Labeo Trewavasae

1016 Views 11 Replies 4 Participants Last post by Kanorin, Dec 28, 2010

JimNY

Discussion Starter · Dec 26, 2010

I have had 3 L. trewavasae's from the same tank at the LFS, first male dark blue w/red top dorsal fin, 2nd I was told was a female, mostly orange, slight violet color and orange/red top, it killed my first male and turned out to be a male, turned a cool shade of blue almost purple and an orange top, he died a month later from an ammonia spike, the 3rd was supposed to be a female, she/he was light orange/brown at the lfs, since I have had her 4 weeks, she /he is now so DARK, not blue but chocolate brown, some red in dorsal fin, then dark brown again on top, is it a male or female??, Anyone ever seen one like that color, no internet/profile pic of them looks like that, all fish were same tank of male/females the lfs was selling??

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cantrell00

· #2 · Dec 26, 2010

See my post below.. I am looking for an ID as well ...

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cantrell00

· #3 · Dec 26, 2010

Did they look like these>? They are about 2 -2.5" I have 4. 3 are the lighter color & 1 is dark.

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JimNY

Discussion Starter · #4 · Dec 26, 2010

the first pic was similar to male #2 I had, obviously yours are still juvies, but that is an L. trewavasae, probably will be a male based on the amount of blue in him, I can't posts pics now, but my male/female? is chocolate brown, dark, like piece of charcol. But definetly is a L. trewavasae, that distinct snout/nose is a dead giveaway.

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cantrell00

· #5 · Dec 27, 2010

I just bought them the other day.. They were all in the same tank.. At the time - I was thinking that the dark blue was a male & the 3 lighter colored ones were females of the red top strain. Now I think that they aren't. The fish in the 2nd & 3rd pic has a bright red dorsal & carries himself as a male. The other 2 don't...

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JimNY

Discussion Starter · #6 · Dec 27, 2010

the other 2 look like OB's (orange blotched) I have never had them, so i not sure but i think they can be male or female, females being more orange, I maybe wrong though with OB's.

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cantrell00

· #7 · Dec 27, 2010

Very well could be... I read somewhere that OB males are extremely rare. Don't know if that is true or not.

I think I may go back to the same LFS & buy more of both.. Let them grow up & see what happens... They are 10.00 / pc. maybe I can talk the guy into cutting me a deal... ? Seems kinda steep for trewavasae's...

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cantrell00

· #8 · Dec 27, 2010

Read it here.. 4th paragraph down...

OB (Orange-Blotched) patterns are very common among the Labeotropheus species. Females almost always sport the OB pattern, and males usually have a solid body color with lighter or different colored fins. OB males are very rare. Females and males are both equally large, reaching about 5-7 inches!

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/l_trewavasae.php

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JimNY

Discussion Starter · #9 · Dec 27, 2010

Ten is pricey for them, usually $5-7 each, the lfs here had males/females and on the tank said red top/orange top respectively, from what I,ve read thats wrong males can be red or orange topped and then like solid blue body or OB,etc.

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cantrell00

· #10 · Dec 27, 2010

In my case - I certainly agree...

Maybe this OB male will morph into a solid color? The blotches on him are definitely a dark purple. All three of the OB's have a red dorsal. He (??) has the most prominent and struts around in the tank like a male. Maybe a bad term, "strut", but you know what I mean...

BTW.. They aren't advertised as red tops. They have had them a really long time & the owner doesn't remember what they were sold to him as...

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pretty-nifty

· #11 · Dec 28, 2010

My L. trawavase male. He's about 2.5". My only male. Red top not quite defined. I saw the daddy, he's got a nice red top. I was told by the breeder that it will take some time to get more red at the top.

Different angle.

Female #1 is holding same size as the male.

Female #2. More close up. Different female. Smaller than #1

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Kanorin

· #12 · Dec 28, 2010

cantrell00 said:
Very well could be... I read somewhere that OB males are extremely rare. Don't know if that is true or not.

OB males are extremely rare in the wild. Once breeders get a hold of an OB male, they can selectively breed that male and get lots of OB males. So OB males aren't all that rare in fish stores. I would hope that your fish store would know if they are stocking a line where both males and females are OB.

Now back to the original post:

I have had 3 L. trewavasae's from the same tank at the LFS, first male dark blue w/red top dorsal fin, 2nd I was told was a female, mostly orange, slight violet color and orange/red top, it killed my first male and turned out to be a male, turned a cool shade of blue almost purple and an orange top, he died a month later from an ammonia spike, the 3rd was supposed to be a female, she/he was light orange/brown at the lfs, since I have had her 4 weeks, she /he is now so DARK, not blue but chocolate brown, some red in dorsal fin, then dark brown again on top, is it a male or female??, Anyone ever seen one like that color, no internet/profile pic of them looks like that, all fish were same tank of male/females the lfs was selling??

It sounds like those first two males could have been two different collection points of L. Trewavasae. Your 3rd Trewavasae is either in immature or subdominant male or a non-OB female (these are uncommon but do exist). What else is in your tank with them? What size tank do you have?

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