Simple ID's and Sex please!

[mukundam123]

Hey guys,

Just got my first Malawi's, but not sure what they are exactly. I think one of them is a Melanochromis Maingano, but what about the other 3? Are there 2 pairs of the same fish? What about sex?

Must apologise about the poor photo quality - camera phones not very good, and the fish are fast! lol!

Thanks

 

[syndicate]

i think the yellow one are female ones of that blue one

 

[Lupin]

The second pic shows a female Melanochromis auratus.

 

[blatch]

the yellow ones are young melanochromis auratis they are to young to sex so u will have to wait, the males have like a black instead of the yellow.
not sure about the other one probably a melanochromis though

 

[cichlidgirl]

Those appear to be all melanchromis species. All juvies will have the female coloration , if you have any males they will change color/stripe patterns. You can look up the different species of melanchromis and figure out which ones you have. Pay attention to number and location of stripes and color patters and compare them to your fish. If you have any trouble let me know and I can help you.

Here is the link, just scroll down till you see melanchromis and start clicking on them, click on the pics to drop down a list of more pics of each fish.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/category.php?cat=2

Have fun.

BTW: keep an eye on them when they get a bit bigger, thats one of the more aggressive species you can keep. If you dont do it right they can kill each other when they reach maturity (fighting over females or harrassing females to death). After you ID them you might want to post asking for advice on good tank setups and ratios from other people who have kept them successfully. (I cant help ya, my male killed everybody and had to go live with a friend of mine where he lives by himself now lol)

 

[mukundam123]

Thanks for all the help guys!

I only have these 4 in a 55g tank. Do you think this is enough for the time being? I know your supposed to overstock Malawi's, but I can't get to the LFS (its actually pretty far) where they specialise in Cichlids (and are cheaper than the LFS I got these from).

Also, which other Mbuna's can anyone recommend? I've heard that these aren't pure Malawi's, but hybrids - is this true? Is it better to got the pure Malawi's (more expensive ones! lol!).

Thanks


P.S. - I hoping to breed these eventually

 

[blatch]

pure probably isn't the best word for it but yes u can get hybrids, i don't think these are hybrids though i would say for a 55g go for maybe some yellow labs and a couple of male aulonocara's

 

[sterling_mcdaniel]

congrats in my opinion you just got the meanest cichlid!
i had 1 in a 55 with other random african cichlids bigger that him and after a week of being fine together he killed half of them. so i netting him out to use as fish food in my 125 for my oscars,TSNxRTC, or jag (all 4 to 6 times his size) and they got chased by him!
now the all leave him alone but he will kill any newbs i put in there.

 

[mukundam123]

Damn Sterling! lol! Thats one mean fish! I've not had any show of agression so far to be honest. Maybe its just because they're young still, but hopefully its because I got some nicer ones! lol! (yeh right!).

Do you think Labs would be able to hold their own against these? Also, why only male aulonocara's, Blatch? Are they mbuna?

Cheers

 

[mahemaheman85]

Damn Sterling! lol! Thats one mean fish! I've not had any show of agression so far to be honest. Maybe its just because they're young still, but hopefully its because I got some nicer ones! lol! (yeh right!).

Do you think Labs would be able to hold their own against these? Also, why only male aulonocara's, Blatch? Are they mbuna?

Cheers

the answer to that questions is no, i just had to get rid of some arutus because they were to agro, when they get bigger they will get a lot meaner, especially the males, labs are the opposite for the most part, much more peaceful