Unidentified Cichlids • Malawi Hap ID

[Frigid Blue]

Bought this pair of Malawi Haps from a reputable dealer as a "F1 gracilis pair". After looking at pics of Mylochromis gracilis online, the spots on mine lead me to believe these are some sort of Stigmatochromis(?). My guess would be Stigmatochromis sp. spilostichus type... Any ideas?

Male:




Female:


In this pic, he appears to be similiar to a S. fryeri, so I included a pic below that has both males for comparison. the S. fryeri is behind the mystery male.

[24Tropheus]

Interesting. My guess is all yours are fryeri crosses.

I guess could be pure Stigmatochromis of another species http://www.cichlidae.com/gallery/genus.php?id=236
But those tend not to be fish got by accident.

All the best James

[13razorbackfan]

Very nice though.....

[D*N*R]

Pic 3 looks like one of those tyrannosaurus wichamajigs

[m1ke715m]

protomelas spilontus tanzania crossed with a fryeri?

[Frigid Blue]

protomelas spilontus tanzania crossed with a fryeri?

Lol, that would be pretty interesting... Funny thing is, I have breeding groups of both the spilonotus and the fryeri in the same tank but they completely ignore each other. Thanks for the input so far, keep guessing guys?

[Frigid Blue]

Forgot to mention that the pics above we're taken right after they were introduced into the tank. Since then the male has developed some yellow in the belly and pectoral fins. I can post some updated ones if necessary.


Found some more images. Think this is pretty close?

http://www.livefishdirect.com/store.php?fid=901
http://www.malawimayhem.com/profile_show.php?id=552
http://www.malawimayhem.com/profile_show.php?id=730

In the last set of pics the fish appear to have smaller spots in between the 3 larger ones. I guess they appear when they're stressed or subdominant?

[Frigid Blue]

Could it be this one? The female pic looks different compared to mine, but the male looks very similar. Perhaps she just needs to fatten up first?

http://www.onzemalawicichliden.eu/Besta ... 20eng.html

[gverde]

It's definitely not Stigmatochromis Spilostictus. I have a pure adult in my all male tank and he doesn't have any yellow orange in the under belly. His body isn't all blue either, only in the head. He also has dark irregular patches on the body. It has a lot of the Protomelas sp. "Spilonotus Tanzania" coloring but his head is more angled like a S. Freyeri. Actually it also looks similar to a variant of O. Lithobates without the blaze. The 3 spots is a dead giveaway because all O. Lithobates have them.

[gverde]

It's definitely not Stigmatochromis Spilostictus. I have a pure adult in my all male tank and he doesn't have any yellow orange in the under belly. His body isn't all blue either, only in the head. He also has dark irregular patches on the body. It has a lot of the Protomelas sp. "Spilonotus Tanzania" coloring but his head is more angled like a S. Freyeri.

[m1ke715m]

whatever it is.. it sure looks like a predator.. i wouldnt put any juvies in that tank he'll eat them