tokyogasmask;4836893; said:Hi Jungle.
The PBB I am talking about is the Chad one. Maybe color is the wrong word, maybe contrast is better?
What I mean is at lower end or ph.6, they white and green kind of blended to an olive color. Now my water is at upper ph.6 - ph.7, there is a clear difference between green and white like bands.
As for the variants, I have 3 in total.
2 are certified as "Of Lake Turkana Parentage" and one is certified as "Of Lake Chad Parentage".
There is also some text on the certificate about from pure breed parentage, which I assume means both parents are pure wild caught.
They are from a group here in Japan called Kamihata, who do selective breeding of many fish.
I believe they are/were the first people in the world to breed pure PBB.
They are pretty reputable as a company, and I have been told they are something to do with Hikari foods.
So I trust in what I payed for.
But as for differences, to be honest there doesn't seem to be much.
The Turkana have a much deeper green and seem to have more squared off jaws than the Chad ones. infact I find the whole body has a more angular look to it.
But then all 3 are of young age and this could all change I guess.
So it is probably a good idea to post regular updates.
Also to be aware of, there are a number of P.BB that are going around here in Japan and apparently Asia that were not bred by Kamihata or any other industry, but are hybrid with Lapradei. This is going to cause more problems in the future for potential buyers!
This is why I was thankfully introduced to these fish with certificates.
Though the certificates don't really mean much as they are only I.D Kamihat give to there dealers, it does give a little piece of mind.
Wow, I have been waffling anyway, here is a pic of 1 of each breed I have (cant side by side them, they are not in same tanks.)
Lake Chad:
Lake Turkana:
Hope that sheds some light!
Thanks for taking the time to share pics. You are correct about certificates and that all it really does is put onto paper what they claim are the parentage of the fish. Kahimata is a reputable group so they are likely what they claim them to be. Japan has been the only country to get "Lake Turkana"variants to my knowledge (I may be wrong here) so peeps there have the only specimens that we can use for comparison.
This is where it gets confusing because I have had "Lake Chad"PBB's that look like the specimens in the pics you have posted (all except how the specimen looks in the second pic). The variation in base color is obviously genetic because the environment you have them in looks roughly the same. How your specimen looks in the second picture is actually what I always took as a "Lake Turkana" variant PBB. Did it get darker because the sand looks black compared to what seems to be mixed colors in the first pic? A thread on how they develop as they grow would be interesting so that we can see if there are differences that can be discerned as they mature.
