# MOBA VARIANTS



## atiz311 (Jan 29, 2009)

A silly question but are blue and purple Mobas the same species?


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## lloyd (Aug 24, 2005)

'moba' is a catch location for gibberosa. gibberosa are a variant of species 'cyphotilapia'. slight variations can occur, that might give the impression some individuals are different, but they are all the same fish. 'blue' and 'purple' are sales tags. IMO.


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## Razzo (Oct 17, 2007)

From what I hear, there really isn't a purple Zaire. Not that it makes any sense to me: I hear the purple coloration really isn't purple :roll: . Purple is purple to me :lol: I think the kitumba can tend to have more of that purple. I am not saying that they are not purple, I am just summarizing what I have read others (who are more knowledable than me) say about the purple coloration.


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## bigdawg1 (Apr 29, 2004)

there are some variations of zaire that are indeed purple. i own a group that is purple.


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## Razzo (Oct 17, 2007)

bigdawg1 said:


> there are some variations of zaire that are indeed purple. i own a group that is purple.


Which varient do you have? Kits?


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## boredatwork (Sep 14, 2007)

I would be careful about purple. I have seen some really sketchy "purple" Zaire types up for sale on Aquabid.


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## bigdawg1 (Apr 29, 2004)

Razzo said:


> bigdawg1 said:
> 
> 
> > there are some variations of zaire that are indeed purple. i own a group that is purple.
> ...


I have a group of moba that are purple.


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## boredatwork (Sep 14, 2007)

bigdawg1 said:


> Razzo said:
> 
> 
> > bigdawg1 said:
> ...


When you say purple, do you mean blue?

"Purple Moba":
http://www.aquariumspecialist.net/price ... rosa_zair/
Moba:
http://www.aquariumspecialist.net/price ... rosa_kapa/

The only Gibberosa I have seen that look barely passable as purple are Kitumba.


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## bigdawg1 (Apr 29, 2004)

boredatwork said:


> bigdawg1 said:
> 
> 
> > Razzo said:
> ...


no i mean purple. my camera does not get the true color of the fish. some people say that the deep color in ANY of the zaires that appears purple is not really purple. that your eye sees the blue and the black mix together and you think purple. to me purple is purple. blue is blue. dark blue is dark blue. i have seen my fair share of WC kitumba, kapampa, and moba. all varying in the shades of blues, and deep blues, and purple faces. all i am saying is that this particular group came in and all of the fish were very dark and richly colored. the fry they produce come out a tad more dark. its not a marketing scheme or anything like that. it is what it is. you have to see them in person to appreciate the true color of them.


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## FishAreFriends (Dec 23, 2004)

> its not a marketing scheme or anything like that. it is what it is. you have to see them in person to appreciate the true color of them.


This coming from a fish salesmen :lol: . Put ANY blue fish under the correct lighting and you will get it to be purple. Most accomplish this by using a 50/50 light. I have never seen any purple anything unless its coming from the ocean. Its the same with the "red" ngaras. Never seen them ever. Unless i see this color purple,







on a fish, its a title to sell it for more money. Just my opinion.


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## lloyd (Aug 24, 2005)

FishAreFriends said:


> ...Unless i see this color purple,
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 very funny...very true.


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## bigdawg1 (Apr 29, 2004)

FishAreFriends said:


> > its not a marketing scheme or anything like that. it is what it is. you have to see them in person to appreciate the true color of them.
> 
> 
> This coming from a fish salesmen :lol: . Put ANY blue fish under the correct lighting and you will get it to be purple. Most accomplish this by using a 50/50 light. I have never seen any purple anything unless its coming from the ocean. Its the same with the "red" ngaras. Never seen them ever. Unless i see this color purple,
> ...


i don't use a 50/50 light. i use power glo florescent bulbs. very standard in the hobby, inexpensive and nothing tricky to them. i don't really understand your logic. the fact that i sell fish means that i am making up the color of the fish to sell it for more money? that is non sense. do some research you will come across plenty of people who have bought this particular fish from me and will tell you what color they are. you will also find others who have been to my place and have seen the fish and will tell you what color they are. you keep a lot of malawi fish right? just curious but how many zaire have you kept? opcorn:


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## FishAreFriends (Dec 23, 2004)

The proof is in the pudding as they say. Please show me any of your "Purple" Moba that the colors come close to the picture of what i have posted up as the color purple. The two different pics you show on your website look EXACTLY the same. I dont see at all what makes them different, and if you can honestly tell me that they are purple at all, pass me some of that good stuff that you have please. In my time of keeping fish, i have had two groups of Zaire. A group of Moba, and a group of Kapampa. I only had F1's that i got rid of when they were around 3-5 inches. Large frontosa are really not my cup of tea.

I am NOT trying to argue with you or anything like that, i just want to know why these are called purple moba when i am just not quite seeing it? Please help me understand since you claim to have purple moba :-?


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## bigdawg1 (Apr 29, 2004)

its all good i am not here to argue. the only way you are gonna see the color is to come down here and see them for yourself. there is a color difference between the 2 groups that i have. you have a strain of albino eureka red with a male that placed at the ACA a couple of yrs ago. you feel like your stain is special because of that, therefore you charge more for your albino eureka red.there is another member here who has a very dark moba female. he feels like she is special and her fry come out much bluer than the fry from his other females.so he charges a higher price for the fry that come from that dark female. its no different than me. i feel like i have a special group so i charge more for the fry.and i leave with saying if i was out to scam someone into buying a fish based on how it looked under trick lighting or whatever, i wouldn't be around long. fact is i have sold a bunch of those fry and not one person has been dissapointed. :thumb:


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## lloyd (Aug 24, 2005)

bigdawg1 said:


> the only way you are gonna see the color is to come down here and see them for yourself. there is a color difference between the 2 groups that i have.


 i could do the same thing...cherry pick all from my colony exhibiting extensive fin growth, call them 'thread fin moba', and charge extra for their fry. charging extra for a single fish, of unique quality, is acceptable, IMHO. but altering it's name, and implying all it's fry will inherit the same sort of unique characteristic as well, is being devious.


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## jim clifton (Jun 9, 2006)

Bigdawd1 you have very nice mobas but I agree with FishAreFriends. The only difference I see between the 2 mobas is your purple moba have a lot more blue. Your purple mobas are a awesome group group, one of the best I have ever seen. The thing is I see a very dark blue contrast by a very nice shade of a light blue. They are awesome but I do not see the purple.


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## Charles (Feb 25, 2003)

I believe there are color differences among the zaire variant. Here is what I called purple of my old kitumba group.










With different mood, he will change to this.










Or this










But I also see the same changes with my friend's kapampa group. And one actually got very deep dark purple, more so than my kitumba.

So I am not going to say zaire doesn't have some purple color. The range of blue/purple/deep dark whatever do exist among variant of the zaire type.

I do agree the color tag that adds in front of the fish is just another way to describe the fish. There isn't a place that you can collect purple kitumba or blue kitumba. They are all coming from the same location; if even the secret location is actually kitumba or moba or kapampa.

On another note, please get premission to use other people's photo here. Don't just copy and paste as the owner of the photo does have the right of the photo itself.


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## bigdawg1 (Apr 29, 2004)

Charles said:


> I believe there are color differences among the zaire variant. Here is what I called purple of my old kitumba group.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


very nice looking fish charles. your pic captures the color very well. that is very similar to what i am talking about. and all i am doing is describing the color of the fish. not trying to make up some new collection point. it is a well known fact that all zaires can vary in the shades of blues, deep blues, and purples.


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## FishAreFriends (Dec 23, 2004)

You guys are reaching once again. I do not see any purple in those fish at all. Its just different variations of the color blue, and from charles pics you can see that...I didnt know we were calling a dark blue, purple. And thanks for editing the part about his prices. As for Butch saying i sell my albino eureka reds for more than normal, i honestly dont think i do. I have seen wholesalers selling albino eureka red fry for $8 same price as i do for 1 inch fry. Males i have seen for $15, same as i do. Only price difference i would say is on adult males and females which obviously i am not going to let go for free.


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## Charles (Feb 25, 2003)

I actually thing my kitumba is more purple than blue 

But for the prices... buyer will pay whatever he/she thinks is fair 

I myself will pay more if I can get a nice color of the spots of a marble motoro, but my friends will pay more if the pattern of the marble motoro is nice and black and they can care less about the spot color.


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## FishAreFriends (Dec 23, 2004)

If it makes you happy i guess. I'm just not seeing it, so i wont ever pay the price for any purple fronts. I'm going to stop trying to beat the dead front...errr horse i mean. Enjoy your fish. :thumb:


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## jim clifton (Jun 9, 2006)

Here is a link on the color purple. See if you can find any of the shades of purple in these fronts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple

As you can see they are not purple

Here is a link on the color blue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue

Bottom left corner is the color of your fish.


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## Charles (Feb 25, 2003)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violet_(color)

I should say my kitumba was more of a violet color than purple. The violet flower looks to have all the shade of color of my kitumba (my old ex-kitumba I should say).


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## boredatwork (Sep 14, 2007)

This is a funny discussion.

First, Charles, those are awesome looking fish.

Second, Charles, I would not call those purple.

Third, I think some people would agree that we have seen purpleyblue Kitumba, but I have never seen purpleyblue Moba. But I just saw that Charles is saying he saw purpleyblue Kaps, so who knows.

In my opinion none of these are purple fish, and based on the several times I have seen sales of "purple" gibberosa I really think it is an advertising scam. If the purples in question weren't in GA I would like take a look.

However, in the case of aquariumspecialist.net its possible he really believes they are purple. Usually when people advertise purple gibberosa the pictures show them as a deep purple, not blue. So you can't say that he is trying to trick you with the picture. If anything its the opposite, which actually is confusing.

But I do agree that with Cypho's you really need to see them in person. There have been several discussions here about photographing these fish, and it just does not work. Depending on lighting and camera setup you could get 5 completely different looks from the same fish without even doing it on purpose.


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## lloyd (Aug 24, 2005)

are violet moba worth more than blue? or purple? i have a mauve moba....and a lilac...and a magenta male that eats peanuts...:lol:


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## Charles (Feb 25, 2003)

I don't think it worths more that others. Just a different color morph. I always thought violet is more of a purple than a blue. So I have to make sure next time when I talk about the color of my old colony.

Anyhow, it worths whatever the buyer is willing to pay


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## FishAreFriends (Dec 23, 2004)

Charles said:


> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violet_(color)
> 
> I should say my kitumba was more of a violet color than purple. The violet flower looks to have all the shade of color of my kitumba (my old ex-kitumba I should say).


You are reaching again. I do not see any colors listed on violet in your fish from the pictures. Its just a dark blue as Jim showed.

And for anyone saying that its not a marketing scheme or they dont use it to sell them for more money is not telling the truth. I dont get why people cant just admit its blue and be done with it. There are NO such things as purple moba or frontosa for that matter period :roll:


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## Charles (Feb 25, 2003)

As the name of a color, violet (named after the flower violet) is used in two senses: first, referring to the color of light at the short-wavelength end of the visible spectrum, approximately 380â€"420 nm when indigo is recognized, or more commonly 380â€"450 nm[3] (this is a spectral color). Second, violet may refer to a shade of purple, that is, a mixture of red and blue light, and not a spectral color (see a discussion of the distinction between violet and purple). Spectral violet is outside the gamut of typical RGB color spaces, and although it can be approximated by that color shown below as electric violet, it cannot be reproduced exactly on a computer screen.

If you look at the pigment violet, you will see the color of the frontosa I have in my picture.


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## Charles (Feb 25, 2003)

And there are more than 9 little square of shades of one color. So if the color of the fish doesn't match those 9 little squares, it doesn't mean that it is not what it is.

Back in the days, around 2000-2002, shade of color was used to separate some of the zaire variant. It is very common to use this method to tell which is which and later on was argued that (which I also believe) each variant of zaire will have overlapping color or shade of color.

But here was what was told...
Kapampa : deepest darkest blue
Kitumba : purple or violet through out the body
Moba : purple or violet head with the color or shade of color of a kapampa.

I am not here to defend bigdawg1. From the photo (the one I deleted as you did not ask permission to use his photo), I do agree that the fish is more blue than anything. Still a beautiful fish.

But given the choice, a violet or purple kitumba will sell better than a blue kitumba. I know I would buy the purple or violet one for sure. But I have to see the fish in person or at least a photo of it to proof the fish's color. I certainly would not buy into buying a bunch of fry because the parents look like the photo I was shown to. I would have bought the parents and not wanting to waste year or years to grow the fish up hoping they will turn out like their parents.

That also goes for getting Asian Arowanna. I certainly will pay a preium money for a true fusion voilet. Is it a name to sell the fish better? Of course, but if you ever see a fusion violet in person, I don't care if it is named plain red or violet gold, or blue base, I will buy it just because it looks amazing...


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## FishAreFriends (Dec 23, 2004)

I am not saying any of those fronts are not drop dead gorgeous, i am just saying there is NO purple at all. I am not seeing it. And by using the logic above, i guess i have the first "Purple" Ngara Flametails! :lol:


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## atiz311 (Jan 29, 2009)

LoL, I started this post n I wanted everyones opinion about moba variants whether there was purple mobas.Iappreciate the replies but I think there are differences in moba color like charles said. I have 5 mobas right now that are 2.5 to 3 inches and as I look atit its purple to me. I know I'm not colorblind but they are purple. I should grow them more n see if color changes then I will post it up here. Anyway for kitumbas yes purple is visible in 1 of 6 young kitumba colony. So if kitumbas can have purple I'm pretty sure percentage-wise 80to 90% mobas can carry this genetic trait since they are found in close parameters in lake tank. Its evolution at work soon enough will have purple gibberosas. How soon? That's the question that needs to be answered here. Imo thanks evryone for replies


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## jim clifton (Jun 9, 2006)

I need to sale my Kapampa fry as purple Kapampa fry then.  I have 2 colonies of Kapampas 1 of Kitumbas. I have a good friend with a 2 colonies of mobas and Kitumbas. Both my friend and I could say that all of them have purple alphas. I won't do it, I just think it's a sales pitch.


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