chowes

I was Walmart today and passed by the fish. I was looking at the little baby cichlids and there was one that was very dark (black or very dark blue) with yellowish tail and dorsal fins. They were juvenile and less than an inch. Any idea what species it is?

Allie

Buy the coloring it sound like an Acei a Malawi cichlid...but there are a few species so it could be any of the similar colored ones.

Allie

Maybe you could find them here:
http://cichlidforum.com/articles/afr...us_gallery.php

chowes

It does look like an Acei but darker. could it just be a color variation?

MissMTS

Possibly. It could also have just been that the cichlid was young and did not have its adult coloration yet. Bad water parameters and stress can also cause fish to darken or lighten their colors.

steveangela1

I have seen some dark acei before, thats what it sounds like. I would love to get some myself, but I have my pseudo species covered in my tanks, so no room for acei.

They are great mbunas!

Slug

Could of been stressed too. Being at Wal-Mart and all...

Acei are very common in the mixed african tanks at chain stores.

Allie

There are at least 4 varieties that I am aware of: Malawi Mayhem you have to join to look at more than 3 profiles.
1. Ps. Acei Tanzania (I have here) http://www.malawimayhem.com /profile_show.php?id=639
2. Ps. Acei Msuli ( i have kept here) http://cichlidforum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1460
3. Ps. Acei http://www.malawimayhem.com/profile_show.php?id=398 (most common)
4. Ps. Acei Ngara http://www.malawimayhem.com/profile_show.php?id=499 (rare)
They should all look exactly like their parents at an 1" usually the smallest lfs will take fish from us.

chowes

He/she looks a lot like the first one. What is their temperament like?

steveangela1

The acei is one of your calmer/less aggressive mbuna (considering it is a mbuna its on the more friendly scale)

Allie

They are very mild in aggression. They go well with all the common ones like yellow labs and cobalt zebra, rusty cichlids too.
They do best in 5 or more, 1 male to 3 females is usually good, because they school. Back & forth...very cool.