My Cichlid, Id Please

[justmatt]

Heres my cichlid in his tempory home for a day or 2, can anyone id him for me.

 

[denis coghlan]

Hey, it looks like a skinny juvenile male Pseudotropheus sp. Mpanga

I could be wrong though, here is one of mine below. Your fish looks like it has great genetic quality as the bars on its flanks are all completely formed, there are many of them and they seem to be very well spaced. Nice looking fish.


Mine does not have the best genetic quality as you can see for yourself

Hope this is some help. Nick sw also has mpanga so he can confirm or deny my ID'ing.

 

[justmatt]

cool thanks.

he is only about the size of a guppie at the moment, any idea how old that wuld be roughly?

 

[Druchii]

cool thanks.

he is only about the size of a guppie at the moment, any idea how old that wuld be roughly?

Ps. elongatus mpanga - I agree....


no - you can not tell - depend upon diet and what it's been in with - I have fry in my main tank that are 3 months old and still only a cm, however in my fry tanks i have fish at 2cm and they are only a month old....

HTH.

 

[justmatt]

yes it did.

thankyou

 

[denis coghlan]

Hi justmatt

Considering that the fish in question is showing very mature adult colouration it would lead me to believe that it would have to be more than half a year old (This is just an estimate). From personal experience I have found the mpanga to be relatively slow growing in terms of cichlids so this may have something to do with his small size.

But on reviewing the picture of the fish again, the abdomen of the fish looks very sunken and depressed. For a mpanga showing such mature colouration I would expect it to be far larger than a guppy. Thus I believe that the fish might have an internal problem of some kind and is not able to digest its food properly or it may be in a tank where there is a high level of competition for food and it is not getting enough.


Can I ask what you are feeding with? and what type of setup it is in?

tanks

 

[justmatt]

Hi justmatt

Considering that the fish in question is showing very mature adult colouration it would lead me to believe that it would have to be more than half a year old (This is just an estimate). From personal experience I have found the mpanga to be relatively slow growing in terms of cichlids so this may have something to do with his small size.

But on reviewing the picture of the fish again, the abdomen of the fish looks very sunken and depressed. For a mpanga showing such mature colouration I would expect it to be far larger than a guppy. Thus I believe that the fish might have an internal problem of some kind and is not able to digest its food properly or it may be in a tank where there is a high level of competition for food and it is not getting enough.


Can I ask what you are feeding with? and what type of setup it is in?

tanks

its just in a tank with the guppie at the moment until i get my other tank sorted again and was in a tank with a lot of other cichlids before that, which were all of similar size and maybe 2 or 3 bigger ones.
Tank is well matured/filterd and correct temp.

Feeding on a shrimp/krill flake food, blood worms and tubifex worms (not all at once though).

Maybe he was struggling to get food being in a tank with about 15 other cichlids and 3 of them were bigger then he was.
he seems happy enough, i will keep a close eye on him for the minute and if he dosent look like he is improving i will move the guppie out in to another tank as i know this tank he is in now has got good levels.

 

[denis coghlan]

Feeding on a shrimp/krill flake food, blood worms and tubifex worms (not all at once though)

The protein levels in food you are feeding are far too high for mbuna cichlid, such as the "mpanga". Mainly in the wild they are herbivores but at some stage I am sure they are opportunistic feeders and will eat a bit of protein rich insect now and then, but the mainstay of their diet is cellulose/plant material of some type or another. Due to the fact that they are mostly herbivorous their digestions system have not evolved to handle large amounts of protein. As a result of this their digestive system malfunction and they can get what is know as bloat or other internal problems.

I would recommend that you stop feeding the high protein rich foods and use something with a high veg content that includes Spirulina. I use TetraPro Vegetable and I would recommend it. I also think ferris uses it and he knows a thing or two about African cichlids.

 

[justmatt]

Feeding on a shrimp/krill flake food, blood worms and tubifex worms (not all at once though)

The protein levels in food you are feeding are far too high for mbuna cichlid, such as the "mpanga". Mainly in the wild they are herbivores but at some stage I am sure they are opportunistic feeders and will eat a bit of protein rich insect now and then, but the mainstay of their diet is cellulose/plant material of some type or another. Due to the fact that they are mostly herbivorous their digestions system have not evolved to handle large amounts of protein. As a result of this their digestive system malfunction and they can get what is know as bloat or other internal problems.

I would recommend that you stop feeding the high protein rich foods and use something with a high veg content that includes Spirulina. I use TetraPro Vegetable and I would recommend it. I also think ferris uses it and he knows a thing or two about African cichlids.

i shall grab myself a pot of it.

Thanks for the tips.

 

[denis coghlan]

I would also try feeding raw vegetable as it help aid digestion, increase roughage and helps keep your fish regular!!!!

Shelled peas, cucumber... they will eat most things! Other people may have additional suggestion. At the top of the African cichlid forum page there is a pinned page called "Feeding Mbuna ", if you haven't already read it, I would highly recommend that you do.

 

[justmatt]

i gave him some of the little round bits off of a chunk of borccoli, he grab as many as he could hold in his mouth at once and went off into a corner and ate them.

 

[justmatt]

may aswell ask this here instead of making a new thread.

The second hand tank i bought came with a Hydor crystal R05 Duo or a Hydor crystal R10 Duo, cant tell which as the writing on the label is unreadable.

it has a compartment for putting in charcoal, natural granulate lava, zeolite or ceramic (what i can find on the hydor spare parts list).. or i imagine you can put in a combination of them.
Would any of theese things be beneficial to have in a cichlid tank, or shall i just put some fine floss in there to go with the filter sponge??