[KOKORO]

Bought these 1 inch juvies as transcriptus but they dont look much like any of the transciptus I've seen when browsing the net. I have read somewhere that some strains can be missing the vertical barring and the horizontal lines on these are kind of patchy and broken, not solid like you would expect to see on ornatus.

To me they look more like some dickfeldi *** seen but I've only got google images to go by. Anyone care to make an educated guess on which genus I have?

Sorry if the image is not great, I am posting from my phone.

 

[nmonigold87]

Looks like Julidochromis dickfeldi to me. Heres the link to their page in the profile section http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1525

 

[prov356]

Dickfeldi :thumb: Nice fish.

 

[Furcifer158]

Dickfeldi :thumb: Nice fish.

agreed

 

[KOKORO]

Thanks!

I was planning for Transcriptus but Dickfeldi will be fine. I am heading for a community with calvus, cyps and shellies on the way, at least I didn't end up with regani!

Anyway I am very happy with these guys, they settled in super quick and are not shy at all.

They are already displaying to each other (all fins erect) and sometimes they get along side each other head to tail, clamp thier fins and shake/shiver with thier bodies kind of tilted towards each other. Not sure if this is aggression or courting behaviour but I would have thought they were too small to be thinking about such things!

Hoping to get a pair out of this 6. Anyone know what age/size they should start to pair off?

 

[prov356]

Courting behavior and they look old enough. Enjoy them.

 

[triscuit]

I've bred transcriptus, marlieri, and regani, but I'm a bit ignorant about the other julies... :lol: Can someone explain the differences between ornatus and dickfeldi for me?

 

[prov356]

Dickfeldi get larger, deeper bodied, while ornatus are more torpedo shaped, and the mouth structure is a bit different also. Dickfeldi look more like chalinochromis and may be more related to chalinochromis than julidichromis according to some.

From CRC:

Is Julidochromis dickfeldi really a Julie? They are only found in the rocky habitat in the southwest part of the lake, and feed like Chalinochromis popelini. It has a different body shape from the other Julies, with more of a pointed nose. It has a wonderful blue sheen in the body as well as blue fringing on the dorsal and tail. The dorsal fin appears larger than in the other Julies while the 3 horizontal stripes are more intense than in ornatus. Dickfeldi seem to fall in between the giants Julies (J. regani and J. marlieri) and the dwarf Julies (J. transcriptus and J. ornatus) and usually are around 10 cm. (4 inches), the males are typically larger than females.

 

[baslozer]

Dickfeldi young for sure.

 

[bigcatsrus]

Dickfeldi get larger, deeper bodied, while ornatus are more torpedo shaped, and the mouth structure is a bit different also. Dickfeldi look more like chalinochromis and may be more related to chalinochromis than julidichromis according to some.

From CRC:

Is Julidochromis dickfeldi really a Julie? They are only found in the rocky habitat in the southwest part of the lake, and feed like Chalinochromis popelini. It has a different body shape from the other Julies, with more of a pointed nose. It has a wonderful blue sheen in the body as well as blue fringing on the dorsal and tail. The dorsal fin appears larger than in the other Julies while the 3 horizontal stripes are more intense than in ornatus. Dickfeldi seem to fall in between the giants Julies (J. regani and J. marlieri) and the dwarf Julies (J. transcriptus and J. ornatus) and usually are around 10 cm. (4 inches), the males are typically larger than females.

I have to disagree with the male being larger in the dickfeldi. I've had my guys for a few years now and it seems that the females are larger then the males. I haven't vented them but have seen my female lay her eggs and she seems bigger then my male and she seems to gaurd more then the male. This maybe just my guys but don't know if thats the case with anyone else??

 

[kiriyama]

Female bigger and bulkier in the Dickfeldi :thumb: :fish:

 

[prov356]

Interesting, because even Koning's books say males are bigger, but not by a lot. Even the CRC reference says 'typically' bigger males. So, maybe this is one that can vary.

 

[Furcifer158]

Interesting, because even Koning's books say males are bigger, but not by a lot. Even the CRC reference says 'typically' bigger males. So, maybe this is one that can vary.

Thats what I thought

 

[Fogelhund]

Anytime I've had them, the males were bigger.

 

[triscuit]

For awhile, I've assumed that julidochromis size dimorphism gets messed up in tank raised populations- in the wild, a small male could not compete against a larger male, but there's only so many other julies in a tank to have to compete with. I would assume that reputable, published sources are often looking at wild populations, or at least wild caught fish on which to write species profiles.

In otherwords, just because your julies were one way does not mean that's the species standard. :thumb:

 

[Furcifer158]

For awhile, I've assumed that julidochromis size dimorphism gets messed up in tank raised populations- in the wild, a small male could not compete against a larger male, but there's only so many other julies in a tank to have to compete with. I would assume that reputable, published sources are often looking at wild populations, or at least wild caught fish on which to write species profiles.

In otherwords, just because your julies were one way does not mean that's the species standard. :thumb:

Makes a lot of sense. I mostly by wild so I would not know what this is unless I owned a captive breed one.

 

[baslozer]

My female dickfeldi is much larger then my male.