# Brand new to this... need some help identifying



## EBurna (Aug 12, 2008)

I have 4 cichlids... I'm a total newbie to this hobbie... would like to know actually what they are and not just 'cichlids' as the petstore tells you, lol. This first one is the most recent addition, in my tank about a week... he (or she?) hides quite a bit.. torpedo shaped and hangs out in the rocks.. not nearly as active as the other 3 in the tank:










Now here's a few pics of me trying anyway to catch the other 3 for identification... one is yellowish/orange, solid color, and a bit smaller, then the other 2 (still small, but slightly bigger) these 3 fish are all fairly active as well... the other 2 are blue'ish' solid color and then an orange one w/black spots/striping that was described at the pet store as 'peacock' cichlid... the others were just sold as 'african cichlids'.


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## ibr3ak (Jan 4, 2008)

From the third pic, the orange on top is a red zebra (m. estherae ob), second one below it is cobalt blue (m. callainos), then the blue horizontal one is an m. johannii male, and the one on the bottom is either a female or a young juvie male (who hasn't changed color yet) m. johannii.


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## EBurna (Aug 12, 2008)

How do you tell if they're male or female? It sounds like I have too many males... what to do?


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## ibr3ak (Jan 4, 2008)

As johannis grow, males will change from orange to blue with dark blue horizontal stripes, females will remain orange and will also start showing some dark orange/brown horizontal stripes. As far as cobalt blue and red zebra you'd need to vent those to be a 100% sure of their sexes.

How big is the tank? What you can do is buy a bunch of johanni, red zebra and cobalt juvies and grow them out, then when they're around their sexually mature size (2"+) you can vent them, leaving the desired ratio and either returning other fish to the lfs or selling them to other people.


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## EBurna (Aug 12, 2008)

ibr3ak said:


> As johannis grow, males will change from orange to blue with dark blue horizontal stripes, females will remain orange and will also start showing some dark orange/brown horizontal stripes. As far as cobalt blue and red zebra you'd need to vent those to be a 100% sure of their sexes.
> 
> How big is the tank? What you can do is buy a bunch of johanni, red zebra and cobalt juvies and grow them out, then when they're around their sexually mature size (2"+) you can vent them, leaving the desired ratio and either returning other fish to the lfs or selling them to other people.


What does it mean when you say 'vent' them? (sorry, I'm very new)... I have a 36g bow tank.


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## ibr3ak (Jan 4, 2008)

Venting basically means looking at fish's underside and checking the size of their vent to determine the sex.

Check these sites:

http://www.malawimayhem.com/articles_venting.shtml
http://www.fishhead.com/articles/ventsex.htm

Your tank is a little too small for the type of species you're housing now, it's not even a 3' in length and the mbuna you have grow to be pretty aggressive.


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## EBurna (Aug 12, 2008)

ibr3ak said:


> Venting basically means looking at fish's underside and checking the size of their vent to determine the sex.
> 
> Check these sites:
> 
> ...


I've heard that you can (and often SHOULD) overstock cichlids due to their aggressiveness. Sounds weird, but the explanation was that they often 'lose' their prey so to speak amongst the shuffle when going after one another (when a tank is overstocked)... no? yes? discuss... I'm all ears as I still have a lot to learn!


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## ibr3ak (Jan 4, 2008)

Yes you often overstock an mbuna tank to spread the aggression, but the fish needs an actual swimming space to get away from another fish chasing it, 30" long tank might be ok for some smaller dwarf mbuna (saulosis maybe), but the fish you have now will grow to 4"-5".


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## EBurna (Aug 12, 2008)

ibr3ak said:


> Yes you often overstock an mbuna tank to spread the aggression, but the fish needs an actual swimming space to get away from another fish chasing it, 30" long tank might be ok for some smaller dwarf mbuna (saulosis maybe), but the fish you have now will grow to 4"-5".


So as they get larger (a year? 2 years? how long?) can I trade them in for credit at a local pestore or anything? I notice that the larger fish tend to sell for well above the price of smaller fish... but I also know it's a 'business' and they're there to make $$... would they do anything of the such (generally of course)?


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Whats your location?
Dunno about anywhere but here in the UK.


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## EBurna (Aug 12, 2008)

24Tropheus said:


> Whats your location?
> Dunno about anywhere but here in the UK.


I live in Ohio.


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## ibr3ak (Jan 4, 2008)

Most mbuna reach adult size at around 12 months. Alot of the small mom/pop shop places will take your fish either for a trade in or store credit, and they usually give you only 1/3 of their stock price.

I return my fish to lfs's mostly for trade-ins, the times that I did sell them back for store credit I got around $10 for 3"-4" fish, when they sold the same for $25-$30.


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