Lake Malawi Species • Mainganos?

[Andy88]

I believe these are Pseudotropheus cyaneorhabdos (mainganos?)...

Am I correct in this? I know the johanni look similar but are dimorphic and juvies tend to be yellow (I believe)

[Releasethekracken]

This appears to be a johanni in my opinion

[Mr Chromedome]

They are definitely not johanni, but I couldn't say for certain that they are pure cyaneorhabdos, either. Hybrids are very common, possibly even more common than either of those species. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable about how to differentiate Maingano from hybrids will come along.

[Andy88]

Aren't they both from lake Malawi as well?

Thanks for answers, any further input will be appreciated as I'm trying to get rid of some males and get some females.

[Releasethekracken]

I have the middle pictured one and everyone told me is was a johanni

[Mr Chromedome]

I have the middle pictured one and everyone told me is was a johanni

The two species are certainly very close, but given a group of fish, it is easy to say they are not johanni because the juveniles and females are not yellow.

[noki]

If they are consistent with the horizontal stripes, and they are all some shade of blue, they are probably Maingano. The problem is that hybrids are actually more common than pure Maingano. A commonly sold hybrid is called "Electric Blue Johanni". Yours look better than those, but it is hard to know what you buy is pure Maingano or not.