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I have recently purchased two fish that were labeled as Electric Yellow Labidochromis's from different stores but they do not look exactly alike? The have the same body structure and the fins are similar but the colors are not the same. I would really appreicate anyones help in figuring out what they truly are. If they both are Electric Yellows is the difference male vs female, and if so which is which? If only one is an Electric Yellow can someone tell me which one and give me a hint as to what the other might be? I have uploaded some pictures to snapfish for you to use as a reference.

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=275224560/a=30398410_30398410/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink

The pictures don't quite do them justice, EYL 1 is entirely banana yellow with a thin black line in the dorsal fin and a white spot on the anal fin. It is about 2.5 inches long int the picture. EYL 2 is more of a pale yellow with very faint verticle (almost white) stripes and white/clear fins. It has a a large black line through the dorsal fin. It is just over 2 inches in the pictures. I apologize for the lengthy post but wanted to make sure I gave all necessary information. Thank you for your time with this and it is greatly appreciated!

75gal Malawi-Electric Yellows, Demasonis, Elongatus Mpangas, Red Top Hongis, Auratus, Red Zebras, Clown Loaches

180gal C/A-1 Green Terror, 1 Red Devil, 1 Jack Dempsey, 2 EB Jack Dempsey, 2 Salvini's, 5 Firemouths, 1 Striped Raphael, Common Pleco

LOOK HERE

This is a link to a lot of photos of "Electric Yellow Labidochromis" see if this helps you. Is it possible one could be in excellent condition and the other be a poor quality in breed which is stressed out.
What ever it is I would only keep the correct one and return the other one immediatly UNLESS they are a pair.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info
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Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

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Sorry im not gona join the picture viewing site to look at pics. maybe use a less complicated site like imageshack, photobucket, or webshots to host pictures.

Chances are they are both yellow labs but different variants. Locations have a habit of effecting the colors when dealing with fish.

This link is of one variant.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=713
Notice its all yellow including above the black line ont he dorsal fin. Also its belly is all yellow.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1665
This link shows another variant with white above the black line and a white belly.

If this is the case with your its best to return one as you dont combine the 2 species. I would also suggest having atleast 5 of these fish. They dont form pairs but rather harems which is 1 male and multiple females. They are aslo MBuna which is a type of fish from lake malawi. Concider them very agressive compared to your normal off the rack fish like neons or other tetras.

They also need a fairly large tank due to this agression. If its just the one species with 5 total fish then a 3ft tank might be enough if plenty of rock work is given. Really though the best situation is a 4ft tank (55g or bigger) due to the agression. this gives them room to run away when needed.

Do some research and read up. those links above shoudl give you plenty of info to start with.

Keithgh & Sin in Style, thank you both for the quick replies. I was not aware of the harem scenario so I will have to watch for that as I go forward. Also looking through the pictures they both appear to be Electric Yellows, maybe different variants. I appreciate you helping me solve that piece of the puzzle. Now that we have that covered I have another question which I am sure will show my lack of understanding for cichlids. This is my first cichlid tank so I am new to the concept of a mouth brooder with babies. based on thier sizes: more colorful fish being about 2.5-3 inches and the less colorful one being 2-2.5 inches could they possibly have spawned? The smaller one has not eaten in two days and its mouth is slightly puffed out where the throat would be? it has also dug a pit in the gravel inside one of the rock caves. Neither of them have ever dug in the gravel before so I want to make sure I am not missing obvious signs... Again, your help is GREATLY appreciated.

75gal Malawi-Electric Yellows, Demasonis, Elongatus Mpangas, Red Top Hongis, Auratus, Red Zebras, Clown Loaches

180gal C/A-1 Green Terror, 1 Red Devil, 1 Jack Dempsey, 2 EB Jack Dempsey, 2 Salvini's, 5 Firemouths, 1 Striped Raphael, Common Pleco

I have never had mouth breeders at all sorry I could not help you there at all. If you do a Google "Cichlid mouth brooder", or "Cichlid mouth breeder".

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info
Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

sexing them is easy, look for the egg spots.

both male and females have eggspots oddly enough. sometimes males will have more or larger spots. better odds but not perfect way to tell is how much black is on the top and bottom fins. if there is alot then its prolly a male if there it little it could be a female.

The gravel digging is natural and once settled they will do it all the time but the puffed out throat sounds like someone is holding. Now it could be 1 of 3 things happening.

First is it could very well have fertile eggs which in a couple weeks will be fry.

Second is they could be unfertile eggs and she is just going through the motions and there is no male to fertilize them so will prolly only hold 2-5 days.

Lastly it could be gravel she picked up and decided to holdon to it like an egg, happens alot with gravel actually. They much perfer sand as its alot easier to digging but gravel is fine dont stress over it.

Provide lots of caves by either stacking rocks securely along the back or cutting some clay pots in half and interconnecting them.

Also the holding female wont eat a whole lot while holding onto whatever she has in her mouth. She might take little bits of flake or scraps floating in the water columb. not much room for serious eating and this can go on for 21 days give or take if they are fertile and she holds full term. Sometimes they swallow them due to so many threats in a tank. They wont spit naturally if they feel threatened in the tank. No point in giving competing fish free meals when she can have it all herself. yeah its like that with cichlids lol.

Thanks Everyone for your help! I set up a 20 gallon Thursday night to put her in so she can relax and do what needs to be done. I can also keep this tank running to raise the fry in. I figured I would wait until next week to move her so the tank had some time to cycle (I used 50% water, the bio wheel, and the filter media from the current tank). It looks like nothing to do but wait now...

75gal Malawi-Electric Yellows, Demasonis, Elongatus Mpangas, Red Top Hongis, Auratus, Red Zebras, Clown Loaches

180gal C/A-1 Green Terror, 1 Red Devil, 1 Jack Dempsey, 2 EB Jack Dempsey, 2 Salvini's, 5 Firemouths, 1 Striped Raphael, Common Pleco

Well momma Yellow finally let the babies go on Thursday, there ended up being 16 of them. That was quite a surprise as she is only the size of my thumb... no idea where she was hiding them all? I have a quick question on the babies... does anyone see any issues if I were to keep a few of them when they get bigger and put them in the main tank with Mom and Dad? My concern would be if the male (their dad) were to spawn with one of them, would that cause issues? It is obviously a very bad thing in the human world but wasn't sure how it would be in the fish world. Anyone's thoughts/experiences would be greatly appreciated.

75gal Malawi-Electric Yellows, Demasonis, Elongatus Mpangas, Red Top Hongis, Auratus, Red Zebras, Clown Loaches

180gal C/A-1 Green Terror, 1 Red Devil, 1 Jack Dempsey, 2 EB Jack Dempsey, 2 Salvini's, 5 Firemouths, 1 Striped Raphael, Common Pleco