# Colour changing assumed male, need help to ID



## JAyliffe (Feb 29, 2012)

This one started out about a month ago as an almost pure yellow. Now he has a blueish sheen to him and the fins are getting darker. The horizontal body stripe is sometimes more noticeable.

I have searched high and low but I can't see anything looks just like him. I have another purchased with him that is still a plain deep yellow and has a darker horizontal bar (yellow just appears a little darker at times).

I'd like to know what he/they are so I can work out if I need to remove!

I was told Saulosi but I'm sure now that's not true


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

If pure yellow earlier then I think you are in luck and maybe have pure Pseudotropheus johannii
The one photoed going through the juvenile (same as female) colour change to male colouration.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=760
Yep quite big and boisterous but not always a nightmare (an old Melanochromis now Pseudotropheus again for a while but do not expect this to last) depending on tank size and other Mbuna. If keeping you prob want more females than males or just a male in an all male Mbuna tank.
But if stocked as Pseudotropheus saulosi then yep may well have to return em or move em on as they get considerably larger 5" rather than 4" or so and slightly more aggressive IME.

Yep very easy to confuse the two when young.

All the best James


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## JAyliffe (Feb 29, 2012)

24Tropheus said:


> Yep quite big and boisterous but not always a nightmare (an old Melanochromis now Pseudotropheus again for a while but do not expect this to last) depending on tank size and other Mbuna. If keeping you prob want more females than males or just a male in an all male Mbuna tank.
> 
> All the best James


Thanks James! I would agree he's fairly boisterous although not a nightmare yet! I would say he is my dominant fish right now. I have one other I bought with him that is still pure yellow/orange. I looked at the juvenile picture on the profile page and it certainly looks close. I added its image as my profile picture

I have the following in my 250 gallon, mostly mbuna tank, I am curently debating the future of the Demasoni, they are only an inch long at most currently and don't seem to be a problem. I know I need to add more females for several of the groups below but availability here is limited and I'm struggling to find affordable ones online!

5 Pseudotropheus Demasoni 
5 Labidochromic Caeruleus 
2 Pseudotropheus estherae 
6 Cynotilapia Afra Cobue 
3 Pseudotropheus Socolofi 
2 Cyrtocara Moori 
1 Copadichromis Borleyi 
1 Nimbochromis Venustus


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## pikayooperdave (Jul 10, 2009)

Nice to have such a large tank! That is a nice stock list, too. He should be fine with that stocklist in a tank that size. I would expect him to maintain his dominant status. If the other one is female, he may be toughest on her because he will want to breed all of the time as they mature. If so...add more females! And if the other one is a male as they both mature they will likely get very agressive with one another.

The demasoni should be fine, if anything you might add more. Though small, demasoni are tough beyond their size and IME they hold their own with just about anything.


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## JAyliffe (Feb 29, 2012)

So now I know that I have a couple of Johanni, at least one male, I am looking to get a few more, hopefully females and I see both Melanochromis johanni (Electric Blue Johanni) and Melanochromis Johanni "Gome" (Orange Johanni) for sale so my question is, how do I know and should I worry, or just get whichever? I do see that "Gome" males appear a lot darker but since mine is still going through the change as it were, I have no clue whether he is going to be that dark or not, his fins do appear quite dark but other than that he's paler than both. To add to my confusion, the LFS where I got him have the Gome variant on their stocking list but if I had to guess I'd say he was Electric Blue...

Here's the latest picture i snapped of him at the weekend








Any help would be appreciated


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

Yours is clearly not Electric Blue Johanni but more like true Johanni, because they started yellow when young.

Pseudotropheus Johanni start out yellow-orange when young, then males turn black and blue as they mature.

Electric Blue Johanni is a trade name for Pseudotropheus cyaneorhabdos or a hybrid. Hybrids are very common. Pure fish are usually sold as Maingano.

You will need a decent size group of Johanni, as they can be rather aggressive among themselves.

This is a very common group of fish, but also quite confusing because there are 3 species, some fish change as they mature, and hybrids are common.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Just as noki says you will have to be careful with this species matcing them up and not trust some of the labels in LFSs (As I think you say yourself you have spotted) on these as they are sometimes unreliable.
On the choice you seem to face. I would avoid both and get em somewhere you trust and check them out first.
Worth the effort I think as pure Pseudotropheus johannii are not as common as folk might think.
In the UK for sure.
This is the first time I have heard the Gome Rock variant was particuarly orange. I see photos of em in the wild and they look yellow to me. :-?

The variants of Pseudotropheus johannii imported are Chiloelo (Mozambique, native) http://www.malawi-dream.info/Pseudotrop ... iloelo.htm, Chiofu Bay (Malawi, native) http://www.malawi-dream.info/Pseudotrop ... Bay.htmand Gome Rock (Malawi native) (sorry I can not find a free link for these but yep yellow (Orange is line bred ones I think)). Sorry but I am not good enough to Id yours from just photos of a young male. 

Edited in those links are no longer working but you can find em on this site.
http://www.malawi-dream.info/Mbunas.htm

All the best James


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## JAyliffe (Feb 29, 2012)

I got word back from the site I referenced, I am going with what they call the Orange Johanni which matches mine, I am not entirely sure what they are referring to by Electric Blue Johanni but they told me that one is monomorphic, both sexes start blue so definitely not a match for me!

Thanks to everyone for the comments, hoping to get my order in later today.. my male definitely needs more females to attend to :lol:


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