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Pseudotropheus Saulosi Species Confirmation

345 Views 9 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  SenorStrum
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Hi All,

upon tank set up I bought a bunch of Juvenile Saulosi which have all turned out to be female. This was about a year ago. About a 2 months ago I was sold a pair of Males or at least that is what I was led to believe under the impression that they aren't fully coloured up yet. The did have the blue and black colouring I was expecting. Since adding to my tank interesting things have happened to the colouration. First about the Tank....

4ft, 90 Gallon, Overstocked for aggression (has been working well), Red Zebras, Cobalt Blues, OB's, Yellow Tail Acei, Joanjohnsonae and the Saulosi, tank boss is the biggest Red Zebra followed by the Male Saulosi in question with third in charge being a Male OB. All in all they a pretty peaceful tolerant of each other..

Back to the Saulosi. a while after being introduced to the tank I notice the bigger of the 2 males began to revert to a more yellow blue colouration with definite black bars especially when on a mission. The sub dominant male becomes very dark. in most cases I have seem the sub-com becomes a lighter shade of blue. he does show the blue and black every now and then but never in the presence of the dominant male. So... the 64million dollar question is... can we confirm from the pictures attached that these fish are in fact male Saulosi perhaps still going through colour change?

Thanks in advance for you thoughts.

JD
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My first thought was getting all females is completely opposite of the usual saulosi experience. Then when your new colored males started coloring down, I wonder if you could have had a lot of males originally, and they were keeping their juvenile (female) coloration to avoid conflict.

Those of us who are good at ID hang out in Unidentified so I moved the thread here. The 2 new males were fully colored when you first got them, correct?
Hmmm. interesting thought. the males didn't appear to be fully coloured but definitely less yellow in the dominant male. The sub dominant hasn't returned to yellow, just become dark. Bought the others quite young unsure of what they would be but at over aat almost a year and a half I am assuming if there were any males in that lot they would have shown some colour by now hence my assumption they are female.

Thanks for moving the post btw.
If alone in a tank a male should color up. I would try moving one.
Yeah I've got another tank coming so I'll give that a shot and see what happens. I was considering shifting all the Saulosi into a species tank anyway.
I don't think those two males are real or pure Saulosi. The dom male doesn't seem to color up right and he has a more pointed mouth than the normal rounded face. Certainly not for saving fry with those males.
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Yeah, looks like there's a bit of zebra or something in there maybe even Kenyi. Watching him today he's been super aggressive too. Even giving the to large Red Zebras the run around
Okay.... now that I've got through living **** trying to remove that dominant male from the tank (was probably time to rearrange the rocks anyway), the sub dominant male has assumed the Pictured colours which is more what I would expect I couldn't get the best angle he was a bit camera shy
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. I'll watch for a few days and see what happens.
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Might be Cynotilapia hybrids..? No way they are pure Saulosi males .
unfortunately, I have to agree with Noki here. My first thought is that that fish does not look at all like my Sualosi, dominant, non-dominant, or turning. Even once the other male is removed, it looks too purple to me.
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