# Updated Pics of Mystery Fish



## Ohio Cichlid Lover (Feb 27, 2012)

I have posted some pictures of this fish in the past month. I lost some info on it. Here are updated pictures of my mystery fish. I know it's a hybrid but can someone tell me what the species might be and possible the sex?

Thank You


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## nmcichlid-aholic (Mar 23, 2011)

Looks like some species of Aulonocara in there mixed with Protomelas of some sort. I'm not as sure about the peacock part, though - it could be fryeri instead - but I'm pretty sure it's got the Protomelas in there. Maybe some P. taeniolatus of some type. With as much color as it's showing, you would assume it's male since females of all those species are drab. The thing about hybrids, though, is that they don't display the traits of pure fish consistently, so who knows. I'd still guess male though. It might turn out to be a nice looking fish!


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

Sulfur head hap is what it appears to be protomelas spilonotus ....looks just like mine did before it started to really color. The anal fin color, dorsal fin turning white, the yellow blaze, etc..

Here is mine before and after....

Before..



















After..









Yours appears to be halfway between my before and after. When I first bought this fish I thought it may have been a rep empress but as it started to grow I realized it was not. Your pics look just like mine before he really started to change colors.

Here is that thread...

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=237077


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## Ohio Cichlid Lover (Feb 27, 2012)

You may have solved the mystery Razorback! I looked at a bunch of pictures of the "sulfer Head". Looks exactly like mine. Thanks Again.


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

Ohio Cichlid Lover said:


> You may have solved the mystery Razorback! I looked at a bunch of pictures of the "sulfer Head". Looks exactly like mine. Thanks Again.


You are welcome. I know I had issues when trying to figure out what I had as well. When he started to develop the yellow blaze that helped ID it.


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## Guest (Jul 18, 2012)

thats not a sulferhead.. thats a hybrid thats being passed around the hobby from some source theres a few places in nj that have them.. theres a few other threads on here about them.. i personaly think its a red empress mixed with a sulferhead.. protomelas spilontus mara rocks dont color up that small.. ever.. they are notorious for taking forever to color up.. *** got 2 males one 5" and one 7" still not colored up.. that fish i think is the fsih being sold as "madoka" or even being marketed as sulferhead peacocks to fish stores... that actually looks different than the hybrid i saw cuz the blaze was red not yellow.. maybe thats a lithobates/sulferhead hybrid.. i dont think its a pure mara rocks thou.. i could be wrong but somethings off to me


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

m1ke715m said:


> thats not a sulferhead.. thats a hybrid thats being passed around the hobby from some source theres a few places in nj that have them.. theres a few other threads on here about them.. i personaly think its a red empress mixed with a sulferhead.. protomelas spilontus mara rocks dont color up that small.. ever.. they are notorious for taking forever to color up.. I've got 2 males one 5" and one 7" still not colored up.. that fish i think is the fsih being sold as "madoka" or even being marketed as sulferhead peacocks to fish stores... that actually looks different than the hybrid i saw cuz the blaze was red not yellow.. maybe thats a lithobates/sulferhead hybrid.. i dont think its a pure mara rocks thou.. i could be wrong but somethings off to me


Well...I guess it is possible although mine didn't start to color until 3". He is now about 3.5" or so and is slowly continuing to change colors. I think most of the pics I have seen online are of much bigger fish. So I think they may still have some coloring to do. I just don't know. When I started my thread that I linked above I thought it may have been a empress when it was very small. It wasn't until the yellow blaze started to develop that I figured out what I had. I guess it could be a hybrid. Just don't know for sure. The only thing I do know 100% for sure is that we both have the same fish.


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## Ohio Cichlid Lover (Feb 27, 2012)

Well...whatever it is, it's a really cool fish. Mine has lots of attitude for such a little guy....lol


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

Ohio Cichlid Lover said:


> Well...whatever it is, it's a really cool fish. Mine has lots of attitude for such a little guy....lol


Mine too. He is not scared of any other fish. He is not the dominant fish by any means but is not scared. He is going to eventually be the tank boss in my tank. I am really needing to upgrade soon to a 125g at least. I recently had an issue that that would have helped.


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## danielratti (Feb 17, 2008)

*** seen Mara rocks color up around that size it just depends on the fish really. *** had some male fish color up around 1.5 - 2 inches.


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