# Bit of help needed please!



## Guest (May 22, 2008)

Hello there, I am struggling to identify a couple of my cichlids. Today I bought these awesome blue cichlids, but they have gone brown upon entering my tank. Hopefully these stress colours will lift in a couple days, but in the meantime, could somebody help identify him? He has stripes, but again, unsure if stress colours.

Sorry about the quality of the pics, its hard to find him motionless!










Also, is this a Labidochromis caeruleus? Is it just showing stress colours?










And finally, am I right in thinking my bunch of these guys are cobalt blues?










And before anyone says anything about stressing the fish, its just cos I re-arranged the tank in order to introduce new fish, the levels are spot on and the fish are breeding like mad!

Cheers for any help, my first post here.


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## Guest (May 22, 2008)

Sorry my internet was lagging I didn't realise I had posted 3 times! Could somebody deete the two below this please? Sorry!


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

The first one seems to be some type of peacock, but looks very small to have been showing any colour initially, so it may have been hormoned.

# 2 is part yellow lab, but it's also a cross with something else. It's not just stress.

# 3 is indeed a M. callainos (Cobalt zebra).

Kim


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## Guest (May 23, 2008)

Right cheers..

Nah I don't think he's been dyed or hormoned, from a pretty decent pet shop.

I don't normally buy a fish that I don't know, but they seemed so pathetic looking that I thought I'd rescue them.

It's odd because I swear he was blue in the shop!? Still no change, seems to be staying brown, except when he turns and the light catches him, you can see a bluish tint. Apart from my jack dempseys, I haven't seen a cichlid change colour this drastically before!


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

How big is the one in question?

Your LFS may not have been the ones responsible for hormoning the fish...It may have been done before they got it. Granted, it doesn't look hormoned in the above pic, I'm just wondering how it could have been blue at any time if it's as small as it looks! :thumb:

Kim


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## Guest (May 24, 2008)

Cheers for the replies!

I've got two of them, both about 2 inches long, so pretty small. They were in amongst a bunch of so called 'electric blues' which were really callainos.

I'm beginning to question the purity of my favourite labidochromis caeruleus, as he seems to be a bit more orange than yellow, implying Red Zebra cross? He looks great though, and even though he has just fathered some fry, I will be keeping these myself and not distributing them further (Yellow Labs seem to be rarely pure as it is nowadays? or is that just where I live?)

Here he is:










And the one fry I rescued (I have the brooding mother in her own tank, just waiting on her to spit them, don't want to attempt stripping as I am unsure of how long she's been holding - I don't want to strip her just to see eggs come out of her mouth)


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

I agree that the Yellow lab is a bit on the orange side, but the one you just purchased would scare me more than the orangy looking one...

And the fry doesn't appear to have any black showing on the dorsal?

What is your full stock list on the main tank?

Kim


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

The first one is either a Scieanochromis fryeri, or hybrid of. It certainly isn't in the best shape right now.


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## Guest (May 25, 2008)

Cheers for that yeah he look likes a Scieanochromis fryeri, cheers for that Fogelhund! I know, he doesn't look great, thats why I got him, I hope I can build up his strength and bring him back!

As for the fry, yeah he has a black dorsal, you just can't see it on this photo...but when he puts his dorsal up you can see the black.

In the main tank I have

4x Blue Zebras
4x Yellow Labs
3x Red Zebra
2x Scieanochromis fryeri (if thats what they turn out to be!)
and an algae eater.


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## Guest (May 25, 2008)

Oh and the Blue's ratio is one male to three females, same with the 'yellow' labs


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

Well, I bet it's a great looking tank, but I wouldn't distribute any fry at all from it.

Not only will the red zebras crossbreed with the Yellow labs, they will also crossbreed with the Cobalts (blue zebras).

Kim


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## Guest (May 26, 2008)

Yeah I'm keeping all the fry myself don't worry.

Either way, they only seem t interact with their own species so far, and don't even take notice or show any aggression towards other species.

Saying that, they're still only juveniles so as you say they might cross breed, which is what I'd like to happen, as I'm keeping them all myself anyway!


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