"assorted" Id Please?

[Vivid-Dawn]

So, I wanted my tank themed in blue and yellow. Electric Yellow cichlids are easy enough. But there's so many blue types! I got impatient, and just went to Petsmart (wasn't gonna get fish, just "stuff"..food, chemicles, test kits, etc.), and saw blue striped ones. They were colorful, and active, and...named "Assorted Cichlids" AURGH!
So now I think I know what they are. Anybody wanna confirm/disagree?
Pseudotropheus saulosi (dunno common name) ...they might be Pseudotropheus demasoni, but I don't think so. I can't see any egg spots on the bottom fins, so that doesn't help much!

They're mature by now, I'm pretty sure. They were only an inch long when I got 'em, but that was about 4 months ago. Now they're about two inches and more colorful.

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

They look like Pseudotropheus demasoni (Mozambique strain) to me. But I'm no expert. They are very aggressive lil fish too. If they are all males in that tank you could end up with some issues.
Hugs,
P.

 

[sylvia]

I'm somewhat unsure. The thing is, if they are saulosi, they're all male. Yet they were blue to begin with? And none have egg spots.

They do look very much like pseudotropheus demasoni (could be the mozambique strain) but then I'd think them more likely to be females than males - first because they have no egg spots but, more obviously IMO, because they'd be very aggressive if they were mature males.

I'm inclined to agree with Miss Dib Dabs - mostly because it's unlikely you have a tank full of male saulosi that, whilst immature, were, none the less, blue (were they though? You didn't actualy say).

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

Darn there being so many strains of malawi cichlids eh.
Actually yes that is a good point. Were they blue to start with? If they were young and Saulosi then they'd have been yellow? Or shown signs of yellow on them still. Having not had them growing up in my tank am not sure when or how long the colour morph takes. I do know Socolofi are really very dark when babies though. Since they're currently live and swimming in my tank.
Hugs,
P.

 

[Vivid-Dawn]

I suppose more information would be helpful ;p

They looked exactly as they do now, but were just smaller. They're actually pretty shy...then again, my male Electric Yellow dominates even my Rainbows ever so often. So for Christmas, I got extra caves so everybody could hide from each other (my catfish were hogging the one I already had).
I updated my signature too... been a while since I've been here!

I actually was gonna get Scofoli, but kept reading they were more aggressive than EYs...so I figured I shouldn't buy them. Or maybe I did after all...? LOL

(edit) I had 3, but one died. Dunno if I should get another, since my tank is just about fully stocked now...
And, but "more colorful", I mean the colors are more vibrant. I figure they were stressed in the pet shop, and/or still a bit young.

 

[sylvia]

I don't know - if they were blue to begin with they can't have been saulosi so they must be demasoni (unless there's another fish that looks similar).
As for socolofi - those aren't socolofi BTW - they aren't as aggressive, IME, as people make them out to be. My favourite combination for mbuna has always been yellow labs, p. acei, p. socolofi, p. saulosi and rusties (iodotropheus sprengerae). If you are careful with the sex ratios and numbers, you can get a lovely balance of colors and only a little aggression and the rusties have very unique red-brown coloring to add to the yellow, blue and purple of the other 4 species.
You'd better not add anything if you don't have room for any more (though over-stocking mbuna is reccomended - provided you have filtration/a maintainance schedule to cope).

 

[Ben]

Looks like Demansoni, but i'm going to go with Hybrid Pseudotropheus sp.
Most fish in assorted tanks are hybrid unfortunatly.

DD

 

[Vivid-Dawn]

Thankies to all for the comments!

I don't really care about breed (even hybrids) or sex, just simply curious. The only fish I'd ever breed are guppies or bettas, and they're plenty easy to tell sexes of, and breed strands.

I suppose I could add more, since I do a 10% water change twice a week, and my filter is for "up to 70 gallons", and I have barely 50. And as I said, they're shy. I'm pretty sure both are males, since they have black stripes through their eyes...if I accidently got a female, it'd be horrible for all three!

 

[Metermaid]

Hi Vivid-Dawn, I notice from your sig that you have Pictus in your tank - just wondering if this works out well? - feeding etc? I love these fish ! (sorry to hijack)

 

[freddyk]

That doesn't look like an mbuna at all. I get the feeling that it's a Tanganyikan called Neolamprologus sexfasciatus juvis (it's got the right shape and number and shape of stripes), and though I'm not positive you should look more into it because if it is then they will cause a heck of a lot of trouble in that tank when they grow up if they are.

 

[Vivid-Dawn]

Metermaid
They're supposed to have soft water, but I found that out after I got 'em... but they seem to be doing fine. Ate my half dozen ghost shrimp within a week..or at least I assume it was them! And then I thought one had died and got cleaned up by the others, because I only noticed 2 around for a good month...come maintenance time (I take out & scrub off all decorations about 2-3 times a year), he'd been playing a really good game of Hide N Seek in my ceramic tree stump! LOL
I dunno what they eat, after the ghost shrimp incident... I put all sorts of junk in my tank, so they must like either plankton, daphnae, brine shrimp, cheap flake food, algae wafers, or cichlid pellets!

Freddyk
I'll look into that. I went to a generalized cichlid site, and was looking through the gallery, and the only pictures that looked like my fish, were the Pseudotropheus sp..

 

[sylvia]

This is what n. sexfasciatus looks like: http/www.ultimatefish.com/blue%20sexfasciatus.jpg These fish make a good replacement for people looking for a small frontosa (though they are considerably nastier ) but are deffinately not your fish.

 

[Vivid-Dawn]

Well, as I said, it doesn't matter too much. I'm just awfully curious!
They do kinda look like Neolamprologus sexfasciatus, except all but one picture I saw were yellow, rather than blue. Oh well. If they turn yellow in a little while, that's alright... all my decorations are blue, they just won't be able to hide as well anymore

 

[sylvia]

Lol - that's because there are two color morphs. They don't change color. Your fish are deffinately not n. sexfasciatus anyway. The head shape is completely wrong. If they were, you would have to care due to behaviour issues (aggression).

 

[G_Sharky]

Its a psedotropheus kenyi....males will turn yellow with black stripes and the females would stay the same color....