# maingano or joannii?



## sarahh (Mar 11, 2010)

hi there. I created a monster with my husband. He was walking past a tank in wally world, and in a tank of muttbreed looking "assorted cichlids" he found this little fella, and bought him home because 1) he was being picked on, and 2) he looks like our johannii

looking at him, he's 6 of one, half dozen of the other to me.. maybe because he's so little, maybe because lots of specimens i have googled have been mislabeled.. any help here? 
thanks in advance
Sarah


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

If it is really that small, and stays a nice black color all the time, has to be Maingano (or at least mostly Maingano as there are hybrids sold as Electric Blue johanni).

A small Johanni should be yellow, or if a young male the color should be variable. A small male Johanni would not keep full color all the time in a tank with larger fish. Not a half bad looking maingano, considering it came from a mixed tank. May well be male but you can't be sure.


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## n.o.musicman (Aug 27, 2009)

Maingano is another name for johanni or electric blue johanni. Yes it looks like like a small electric blue. Wonder what was in the tank that was picking on him, they can be kind of aggressive themselves.


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

n.o.musicman said:


> Maingano is another name for johanni or electric blue johanni. Yes it looks like like a small electric blue. Wonder what was in the tank that was picking on him, they can be kind of aggressive themselves.


It is very confusing.

There are pure Johanni which have yellow females and juveniles
There are pure Interruptus which are the same as Johanni except with vertical markings mixed with the two stripes instead of just the two stripes, usually sold as "johanni"
There are mixes of the two
There are pure Maingano which have nice black and blue juveniles and females are never all yellow.
There are mixes which are mostly black which are called "Electric Blue Johanni". Maingano may be called Electric Blue Johanni, but most fish sold as Electric Blue Johanni appear to hybrids or badly bred.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

noki said:


> n.o.musicman said:
> 
> 
> > Maingano is another name for johanni or electric blue johanni. Yes it looks like like a small electric blue. Wonder what was in the tank that was picking on him, they can be kind of aggressive themselves.
> ...


Correct, adding species to it... the pure ones..

Melanochromis johanni - start out yellow, males turn blue, females stay yellow.
Melanochromis interruptus - start out yellow, males turn blue, females stay yellow... markings as noted above.
Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos - start out blue, stay blue, both sexes (Often called Maingano or Electric blue)


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## sarahh (Mar 11, 2010)

thanks for the replies, guys.

He (for want of a better term) stays this color all the time. He's pretty mellow, but i chucked him in a tank with 2 labs i have (not ideal, but it was that or the QT which is currently being treated for ich) I wouldn't have bought him with the current tank situation. But i had to make my dear old hubby happy 

He was in a tank with a convict looking thing, and some sort of lab hybrid. also with this cichlid that looked like my jewels in shape, but had this odd coloring like a shubunkin goldfish.. they were all about an inch bigger than this little fish.. i called him Mong.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Just to add to the confusion. They have all been chucked out of Melanochromis and "should" be called Pseudotropheus until someone erects a new genus for them. :dancing:


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## ladybugzcrunch (Jul 26, 2009)

24Tropheus said:


> They have all been chucked out of Melanochromis and "should" be called Pseudotropheus until someone erects a new genus for them. :dancing:


Really? Why?


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Some paper I guess said they do not conform to the specifications for Melanochromis so they have fallen back where they came from. Just as joanjohnsonae and labrosus was kicked out, I only saw a reference to this in Konings-Dudin, G,Konings, A.F. & Stauffer Jr, J.R. (2009). Descriptions of three new species of Melanochromis (Trleostei: Cichlidae) and a rediscription of M.vimervorus. Looking for the original reference on the web but no luck yet.

http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/list/2009/zt02076.html

Second one down (or it was when I looked) open and scan down to table 5.

Sorry I did not know this was news to anyone. I just kind of figured folk here had read it and ignored it until they have a new genus to go to.   
Pseudotropheus being paraphyletic also and need of future re-allocation of many of its species into new genera.

Which is kind of what I am doing.
Ignoring it that is not re allocating, sorry thats way beyond me, I just read this stuff.  

All the best James


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

24Tropheus said:


> Just to add to the confusion. They have all been chucked out of Melanochromis and "should" be called Pseudotropheus until someone erects a new genus for them. :dancing:


Noting that *some* of the Melanochromis are being "proposed" to be moved to Pseudotropheus, with this article.  Noting that being proposed, and having been accepted are two different things.

The article is http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2009/f/zt02076p059.pdf

Those being suggested to being moved to Pseudotropheus include;

johanni
brevis
perspicax
joanjohnsonae = experatus... now LOL
interruptus
crabro
cyaneorhabdos
perileucos
benetos

labrosus to "Haplochromis"

New Melanochromis

kaskazini
wochepa
mossambiquensis


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

8) To be honest even if it was stronger than a suggestion (must admit I thought it was stronger than a suggestion that they did not belong in Melanochromis, just that there is no where better to put em yet) I think I would hold off changing (or changing anything on the profiles etc as some have done) as Pseudotropheus is clearly not the long term genus for these species. That is they do not belong long term in with Pseudotropheus williamsi (GÃƒÂ¼nther, 1894) the type species for this genus or with the type species of any other currently defined genus.
Wish someone would sort this out but I think it may be a long job involving the erection of some new genera  

All the best James


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