# Maingano and Yellow Lab Hybrid??



## souljah77 (Mar 23, 2008)

I recently had several fry from my maingano female a 2 yellow labs. Out of the fry I have some beautifully coloured yellow labs and a really nice group of Maingano's. Than I have a group of Maingano's aprox 8 that are a very light purple with yellow on their tales and fins. From anyones experience is this a hybird or maybe just a female/male colouration difference as a juvenile?

Also if it is a hybrid would this be a bad mix for my tank.

I've moved 2 of the juveniles into the main tank and they are doing great I would like to keep some of the juveniles and sell the rest, if they are a hybrid should I still sell them.

4 Yellow Labs
2 Maingano's
2 Pleco's
2 Colubian sharks (been watching them to see that their aggression isn't to extreme since I was told that they only grow to a certain size and than after my own research realized they can grow much bigger than supplier told me)

The tank is 75 gallons but am looking to upgrade it to a 150-200 gallon tank as the Sharks grow


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos "maingano's" should not have any yellow on them. They are likely hybrids. They are bad for the tank, if you plan on raising any fry.


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## souljah77 (Mar 23, 2008)

So what would you suggest I do with them? I take it LFS wouldn't take them and I wouldn't want to pass it on to anyone else. What makes them so bad?


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

souljah77 said:


> So what would you suggest I do with them? I take it LFS wouldn't take them and I wouldn't want to pass it on to anyone else. What makes them so bad?


They only thing bad about them, is if you plan on raising fry, they are hybrids, which in my opinion shouldn't be sold. If you just want them for your own enjoyment, and don't distribute fry, they won't cause you anymore issues than regular johanni do.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

This also makes me wonder if your Maingano are really cyaneorhabdos, or a cross between johanni and cyaneorhabdos... 

This could also explain the "yellow", and it's a pretty common hybrid that can be very hard to identify.

Kim


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## souljah77 (Mar 23, 2008)

The 2 original mainganos have no yellow ccolouration on them at all, I also bought them from Big Al's which I would think is a reputable seller.


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## Joea (May 25, 2004)

souljah77 said:


> I also bought them from Big Al's which I would think is a reputable seller.


Reputation of any LFS will vary from store to store when dealing with chains. I've seen many hybrids sold as pure and even more mislabeled fish sold at stores that would be considered reputable. The best thing you can do is learn as much as you can about the fish you want to buy and learn to recognize traits that will identify mislabeling and hybrid fish.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

souljah77 said:


> The 2 original mainganos have no yellow ccolouration on them at all, I also bought them from Big Al's which I would think is a reputable seller.


Doesn't matter...

I had a group of seemingly perfect Yellow labs produce fry that were obviously part red zebra.

It's not the LFS that you have to worry about, it's the breeders and suppliers the LFS deal with. :wink:

Kim


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## souljah77 (Mar 23, 2008)

Hope this clarify's better
2 Yellow Labs and 1 Maingano had fry

Of the fry I have 9 perfectly coloured yellow labs, and I have 10 perfectly coloured maingano's and 8 with the yellow colouration. I wasn't sure if the difference in colour was do to the fry being juveniles and the sex.


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## kewlkatdady (May 15, 2007)

free food...


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## Hoosier Tank (May 8, 2007)

souljah77 said:


> Hope this clarify's better
> I wasn't sure if the difference in colour was do to the fry being juveniles and the sex.


This should clear it up...
No. Mainganos are blue no matter what age or sex.


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