Johanni Question

[Auratus]

I was looking at some young males in the lfs and some had distinct vertical blue bars and some had more of a checkered black and blue pattern. Is this a juvi thing or is one just considered "electric blue"? When I googled them I found pictures of both types.
The guy at the lfs tried to get me to buy one of each and let him know what happened with the colors lol

 

[dthoffsett]

I've seen both coloring advertised as well, I'm not sure if the diamond patterend is poor genetics or a different variant. Sorry I couldn't be more help than that.

 

[Realtree]

My juvenile male has the diamond pattern above the lateral line and what looks like the solid bar developing below it - he hasn't coloured up yet and is approx 2 " long
Also have 2 females one is totally yellow the other has a brownish horizontal stripe along the lateral All 3 are from the same batch of fry - so I guess that there is variation between individuals.

 

[lalo99]

There are many different electric blue Johannis. The two pics you have in the first post are not the same species. The first looks like Melanochromis interruptus the second appears to be either Melanochromis johannii or Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos. Females/Juvie johannis are yellow and female/Juvie cyaneorhabdos will stay the same color as the males. Do not mix the two. I'm pretty sure Johanniis have a solid top strip and a broken bottom one. I could be wrong on that. Its been a long time since i had Johanniis