Species Identification Please!

2539 Views 6 Replies 3 Participants Last post by CBK, Jun 3, 2008

CBK

Discussion Starter · Jun 2, 2008

Hello forum, no0b here.

I've had an African Cichlid for about 2 years now and have recently added a 2nd to its tank. Immediately my original cichlid started doing a mating ritual ("shaking" next to the new cichlid, almost like vibrating).

I've been breeding fancy guppies for some time now, and if I have a male and a female cichlid that are willing to breed, I'd like to try that as well.

So the point is, I'd like some help identifying the species that I have from these photos:

My original cichlid:

He likes to change color, going from a light pinkish color with dark stripes to yellow with gray stripes and a bluish sheen. He has 5 egg spots on his anal fin and I've been led to believe that he is male because of the egg spots. This is the one that was doing the boogie dance mating ritual.

My latest addition:

When I first got this one a few days ago, it was nearly white with some very faint light gray stripes. Since I put it in with my original cichlid, it has developed a very pretty bluish sheen to it, and it's stripes have gotten darker.

Thanks for reading my thread, and I look forward to learning a lot more from the community here!

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CBK

Discussion Starter · #2 · Jun 2, 2008

Looking through the GENUS GALLERY it looks like I may have a male and female M. lombardoi "Kenyi". Can anyone confirm this?

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Fogelhund

· #3 · Jun 3, 2008

The first fish appears to be a hybrid of some sort. It is a male, but egg spots are not indicative of gender.

The second is indeed a female M. lombardoi.

Mbuna are not pairing fish, and attempting to keep two in a tank usually results in the death of the weaker fish.

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xalow

· #4 · Jun 3, 2008

I don't believe the first picture is a male kenyi but the second one sure looks like a female to me. With the first fish, the egg spots aren't a sure way to figure out the sex.

Another side note unrelated to the ID is that with african cichlids you typically don't want just 1 male and 1 female. Most of them are polygymous fish and to keep agression levels down people tend to have several females to one male. Since you seem interested in breeding I would suggets that once someone IDs that first fish you get more of that preferably with more females than you get males. The Kenyi are a very aggressive fish though which is why I suggest you try to breed the first one and also because kenyi are fairly common (at least where I am) and because of their aggression its more difficult to sell of their fry (if thats your goal).

The vibrating that your fish did can also be a sign of aggression.

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xalow

· #5 · Jun 3, 2008

Sorry about the redundant post, must have been typign at the same time.

Fogelhund, do you think it is a hybrid because the verticle bars aren't complete? It certainly has an interesting coloration.

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Fogelhund

· #6 · Jun 3, 2008

xalow said:
Fogelhund, do you think it is a hybrid because the verticle bars aren't complete? It certainly has an interesting coloration.

The patterns just aren't consistent with any known fish. It has hints of an elongatus complex fish, the closest maybe being flavus, but it isn't that... and from there...

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CBK

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jun 3, 2008

Thanks for your help, guys. I'm getting confirmation that the female is indeed a Kenyi, and that the male is some type of hybrid. Breeding the guppies has been a hobby, but not for profit. If these two end up having babies, I wouldn't sell them but instead put them into my larger tank.

Here's a few more pics that are a bit clearer.