# PLease help again.



## MiteyWitey (Oct 30, 2009)

I have absoultly no clue as to what this is. I am pretty sure its a cichlid. Sold at PetSmart a couple months back in the mixed tank. Its only about 1.5" and a slow grower.


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## Tinga (Nov 27, 2009)

Oh, I might know this one 
Labidochromis textilis


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## nfrost (Mar 10, 2009)

that fish is probably Melanochromis joanjohnsonae (aka exasperatus), much more common than labidochromis textilis


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## etcbrown (Nov 10, 2007)

Yep, its melanochromis joanjohnsonae, as is the picture 2 posts above. Very common mixup as the fish look very similar. And just a plain lazy mistake by any retailer posting pictures IMHO.

Labidochromis textillus is quite rare in the trade and has 8 or 9 of the horizontal broken orange lines, wheras m. joanjohnsonae is rather common even through the big chains and has 6 of the horizontal broken orange lines. Also, m. joanjohnsonae has a lower jaw that protrudes a bit (underbite).


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## etcbrown (Nov 10, 2007)

Oh yeah, here is a L. textilus


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## MiteyWitey (Oct 30, 2009)

thanks for the ID. I saw those pictures in the profiles, and thought that the joanjohnsonae could be close, but the anal fin is very orange and it threw me off.

Is it possible to tell male or female in that picture or is he/she too small to sex?

thanks again all!


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## MiteyWitey (Oct 30, 2009)

the picture in the profile doesn't match this fish. Where did you get those pics from?

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=759


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## nfrost (Mar 10, 2009)

MiteyWitey said:


> the picture in the profile doesn't match this fish. Where did you get those pics from?
> 
> http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=759


The fish in the profile photos is a mature male, all fry/juvis/females look like the original fish in question.

As far as the sex of the fish it is still small, but just from the photo I would guess female, but the only way to tell for sure would be to vent it when it gets closer to 2".


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Umm I have pointed this out to the site but I am not at all sure the profile ones on this site are labeled correctly adding to the confusion?

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=744
textilus or joanjohnsonae/exasperatus?

PS I agree prob a young joanjohnsonae in the OP.

All the best James


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## MiteyWitey (Oct 30, 2009)

I counted 8 or 9 vertical bars on the sides....still a joanjohnsonae???


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

I think you may mean 8-9 horizontal stripes?
Hard to believe that a textilus would be in a mixed African tank in a LFS and not being sold properly labeled at a far higher price. Maybe post again when older and larger and we can see for sure but who knows stranger things have happened.
At the moment I would still guess a joanjohnsonae/exasperatus but one with an unusually large number of stripes. Mouth shape looks (but hard to tell on the photo of such a small one) more like joanjohnsonae/exasperatus because it is wide and if anything turned up rather than like the mouth of a Lab. textilus.


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## MiteyWitey (Oct 30, 2009)

24Tropheus said:


> I think you may mean 8-9 horizontal stripes?


No, I mean 8-9 vertical bars, like as in a Kenyi or Afra or Zebra. Not horizontal like Maingano. There are 8-9 bars on this fish.

I will take more pics this weekend.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Sorry you can see why I thought you meant horizontal as extra horizontal stripes make it more like a textilus. Vertical bars make it far more likely to be joanjohnsonae.
Like those in some adult male joanjohnsonae.








Could be an indication yours is male and beginning the colour change already.

Oh the photo is from here http://www.petfish.net/kb/entry/397/
I hope it is alright to use it as an example?


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## MiteyWitey (Oct 30, 2009)

if its female, what will it look like?


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Adult female photo on the same link. http://www.petfish.net/kb/entry/397/


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