why does he look so weird?

[sunnygirl]

i have an african thats about 3 in. long. i thought he was a malawi mbuna- until today. the last couple days i thought he looked different, but nothing i could put my finger on. today his face looks like a tanganyikan. whats going on here? is this normal? also he has gone from a nice blue to a muddy blue-brown. can anyone shed some light?

 

[VoodooChild]

The color is probably due to stress from being in a new environment. Check your nitrates, but he's probably just adjusting. As for the other question, that's pretty vague. Do you have a species name, or at least what kind've Tang he looks like?

 

[sunnygirl]

hes not a new fish. ive had him for a couple months. got him from somefinfishey. i was wondering if hes reaching sexual maturity. i did introduce a new male johanni about his size recently. water parameters are fine. i think he looks like a cobalt blue zebra- i had thought he looked like one earlier, but his head and face looked mbuna. now his lips are more prominent and his forehead is more sloped than rounded. ill go check the species profile and let you know.

 

[sunnygirl]

ok, i found it. http://www.acay.com.au/~hyperd/cobalt.html i guess the site i first saw this picture on had said it was tanganyikan. guess not. anyway, i'm pretty sure this is what he is. his lips just seem to stick out more. do males of this species have larger lips than females?

 

[scholar]

A pic would be appreciated. Other wise it is all a guess.

 

[sunnygirl]

sorry no pics, i dont have a digital camera yet. anyway, he got his coloring back to normal now. i dont mean his lips look bigger than the fish in the link i posted. i just mean they look bigger than they used to.