# Blue cichlid turning yellow



## brickparts

Hello!

I'm new to the Cichlid world.

I have a young cichlid that was a lighter blue with darker blue vertical stripes when I bought it about 6 months ago and now it's turning yellow. Any idea what it is?

It came from a tank labled "Mixed African Cichlids".

Thanks for your help!

~Roxanne


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## brickparts

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https://flic.kr/p/6409956921


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## noki

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=798


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## malawi_luver

Hybrid. It's got some Labidochromis in there with some Lombardoi.

-Garrett


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## Mcdaphnia

malawi_luver said:


> Hybrid. It's got some Labidochromis in there with some Lombardoi.
> 
> -Garrett


 That looks likely.


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## brickparts

How can you tell? I assume it's a male?


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## Mercy

I don't know... Don't male kenyi cichlids go through a color change, maybe that's what it is. Try searching it on Google images.


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## AFRICAN-FISH

Male Kenyis start blue as juvies but turn yellow when they mature unlike females that stay blue


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## Mcdaphnia

Metriaclima lombardoi is often sold as M. kenyi in various alternative spellings, or even Pseudotropheus lilancinius. Your fish shows some suggestions of Labidochromis color pattern and perhaps body and head shape.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/m_lombardoi.php

Here's an example of what looks like a red zebra X "Lions Cove" L. caeruleus. In cichlids and in rainbowfishes, there is a lot of "neither fish nor fowl" available.


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## nmcichlid-aholic

brickparts said:


> How can you tell? I assume it's a male?


The horizontal black stripe on the dorsal fin is a common trait in Labidochromis caeruleus, but not in M. lombardoi. Also, it's mouth and head have the pointier shape of the Labidochromis. Kenyi males do turn yellow after starting out blue, but given this particular fish is a hybrid, that may not be a sure sign of gender. I would say that it is highly likely that it is male, though.


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## noki

A Kenyi hybrid crossed with Socolofi is more likely


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## brickparts

Thanks for all your help!

I'm glad I found out its a hybrid since I only want to breed purebreds. 

~Roxanne


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