# Buccochromis rhoadesii ? DL warning



## Gibbs

Got this 1, the LFS owner forgot it's name. I'm pretty sure it's a Buccochromis rhoadesii just need it cleared up.
Thanks


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## Fogelhund

Well... it's a Buccochromis...


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## Gibbs

lol, any idea what collection point? Male female?


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## Ssssssspit_Fire

*lepterus if you ask me...*


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## Fogelhund

I don't have any idea at that size.


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## Gibbs

ok will post when larger


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## Guest

That is Buccochromis rhoadesi or Buccochromis nototaenia. They are pretty much impossible to distinguish from a juvenile age unless you have fully colored male and adult females. I will say I am 90% sure that is Buccochromis rhoadesi given the AMOUNT of yellow it is though it could very well be Buccochromis nototaenia. They should be able to tell when they're coloring up which is which. B. rhoadesi will get a baby/sky blue color, have a mostly orange/yellow on the dorsal fin. B. nototaenia will have mostly reddish dorsal, anal, AND tail fin, etc.

PLUS, if you are 100% sure these are all from the same batch, juveniles/females will have completely YELLOW heads. B. nototaenia will have some yellow on the head but not the whole head.

See these pics:
http://www.malawimayhem.com/profile_show.php?id=93
http://www.malawimayhem.com/profile_show.php?id=91
http://www.malawi-dream.info/Buccochrom ... taenia.htm
http://www.malawi-dream.info/Buccochromis_rhoadesii.htm
http://wietze.matvak.nl/vissen/tn_034_bucco2.jpg
http://www.livefishdirect.com/images/fi ... taenia.jpg

Your fish is DEFINITELY NOT Buccochromis lepturus...not by a long shot.

Collection point doesn't matter since they are found lake wide, all look the same. The only geographic variation may be in stripe patterns (broken, wavy, etc) but otherwise no variation.

~Ed


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## Gibbs

Thanks Marduk, it clears it up for me. I thought it was rhoadesii but was unsure because i saw lepterus in a shop the same day and it threw me off a bit. Rhoadesii it is


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## Guest

Gibbs said:


> Thanks Marduk, it clears it up for me. I thought it was rhoadesii but was unsure because i saw lepterus in a shop the same day and it threw me off a bit. Rhoadesii it is


Just making you aware I updated my post since you replied .


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## Gibbs

Once again a thorough post Marduk, thanks the pics are great. Leaning even further towards Rhoadesii, they seem to have that little bit more yellow in the face and mine obviously has a ton. Both very nice fish but the Rhoadesii are amazing. Still gotta hope it's a male yet.
Thanks Marduk i'm not gonna find any better info then that :thumb:


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## fishman76092

Marduk said:


> That is Buccochromis rhoadesi or Buccochromis nototaenia. They are pretty much impossible to distinguish from a juvenile age unless you have fully colored male and adult females. I will say I am 90% sure that is Buccochromis rhoadesi given the AMOUNT of yellow it is though it could very well be Buccochromis nototaenia. They should be able to tell when they're coloring up which is which. B. rhoadesi will get a baby/sky blue color, have a mostly orange/yellow on the dorsal fin. B. nototaenia will have mostly reddish dorsal, anal, AND tail fin, etc.
> 
> Actually,
> Its fairly easy to tell the two apart when juvenile. Yours is B. rhoadesii based on the coloration. Juv nototaenia have yellow on the anal fin and lower caudal. They do not have the yellow on the head. Rhoadesii have a less sloped head as well, whereas nototaenia have a more blunt head.
> 
> Here is a photo of the two right next to one another-


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## Gibbs

Fishman, what are the 2 fish in that photo? Rhoadesii and Lepturus or Rhoadesii and nototaenia? The silver fish doesn't look like a nototaenia



> Actually,
> Its fairly easy to tell the two apart when juvenile. Yours is B. rhoadesii based on the coloration. Juv nototaenia have yellow on the anal fin and lower caudal. They do not have the yellow on the head. Rhoadesii have a less sloped head as well, whereas nototaenia have a more blunt head.


I think that you may have gotten your species mixed up here. Is that photo a comparison of Lepturus and Rhoadesii?


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## Guest

The fin colors on that pic of your B. nototaenia are correct but the body seems a bit too silver....probably a different variant.

What I meant about being difficult to distinguish is that sometimes B. nototaenia as juveniles can have a lot of yellow on them, more then they should, and have a yellowish tint on the body.

I am pretty confident that is a B. nototaenia juvenile...

B. lepturus ALWAYS have a yellow-GREEN tint to their bodies hence their common name "green lepturus".

Either way I think there's actually speculation going on the scientific community that there may very well only be 2-3 true species in Buccochromis and that the rest are just variants of each other. I'll have to look through my books and magazines some time to verify that... I think it said it is that B. lepturus and B. nototaenia are the same just different variants....


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## FUGU

Could be Buccochromis rhoadesii or Buccochromis nototaenia. I keep the latter and it they look very similar to your Bucco when they are young.


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