is a Kennyi as most Kennyi fry I have seen are light blue with black fins and bars. Can it be something else?


Mike
 
I mean if it is a keannyi,the lfs dealer must be half blind if he/she caught that fish instead of socolofi,i dont think it is a keannyi,if it is change lfs:)
 
I just came back from the LFS, and their cichlid guy was there. It turns out that these are Cynotilapia Afra. They got some in but someone mixed them with the Socolofi and they got lost in the large bunch of Socolofi. I am not too familiar with this type of cichlid, so any info would be appreciated. I did buy the one they had that was starting to turn yellow/orange on its upper body.

Mike
 
ok,good you find out,it can be hard too tell what it is whithout a pic.I have some c.afra "white top likoma",nice fish,the male can be aggresive some times,but not more or less an any "mbuna" from lake malawi.C.afra shows a lot of colour morphs,for ex one coulor at island 1 and another at island 2 in the lake.they live in rocky areas near land,my fish have caught at likoma islands,and the fish male/female are blue whith white stripe at dorsalfin,then the male shows his best side he get black bars.Search on c.afra on the net and you will find many coulormorphs,hard to believe some times its the same species.
 
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