# Red top afra?



## loffy74

anyone know which type ,location and species?

I bought as a Red top Dwarf afra


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## Fogelhund

Look more like Chilumba Zebra to me, but these are very young fish.


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## loffy74

yes,

they are very young. I hope they are not Zebra. Those get like 7 inches according to this website.

I have 3, they are not aggressive currently. the most dominate one has darker stripes almost black. while the sub dominate one has lighter stripes. the third one is almost light blue/grey with
very faint stripes. They have orange on the dorsal and pelvic fins and a little on the edge of the
tail.

i will post more pics in a month or so.


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## loffy74

i think they might be Hai Reef Afra or Likoma Afra


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## why_spyder

Unless you purchase them with a location, you may never know 100%. There are several 'red top' species around the lake - pinpointing which one they are is next to impossible.


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## loffy74

ok thats what i have gathered. I was hoping someone would reconize them.


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## loffy74

here are some updated photo's as promised


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## jhunbj

Fogelhund said:


> Look more like Chilumba Zebra to me, but these are very young fish.


Second that....specially the 2nd photo  Here's a pic. of my female or subdominant male Chilumba:


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## StructureGuy

Actually, the second picture looks like a not fully colored male C. afra "Cobue". They don't all look like the same species to me.

Kevin


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## loffy74

When He is in a good mood his stripes are very dark and he has a thin red/orange line on
the top dorsal fin.

I looked at the Afra Chewere profile and I am pretty convinced it is he same fish


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## loffy74

perhaps a Afra Chimate

these two are very close, but i am sure its one of those.


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## why_spyder

Unfortunately you will probably never know - this is why locations need to be kept with the different _Cynotilapia_ species - some locations look too similar to tell apart.


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## loffy74

For the two posts regarding it being a Zebra Chilumba. I saw a pic of one.
It looks very similiar, but mine has a orange thin line across the entire top of the dorsal.
the Zebra is lacking that. it does however have the orange back pectoral fins.

Very close.... but I am sticking with the Afra Chimate based on the colors and the body size.

I think that would be good enough to satisfy my interest, I will never be a 100% sure/

like you said/


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## why_spyder

loffy74 said:


> Very close.... but I am sticking with the Afra Chimate based on the colors and the body size.
> 
> I think that would be good enough to satisfy my interest, I will never be a 100% sure


You can call it whatever you want to call it provided the name doesn't leave your tank (i.e. you get rid of the fish and label it as _C. afra_ Chimate). Likewise, I would advise against breeding it with any other _C. afra_ species..... Enjoy your fish! :thumb:


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## loffy74

Yes , I know

I will never really know 100% , so i wouldnt sell to another person.
since I dont know 100% i would never distribute possible Hybrids either.

I always leave my hybrid fry in the tank , until they are all eaten.


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## loffy74

I self labeled for my own sanity, not for distributing to a unsuspecting buyer.

I like these guys alot , no matter what they are. I plan to keep them just for myself


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## Thorin83

I fell in love with your fish, she is pretty!


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## loffy74

Thorin83 said:


> I fell in love with your fish, she is pretty!


thanks, I will post more pics Soon.


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## loffy74

I wanted to follow up on this old post, I was a little new to the forum at the time.

After the fish grew out it came obvious that it was a Metriclima Chilumba Zebra 
as Fogulhund originally stated.

I have gone back to the LFS recently, and they had the exact fish I had at the original size
and it was labeled BB Chilunba Zebra.

i guess it was miss labeled originally.


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