# Cyno ID



## GreasyPoutine (Oct 8, 2014)

So i can give you some background info about these little guys before i show the photo. When i First Purchased them from a LFS called "Fin Addicts" in Kingston Ontario, i was told what i had bought were Aurora's. But the odd part about that, was that Queens University has a Bio program that go and collect Cichlids every season and bring them back to Canada to study. When they breed them, they sell the fry to Fin Addicts. I will tell you right now, with 9-10 months of searching, i have narrowed it down with a fellow friend to Chinuni. But its just not right. The colouration is way off. they are Dwarf, about 4' max. They are also F2's here is my main male. please, please help me!

http://imgur.com/vBNHF6C

Sometimes the males will colour like this when stressed. i also have a darker males thats pretty much all dark blue with a light blue dorsal fin. This link, and a few more like it are all i have had to go on. oh one more tip! they are located within 100 miles of lokoma island if i am to be correct. happy hunting!

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1728

Thank you!


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

I'm not sure what you are saying the male would look like dominant. A male should have black bars when dominant, and black in the dorsal. Bars fade away when not dominant. Not sure why you think that Afra race, since the fish you show only seems to lack much black in the dorsal but shows faint reddish color in the back part of the dorsal.

Doesn't really look Cynotilapia to me. If you had just shown the picture I would have guessed Greshakei hybrid, which are very common nowadays.


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## GreasyPoutine (Oct 8, 2014)

See mine don't get black bars, they get blue ones. Dark blue on their light blue colouration. That pic i have there is one i took before he spawned so that is his full colours.


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## GreasyPoutine (Oct 8, 2014)

"I'll be honest, I'm not entirely sure what exactly your fish is. The gold on it's caudal and dorsal fins is more of a metriaclima pattern than a cyno, but I can't think of a Metriaclima it really looks like either. As things stand right now I'm leaning towards a hybrid of some kind." This is what my friends conclusion was as well, but the issue im having is, there is no other fish i can find like them, which yes may mean hybrid, but what kind and why would a University do that? introduce an unpure strain into population? (more rhetorical then anything)


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## GreasyPoutine (Oct 8, 2014)

Spamming my own **** thread now, but here is another one of him as well. more bar-ed up.

http://i.imgur.com/1wiHAy8.jpg


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## Chester B (Dec 28, 2012)

> But the odd part about that, was that Queens University has a Bio program that go and collect Cichlids every season and bring them back to Canada to study. When they breed them, they sell the fry to Fin Addicts.


Sounds interesting, but there is a major difference between University students breeding fish as part of their studies and accomplished hobbyists/breeders with decades of experience. There were very few if any students in my Bio program at Western that had any knowledge of fish let alone cichlids. I would trust the knowledge of people like noki over most others. I too don't feel entirely confident in these fish either and think there's a good chance there may have been some hybridization as well. I have to agree these look more along the lines of Metriaclima not only in coloration but in their profile as well as the extended dorsal and anal fins. Do you have any females? Or any others from this same batch? If you've have had them 9 months than they still have room to grow so I don't think they're full size yet.

Do you have any other pics of the face. The one is kind of blurred by the water marks. Thanks.


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## rennsport2011 (Oct 21, 2013)

Just another voice suggesting that is neither a Cynotilapia, nor likely anything pure.


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## GreasyPoutine (Oct 8, 2014)

well now this breaks my heart. i wish it was the students, but they have an actual program there where they study Cichlids. i guess my lone assumption now is they made a hybrid of something to see what it would look like/ behavior. i can throw up my whole imgur.


http://imgur.com/all

 the top obv is the more recent, dont have the labs anymore etc. In saying this, i do believe you guys, im just taken back after almost a year im finding now they are a hybrid. but the big but here, is what is it a hybrid of? could i potentially have the only hybrid of these? (sitting with 50+ Fry as well)


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## GreasyPoutine (Oct 8, 2014)

Also i forgot to mention eating habits. they are omnivores. (obv most are) but i feed them mostly only veggie pellets. One last thought i do want to throw in though, is that they eat the algae off the rocks. just like the Africans do out in the lakes. they angle themselves about 45 degrees, and nibble the top layer of algae. now the only reason why im voicing this, is that they dont do it on occasion, its every 5-10 minutes usually. and i know thats a trait from a non domesticated cichlid (to a degree) am i correct? regardless, im sorry im so speratic, i have been an admirer of fish since i was a young boy, and finally have some of my own now im in my young adulthood. if i could find out what they are, id like to write a paper on them at some point.


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## Chester B (Dec 28, 2012)

I wasn't inferring the students made an intentional hybrid, what I was getting at is their lack of knowledge and/or care probably led to an unintentional cross. Minimizing the chance of hybridization can be a tricky thing when it comes to Malawi cichlids. Would you believe I have Astatotilapia calliptera x Ps. polit hybrids?? Not something I would've guessed happening and it took me a while to figure it out as the young fish started out looking like calliptera.



GreasyPoutine said:


> One last thought i do want to throw in though, is that they eat the algae off the rocks. just like the Africans do out in the lakes. they angle themselves about 45 degrees, and nibble the top layer of algae. now the only reason why im voicing this, is that they dont do it on occasion, its every 5-10 minutes usually. and i know thats a trait from a non domesticated cichlid (to a degree) am i correct?


Common behavior for tank raised fish if there's algae to be eaten. Pretty sure this is an innate trait not a learned one.

Your fish is a nice looking fish and I can see why you wanted to identify it. In my opinion many of the importers have a far more intimate knowledge of the cichlids in the lakes and are far more likely to introduce new fish into the hobby than a University Biology program. If any school in Canada were into this sort of thing I would think it would be U of Guelph with their Axelrod Institute of Icthyology . Sorry for the bad news, but the number of hybrids in the hobby is simply staggering.


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## GreasyPoutine (Oct 8, 2014)

yeah i noticed that, and sorry if i sound a bit hysterical haha most of the questions i ask are legit and im not being foolish! i know the eating of algae is a trait all cichlids hold, but i have had other cichlids in the past that would not even bother with it. these guys munch all day so i didn't know if i should add that. but that actually makes sense to me, the students get a hold of them and see them mating and just think WHO HOO babies, and dont bother documenting them or what not. id defiently like to try and find what they are and what they are crossed with. may even call the uni at some point. (i also agree that U of G would be the spot!) its cool you are also in ontario, cause as funny as it sounds, helps me a lot to hear from someone who knows cichlids this well (semi locally). They were Labled Aurora's when i purchased them, could that be a clue?


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## GreasyPoutine (Oct 8, 2014)

Could it be an ice blue greshakei?


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## nmcichlid-aholic (Mar 23, 2011)

Looks More Like A Greshakei Than Any Cynotilapia (As noki Was Mentioning Above - More Metriaclima-Ish), But It's Either Not Pure Or Pretty Low Quality. Bad Greshakei Hybrids Are A Dime A Dozen Out There...


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## Kanorin (Apr 8, 2008)

GreasyPoutine said:


> They were Labled Aurora's when i purchased them, could that be a clue?


They aren't Metriaclima aurora either (at least not pure).
My initial reaction to the first picture was Metriaclima pulpicans (pure or partial), but I agree that Gresheki hybrid is possible as well.

Unfortunately it's often very hard to figure out the lineage of a seemingly hybrid fish. There are about 1000 species of cichlids in Lake Malawi (some of those having several geographic and color variants) so it would be finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. Unless you've got a DNA sequencer lying around.


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## GreasyPoutine (Oct 8, 2014)

haha i wish! thank you, all of you guys! Honestly, it could quite be a mix of both, i noticed that their heads are a lot bigger then the Ice blues. But as i quite understand, its a total toss up!

Ps, if that is your own fish, i am truly jealous!

http://www.ravnheart.com/ravs/pulpican5.jpg i have a male IDENTICAL to this in my tank! i'll snap a pic tmrw!


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