FishProfiles.com Message Forums

As I've mentioned on a few forums, the sad truth is that we only have two LFS on our island out here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Most tropical fish are imported from Taiwan, the Philippines or Singapore...and as a former pet store manager, and aquarium design and maintenance biz owner, I know that a lot of hanky panky goes on in those places...hormones, etc.

Anyway, this LFS had several tanks labeled as "Cichlids". Yep...that was it...no scientific names...not even English names. Being as I only have a four-foot tank which holds 45 gallons of water when empty, I was thinking about getting half a dozen of something simple and hardy, like Zebra Convicts. Then I saw this one "Cichlids" tank on the end of one row which had these pretty blue striped nameless cichlids in it.

I questioned two employees about them, and they were both clueless, but they said that the owner would know when she arrived shortly, being as she made the fish orders.

Of course, while I waited for the owner to arrive, I pointed out to one of the employees that they really needed to provide more info regarding the fish that they sell. I told him that inexperienced aquarists might not mind a tank labeled as "Cichlids", but for someone like me, a serious aquarist who has been in and out of the hobby for some forty years, their approach was very unprofessional, and didn't encourage confidence.

Well, things got worse.

The owner arrived. I had suggested to one of the employees that all the owner had to do was look at her invoice for the previous shipment in order to determine the identity of the fish in which I was interested. I waited a while and then approached the owner who was busy looking at a book.

Are you ready for this one?

I asked her about the fish in question. She pointed to a picture in the book and said that the fish in the end tank were Protomelas Spilonotus Tanzania, and that they would develop the yellow belly as they matured.

Oh yes...I can hear you letting out a gasp of disbelief way over here!

I was equally clueless regarding the identity of the fish, as I found four possible species in the two books that I had carried with me to the store. Yes, I do that!

Anyway, I accepted what she said at face value...that is, until I began inquiring online. GULP!

I've had these fish for two months now, they've grown considerably, and it is quite obvious that they are NOT Protomelas Spilonotus Tanzania, and don't even have the body shape of Protomelas Spilonotus Tanzania, but are in fact like little torpedoes...just like M. Johanni and M. Cyaneorhabdos.

So at $5 each, I've got five fish that may possibly be M. Johanni/M. Cyaneorhabdos hybrids, or maybe M. Johanni/M. Auratus hybrids, or who-knows-what.

That's the story in a nutshell.

BTW, this is NOT the store where I worked almost 20 years ago. I worked at the other one, and we used English and/or scientific names. I strongly believed in educating the patrons of our business regarding the care of their fish.

I guess I take my LFS for granted most the time. with both scientific and common names listed for each tank and employees that would rather chat with me about which breeder they came from then to stock shelves. Row after row of just cichlids out numbering the bread and butter fish 6 to 1.

Last time I bought a fish I walked in and the owner spotted me from the other side of the shop. He was shoulder deep cleaning a tank as always. Before even reaching me hes listing off the new fish he got for the week and like a kid with a new toy by the time he reached me he "had to show me something". So as I followed him he tells me a story about a breeder offering a fish so cheap he couldnt refuse buying everything they had.

So we get to the tank and its full of these dull blue fish that you can just make out vertical striping. I tellem that in my experience stripes in africans mean really aggressive. He gives me full info and tells me the colors will be great after some time in a real tank.

So I come home with a bag of a single mystery fish. He had the info but i had no idea what it was. Go through all the acclimating ect and search online for the scientific name as he dripped.

Pseudotropheus demasoni
picture is of actual fish in my tank.
http://inlinethumb49.webshots.com/40624/2463043580053844551S600x600Q85.jpg

You need to move to New Hampshire in the states

Nice looking fish. How big is he?

full size. 4 inch i believe. aggression isnt as bad as i thought it might be. "She" gets moody when she has eggs. she lays them regardless of company. The other fish are aware of her mood swings as you can find them on the OTHER side of the tank when shes in a mood. Watching though its purely chasing nothing ever serious.

When you say "she lays them regardless of company", are you saying that she has no mate and lays eggs regardless?

I have one aggressive mbuna which spawned on June 15th. She would even spar with Bully Boy, my dominant male. I doubted that her eggs had even been fertilized because of her aggression, and sure enough, a few days later, she appeared to no longer be holding eggs. Now that's being too aggressive!

ya exactly. she will "shimmy" up and down the side glass in a corner by the filter intake. Then after a few trips up and down a egg will appear. she will turn and pick it up and repeat. no other fish go near her and no other demasoni are in the tank. She then holds for 2-3 days then they are eaten i assume.

That poor fish needs a man in her life!

well the problem with them is serious aggression within species. if i wanted to give her a man i would need to add 1 male and like 19 females lol. this is why i only brought one home

I know exactly what you mean.

When I was breeding the Red Kadango variety of Copadichromis Borleyi several years ago -- just calling it breeding is a joke -- it seemed that no matter how many females that guy had, it was never enough. He was a constant "wife-beater".

Well, sadly, his day eventually came when one of his own offspring basically killed him in the course of an hour before I was able to get him out of the tank.

No father/son love relationship there!