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I purchased a tank off a guy and we traded some fish, he told me that they are Haplochromis Nyererei. I am no African cichlid expert but can someone go to my sight from the icon below and look at the picture for Haplochromis Nyererei. Are these what I was told they are? I have had them about 6 months (they were less than 3/4" or 2 cm. (Now) They are all at about 6" or 15cm, which is larger than the profile says they should be. They are very aggressive eater that will literally look like they have eaten a jaw breaker. They are not afraid of my hands when I reach into the tank and actually bite at me, luckly I don't see any teeth. They all swim all over the tank, I think they eat everything from plant matter to black worms. They love picking up small rocks that have moss on them and kind of spin it around in their mouth. Speaking of ther mouth it is almost duck billed shaped, straight and broad. Any ideas folks? LOL Thanks... I think they are carp...lol


[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-08-28 21:54][/span]

[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-08-28 21:55][/span]

thats a bad picture. i cant tell what it is
do they look like any of these
http://www.cichlidrecipe.com/cichlidrecipe/crp14.htm

[span class="edited"][Edited by greenmonkey51 2004-08-28 21:59][/span]

Thank you and yes maybe Pundamilia sp. "Zebra Nyererei". I will have to see if they are this large. This evening I noticed one of the 6 is Darker than the others and showing some red in the tail. Sorry about picture, I will try to post a better one.

Size and mine show no egg spots, so now I think they are not the Zebra... Maybe they are a hybrid or something... They are basically gold/silver, but show some very pretty metalic colors at the right angles from the lights. I can see Reds, Greens, Turquoise~blues, and yellow. Does anyone know when this type of fish reaches its sexual maturity because it says they are very, very aggressive to each other, but I have not see any of this...if anything they kind of school. They don't bother the frontosa's or Peacocks either... ?

[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-08-29 09:49][/span]

OK, I posted some additional pictures any ideas of what these 6" (and still growing) fish are? Thanks

I can't really tell you what fish it is but 1 thing that I'm 100% sure of is that they are not Haplochromis nyererei. Maybe it's some sort of Tilapia

Tilapia... Dang gone, I think that is what they may be? How in the world... I can tell you all one thing these things grow fast! What will I do with Tilapia...and no I'm not going to eat them.

I'm not 100% sure either, but it kind of looks like a juvenile Oreochromis tanganicae...the only tilapia native to Lake Tanganyika. They grow huge...Rusty Wessel has several in a 265 gallon tank and the dominant male is every bit of 16" and he said they're not nearly done growing. They are absolutely gorgeous as adults though, but from what I could tell highly territorial.

Jason

Jason, I do believe you are correct! I can see that the head shape is starting to change on the larger fish. Well, they are in my 700 with the fronts and peacocks so I will just have to wait and see. Thanks to everyone for your input. Rick