# Is this what I tried to get?



## TheJ0kerrr (Aug 14, 2012)

So this guy has a bunch of random malawi cichlids in his tank...can't really ID any of them for sure, but this one looked pretty close to a Metriaclima pulpican to my untrained eye... he was getting bullied in his 40g with a couple of much larger fishes, so I took a chance and picked him up.

Now that he's in my tank, i'm not so sure what he is anymore... I didn't notice any black on his dorsal fin at first, but there is definitely some of that. And his mouth isn't as dark as it should be according to pictures. I've seen him turn his colors on only a few times since I got him. He has very distinct black vertical bars (about 5 of them) while also turning very light blue.

Anyways, here he is... have fun!


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## rkings4d (Feb 12, 2014)

metriaclima callainos "Nkhata Bay", maybe?


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## nmcichlid-aholic (Mar 23, 2011)

Could be a pulpican - they can get very washed out looking when sub-dominant. I'd wait a week or 2 for him to settle in and then post more pics showing his true colors and markings.


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## TheJ0kerrr (Aug 14, 2012)

Here's a quick video of him in my hospital tank (he developped some kind of bloat after a couple days, but looks better now)


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## TheJ0kerrr (Aug 14, 2012)

Alright, 2 more pics...What do you think?


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## nmcichlid-aholic (Mar 23, 2011)

Met. pulpican would still be my best guess. Not certain he's 100% pure - the "flagging" (bars extending into the dorsal fin) is a bit unusual for pure pulpican, and something about the shape of it's head just seems a bit off to me, but otherwise he's pretty close.


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

I had doubts at first, but he is looking pretty cool with the nice barring and the white forehead. Seems mostly "Kingsizei".

Unfortunately this species has often be confused, with many many names, so purity is hard to tell.


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

Find this similar picture online, with some barring in the dorsal


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## TheJ0kerrr (Aug 14, 2012)

Cool, I'm happy the way he turned out and also to have possibly saved him from bloat or something similar! Hopefully my females are also pulpicans and they will eventually spawn!


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