# What are these yellow and blue ones?



## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

Saw at LFS.

Are the yellow ones yellow labs (or hybrid)? Most of them don't have black dorsal.

And what are the blue ones? Also hybrids? Some have vertical stripes while some have horizontal stripes.


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

Colorful but hybrids.

Yellow ones do look like Yellow Lab hybrids.

Blue ones are some variation on "Electric Blue Johanni" hybrids, fish that are mixed with Maingano so that all of the males, females, juveniles have a base blue and black color.


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

The yellow ones are females, the blue ones are males, possibly pure _Pseudotropheus interruptus_, or a mix of _interruptus_ with _johanni_, which also has yellow females. Males of _interruptus_ can vary greatly in appearance according to their current mood, and I would suspect that those may be pure. Not a common occurrence to find pure anything in this complex, but it does happen.


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

Mr Chromedome said:


> The yellow ones are females, the blue ones are males, possibly pure _Pseudotropheus interruptus_, or a mix of _interruptus_ with _johanni_, which also has yellow females. Males of _interruptus_ can vary greatly in appearance according to their current mood, and I would suspect that those may be pure. Not a common occurrence to find pure anything in this complex, but it does happen.


Yes, the grouping is weird like they are Johanni, with blue males and yellow females. But those yellow ones are definitely part Yellow lab.


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## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

Yes, they're colorful and nice to see in the tank of blue and yellow combo. Is it possible to make an educated guess on their temperaments?

May the yellow ones be docile like pure yellow lab? And the blue ones be aggressive like interruptus johanni or maingano?


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Mr Chromedome said:


> The yellow ones are females, the blue ones are males, possibly pure _Pseudotropheus interruptus_, or a mix of _interruptus_ with _johanni_, which also has yellow females. Males of _interruptus_ can vary greatly in appearance according to their current mood, and I would suspect that those may be pure. Not a common occurrence to find pure anything in this complex, but it does happen.


Incorrect. The yellows are the all yellow Hybrid Labs, probably a mix between red zebra and yellow labs, then line bred.

As above, the blue ones are Ps. cyaneohabdos, hybridized with something else.


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

Als49, how were the fish labeled by the store? Were they marked as one species or two?


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## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

Mr Chromedome said:


> Als49, how were the fish labeled by the store? Were they marked as one species or two?





Fogelhund said:


> Mr Chromedome said:
> 
> 
> > The yellow ones are females, the blue ones are males, possibly pure _Pseudotropheus interruptus_, or a mix of _interruptus_ with _johanni_, which also has yellow females. Males of _interruptus_ can vary greatly in appearance according to their current mood, and I would suspect that those may be pure. Not a common occurrence to find pure anything in this complex, but it does happen.
> ...


Their color combo looks great! I'm curious how the blue stripes can become vertical instead of horizontal as in the pure breed?



Mr Chromedome said:


> Als49, how were the fish labeled by the store? Were they marked as one species or two?


There's no label :lol: You see something you like, you ask the price and then bargain. Then you take home that mysterious fish.

That how it works here because most sellers don't even know the species.

So unless we buy from serious collectors or hobbyists, or reputable breeders... We never know 8)


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

_Ps. interruptus_ is one of the few species in the _johanni_ complex that has both vertical and horizontal patterns. Dominant males are almost completely dark, but subdominant and younger males have mostly vertical barring. They can range from one to the other and many combinations in between depending on mood and social status. I have no doubt that the black and blue fish have at least some _interruptus_ in them from the patterns.

Some of the yellow fish have thin black stripes in the dorsal and anal, which is a common pattern with female _interruptus_. They can also vary, and may not show any stripes at all. The mouth and head shape are also similar to the females of this species, which are deeper bodied than the males. Used to see the species a lot 35-40 years ago. The concern then was that they were being accidentally hybridized with pure _johanni_ due to the females being similar.

I would say that if you went back to the seller, he could at least tell you if he bought them as one species or two. One species, I could be correct. Two, then Fogelhund and Noki could be. It should be pointed out that you are not in the US or Canada, where the hybrids they are claiming are so common. We have no idea whether the fish breeders in your region might have only had one species to work with.

Whether the yellow fish are females of _interruptus_ or hybrid yellow _caeruleus_, they are probably going to be more aggressive than pure _caeruleus_.


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## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

Mr Chromedome said:


> _Ps. interruptus_ is one of the few species in the _johanni_ complex that has both vertical and horizontal patterns. Dominant males are almost completely dark, but subdominant and younger males have mostly vertical barring. They can range from one to the other and many combinations in between depending on mood and social status. I have no doubt that the black and blue fish have at least some _interruptus_ in them from the patterns.


I see. That explains it. Thank you.



Mr Chromedome said:


> Some of the yellow fish have thin black stripes in the dorsal and anal, which is a common pattern with female _interruptus_. They can also vary, and may not show any stripes at all. The mouth and head shape are also similar to the females of this species, which are deeper bodied than the males. Used to see the species a lot 35-40 years ago. The concern then was that they were being accidentally hybridized with pure _johanni_ due to the females being similar.
> 
> *I would say that if you went back to the seller, he could at least tell you if he bought them as one species or two. *One species, I could be correct. Two, then Fogelhund and Noki could be. It should be pointed out that you are not in the US or Canada, where the hybrids they are claiming are so common. We have no idea whether the fish breeders in your region might have only had one species to work with.
> 
> Whether the yellow fish are females of _interruptus_ or hybrid yellow _caeruleus_, they are probably going to be more aggressive than pure _caeruleus_.


That's a very good idea. I'll ask the seller when I visit there again.

Sometimes it's easier to find pure Tangs here. At least I have found pure multies, occies and brevis.

Not sure about julies though because they're easily misidentified and mixed in the tank.


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