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Well I have purchased some new fishies of the cichlid area. Now i got 4... and i dont know what the other 3 are....so i will best describe to my ability to let you help me to find out what they are.
1) a light powder blue... with a yellow egg spot on the anal fish.
2) a powder blue .. with darker vertical blue stripes...
3) yellow.. with black horizontal stripes.. kind of looks like an auratus... but im not sure....

I took the plunge and got the mixed bunch at wally world...and i got an electric blue johanni there too! plus this wally world is NEW so the water wont be as contaminated... they are all healthy.. thanks!

72 gallon bowfront:Tanganyikan Lake set up
75 gallon: A. Baenschi trio,Cyanotilapia Afra Cobwe(4), copadichromis trewavase, protomelas sp. tangerine tiger(breeding pair)

Can you post some pics please?

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There is always a bigger fish...

Well one thing is for certain their all Lake Malawi cichlids.
1)Possibly a Powder Blue Cichlid(pseudotropheus socolofi)
2)Maybe an Afra (cynotilapia afra)
3)Most definitly is a female auratus.
Without photos 1 and 2 will be very hard to identify. If you are unable to find them in the profiles on this web site you may want to do a search on Malawicichlids.com.

Well one thing is for certain their all Lake Malawi cichlids.
1)Possibly a Powder Blue Cichlid(pseudotropheus socolofi)
2)Maybe an Afra (cynotilapia afra)
3)Most definitly is a female auratus.

??? Have you seen her fish? You must have, because there are several fish from Lake Tanganyika that look like any of those discriptions, even number three.

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There is always a bigger fish...

I am not able to post pics.. no camera.. I did the best in describing the fish....now obviously species can't be so close in coloration.. that you dont know what they are??

72 gallon bowfront:Tanganyikan Lake set up
75 gallon: A. Baenschi trio,Cyanotilapia Afra Cobwe(4), copadichromis trewavase, protomelas sp. tangerine tiger(breeding pair)

I am not able to post pics.. no camera.. I did the best in describing the fish....now obviously species can't be so close in coloration.. that you dont know what they are??

You'd be very surprised...

OK, to show comparisons to your descriptions with fish from different Lakes (endemic to those lakes);

1) a light powder blue... with a yellow egg spot on the anal fish.

Lake Malawi;

2) a powder blue .. with darker vertical blue stripes...

Lake Malawi;




Tanyanyika;

3) yellow.. with black horizontal stripes.. kind of looks like an auratus... but im not sure....

Lake Tanganyika;



And there are sooo many more, it would take me a week to find all the different ones out there.[/font][/font][/font][/font][/font][/font][/font][/font][/font][/font][/font]

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There is always a bigger fish...

i can definitely say it is not a Julii... the body shape is not like that.. its wider.. more like an auratus...

72 gallon bowfront:Tanganyikan Lake set up
75 gallon: A. Baenschi trio,Cyanotilapia Afra Cobwe(4), copadichromis trewavase, protomelas sp. tangerine tiger(breeding pair)

and the light powder blue has no vertical banding of any kind... it is very light.

Last edited by Tanya81 at 29-Nov-2004 12:23

72 gallon bowfront:Tanganyikan Lake set up
75 gallon: A. Baenschi trio,Cyanotilapia Afra Cobwe(4), copadichromis trewavase, protomelas sp. tangerine tiger(breeding pair)

Many times the pollits do not show their stipes.

But I was just trying to show that by your discriptions, there are a bunch of choices.

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There is always a bigger fish...

I don't think Tanganyikans are usually found in assorted cichlid tanks, but I could be wrong.

I agree though, there are many many african cichlids with similar colouring, and many that change colouring as they get older as well. But socolofi (or maybe cobalt zebra), afra (or maybe a female kenyi, or male saulosi) and auratus sound pretty likely. Hybrids are possibe as well. Probably you will not get a definite ID until they are adults. BTW, if you do have an auratus, you will probably want to return it to the LFS. These guys (even the girls!) are incredibly mean. They really need a very large species tank, or a very very large tank with lots of hiding places for other fish. And they should NEVER be kept with other melanochromis species like johannii.

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. - Oscar Wilde

they are mean, just like other fish. But if u have enough aggresion around the tank to spread it around, shouldn't be a problem. Like the johannii prior to new tankmates, he was becoming dominate male, but after adding many more males with him, the aggression is so much it makes him go into circles.