help identify these mbuna
- Thread starter sorrow503
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I would agree if it were new wild fish and/or f1 etc.
I doubt anyone who would breed such common mbuna which isnt worth much (We used, going back 20+ yrs as such soi called common fish nowdays were just coming into the hobby). Most fish pic above seemed to commonly avail fish thru farms/local breeders and if it were, I would doubt of their purity of their. Dont take me wrong, they all are beauties.
All the breeders and /or transhippers that I was associated with would not breed such common fish unless same sp but from new locations (another word, other morphs, subspecies, new species, etc) or start a fish farm in Florida as one did for common fish..
On the other hand, we would tempt to breed any new wild species as soon as fish becomes avail, even way before avail to most hobbyist.
If I remember correctly, most lfs would carry fish which are avail in quantity thus cheaper. I used to know one or two lfs and few breeders who did nothing but rare specimen but most of them are not into it anymore.
I dont do specific breeding anymore but few of my former colleagues are still in wholesale trade.
Regardless, they are all beauties!
Oh!, Pardon me for keep editing, My fingers are nort as fast as they used to be.
If above fish were from specific breeders, I am sure original poster would know what they are OR maybe he has start another ID game. Just a thought.
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Really!
Ps elongatus "Likoma Is" ?
Although It has been probably 15+ yrs since I had my hand on this new specific wild fish and my own fry, I dont recall such pronounced vertical stripes at caudal peduncle. Besides, the tail should show very distinct edges on top and bottom unless from other locations which I did not have the pleasure of keeping.
This is what I meant when I say it is not easy task iding mbunas. lfs will sell the fish as they are labelled when received, sometimes not knowing wether it is correct nomenclature or not. It happens and seen such in numerous occassions. Sometimes I was able to find/obtained many rare fish at lot lower cost, not just in African but with any other fish.
Whenever you are in lfs, ask if they have any wild fish, go stand in front of that fish tanks. You maybe able to find such oddballs which came in by mistake. This is only possible if lfs brings in fish directly/tranship livestock (my lfs brings in 500-1000 cardinals from wild. Always was able to find many oddballs which I would not hesitate to collect, whatever it maybe, w/o hesitation since my fish rooms will always have vacant fish apartments to accomodate new tenants.
If lfs receives their stock from wholesalers, most likely some fish nut employee will collect all for themselves.
I had pleasure of setting up about 600G Malawian tank going back about 10-12 yrs. Put 500-600lbs of coral rock (not common coral rocks from lfs). This was simple display tank which you can view from all sides with artificial mountain of coral rock which spread from one end to other.. Added 6 juvies of whatever avail (probably well over 100), nothing spectacular or rare. No intention of breeding. Year or so later, I had to relocate them all. It seemed the population exploded in that tank. Couldnt believe all the juvies and hybrids (due to all the crevices created by this special coral rocks). I recall spending few nights just trying to figure out what these hybrids were, just to satisfy my curiosity but to no avail with an accuracy. They were all beautiful, some more stunning than their parent/siblings/cousins.
Like I said, they are all beautiful as they are.
Enjoy.
I
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the 3rd one is a psuedotropheus elongatus chailosi, i have like 7 of them, they are a beautiful fish
Possible (pic doesnt do justice) but still say Ps flavus/dinghani or simply and commonly called bumble bee.
Austin,
Is that Eretmodus? from where?
Beautiful! Is that one of your treasures?
I was more into Bentochromis tricoti, T. moori, Paracyp. nigripinnis, C. furcifer, etc!
Off topic, any pics of tang collection?
oh you mean in my avatar? yeah its an eretmodus but that one isnt mine, i wish it was, its a beauty, if you want to see some old pics of mine, i have them in my profile.
oh and to awnser the rest of your questions. my tang population has dwindled as i have sold off some of them for mbuna but im looking at selling the mbuna for tangs again. i had caudopuncts, brevis, multies, j.transcriptus,gobies,and lelupi. i think thats all of them. all i have left is the transcriptus (which im gonna sell), lots of multies (need to thin the herd) and the gobies (gotta love them, will never sell these). i plan on getting some kind of cyp, sandsifter or tropheus.
and i agree, i love the tricotis, but my favorite troph is the T. polli, i used to have a paracyp nigripinnis (it was an OK fish).
and ive got a bunch of pics of my fish in my profile page (they are all old though)
and i agree, i love the tricotis, but my favorite troph is the T. polli, i used to have a paracyp nigripinnis (it was an OK fish).
and ive got a bunch of pics of my fish in my profile page (they are all old though)
Fair enough, maybe inbred or line bred for specific traits, but I wouldn't go as far as saying that the quality of even the most commonly accessible fish on today's market is a remnant of what it was 15-20 years ago, taking into consideration a breeder who keeps species only tanks and not ponds of mixed fish. If they were in fact hybrids (not inbreds or line-breds) the physical, "tainted", trait of either specie would have shown up in its lineage.
Not the remnant from that long ago but possible hybrid offsprings of hybrids and of hybrids and so on. Dominant genes over recessive genes although recessive genes sometimes produced remarkable coloration/patterns.
Like you said, fish from reputable breeder/retailer should have been able to provide proper nomenclature.
OK How about more pics from original poster? Depending on the angle, pics can lead to wrong nomenclatures.
My bad, I thought we were talking mbuna in general, not the specific fish that OP posted.
In the case of lfs's mixing and not correctly labeling their stock I've been a first hand witness. I'm not saying that all of them do this, there are enough quality stores in my area to know better, while others get their stock from a breeder correctly labeled and visible only to either throw all fish in the same "big" tank to sell them as "assorted africans" (in essence treating them as community fish, 'they're all africans, so what the hell they must get along'), mixing the like-colored fish and giving them a new "common" name, mixing peacock females just because they all look the same, muffling the original name so it kinda sorta sounds right, but still no dice, and so forth. This is the reason why I would almost always recommend either getting your stock online (plenty of good standing breeders) or going to a local breeder just to get a general idea of his stock and setup.
