kimb

I am not a great phtographer by any stretch, but am looking to ID this fish. There are actually 2 in the tank. The other has brighter blue, and 2 horizontal stripes on forehead. Any help appreciated. One is about 3 ", the other about 2.5. Thanks in advance!

Attached Images

	unknown fish 1.jpg (29.7 KB, 85 views)
	unknown fish 2.jpg (29.5 KB, 81 views)

aquarist48

Hello Kim! I'm not sure what it is but it's beautiful!

kimb

It is! Now if I could figure out what it is! I am a sucker for fish thatr no one else wants. I feel sorry for them in little tiny tanks, when I know I could do better. Hopefully someone will have an idea, so I make sure they are getting the best diet etc. Right now, they are on pellets, average temp. but seem really happy!

kimb

Note: my LFS guy thinks they are electric blue, if that helps!

btate617

Can you get a pic of the whole fish? It would help a lot. Does the fish have egg spots? Circle spots on the tail fin ot the fin on the bottom of the fish just before the tail.

From those pics I don't thinlk they are elec blue. Elec blue seem to have a more sloped head. What else do you have them with, and what was with them in the tank at the store. If the tank was full of elec blues, there should have been some grey fish in the tank also. All elec blues start out grey and the males color up to blue with the females remaining grey. They are a cool fish but remember they will get up to about 7" or so and eat anything small enough to consider food.

The problem with Africans these days is their are so many hybrids out there sometimes it is hard to get an id on them.

Brian

kimb

They do both have egg spots on both tail and and anal fin, the one in pic is "gray" of the two, the other is more blue,,,they were in a tank by themselves at store, and are in a tank by themselves now. I will try to get a better pic.

Angela_96

Def not an electric blue, there are two species that have that nick name and its neither.

Do you have a pic with more of the fish?

kimb

I don't know if these are any better. You guys are great thanks again!

Attached Images

	unknown new 2.jpg (28.1 KB, 68 views)
	unknown new 1.jpg (30.2 KB, 66 views)

cerianthus

Try googling for different images or different color morph of Cynotilapia afra.

kimb

You may be on to something! Believe it or not, the two pics above although look like very different fish, actually in person look the same. One just has brighter blue stripes. They are different coloured depending on where they are in the tank. I will def look up some more info on them. Thanks so much for your help!

cerianthus

glad to hear but dont get disappointed if cant ID since there are so many species and color morphs available (naturally occuring or thru selective breeding). During my exposure to African (Lake Tang, Lake Malawi, Lake Victoria, and even riverine) and have spawned just about most Malawian avail on the market (In NYC, pretty much all fish avail including wild ones), I found there are so many species which resemble sne another. TO correctly Id, one may have to kill fish to run tests. But what for? I would rather have live fish w/o correct Scientific Nomenclature rather than idenfied dead one,lol.
Besides, so many cross breeding has occurred in last 20 to 30 yrs by very irresponsible hobbyists or breeders, it maybe very difficult to correctly Id fish, especially with mbuna.


Enjoy them and keep posting pics as they may display different colors depending on their mood, lol!

BTW, sometimes pics dont do justice.

kimb

Agreed! So....feeding wise would it be safe to assume they are omnivores? And temp wise, if I keep tank at about 75 should be o.k? They have a nice set up (in my opinion) and certainly seem happier than they did in the 10g in the pet store. I have just made my first batch of all veggie homemade food which they devoured! They are starting to peek out at me from their respective caves. I am all for rescuing "sad" fish, but want to make sure I am doing the best for them. Don't really care "what" they are, just wanted a ballpark so I could give the right care. Cheers

cerianthus

I am sure they know that they are at much better place with you. Although will just about take any food given, they are more hervivorous.They graze on algae on the rocks.
Although had experienced few occassional malawi bloat, IMHO, it had to do more with quantity given at one feeding rather than omnivorous food. Try staying with more veggie/spirulina food with very small percentage of Hi-Protein food. I am fish would not say no to insect larvae in nature when opportunity knocks, lol!
Just control the amount given at one feeding. Grazers takes in whatever they can continuously thus may experience digestion problem when given too much at one feeding.

Good Luck and Enjoy.

kloseo

look up a pic of malawi zebra ( metriaclima zebra) and a socolofi ( pseudoropheus socolofi) it looks similar to those from the pics

Angela_96

I hate to say it but this is just the one time I have to say hybrids. I would treat them as herbivores as they are mbuna.

kimb

Thanks for looking up Angela, I am o.k with hybrids, my fave fish are my BP's. They are healthy and happy. In my book, thats all that counts. Will feed as herbivore, and keep tank settings where they are at. Thanks again!

Angela_96

if ur not into it for breeding hybrids are great.
one of the prettiest mbuna I have is a hybrid and I woulndt trade him for the world.

kimb

No, breeding is not in my mind with these guys. Being a purebread dog owner, I certainly understand the necessity of keeping "pure bloodlines". That being said, I also own a mutt. I imagine with fish it is the same thing, that being said, hybrids are here. I think we can own them responsibly, and not water down the species any more than it already has been. I am trying to get my head around this whole African Cichlid thing, am I right that Mbuna is an "umbrella' term that is then broken down into subgroups? If you can explain it in simple terms to me I would appreciate it. I seem to see ALOT of tanks that are simply labelled "Africans"....not sure why? thanks in advance.