# Very new to this. What kind of fish is this? Please



## sheldon_goldwing (Sep 27, 2010)

This guy/gal is about 2" and I now know I need to know waht kind it is so I can buy more fish. Please help. Thanks Sorry hard to photo as it is very shy!


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## groahjc (Mar 22, 2011)

It looks similar to a S. Fryeri or electric blue hap. How big is she? To Me it appears to be a young female but not positive.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

It is a male hormoned fish, probably a Scieanochromis fryeri x Aulonocara species hybrid.


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## sheldon_goldwing (Sep 27, 2010)

It is about 2" long. - Very Shy.
The pictures dont ever look exactly right as some time especially from the back looking at the side it is more goldish. He seems darker blue every where now, , not sure why but many of the cichlids 'change' color sometime within minutes. I will try to get a better photo. my black sand does not help as it sucks up my light pretty good!

My worry is I want to get some more fish this weekend and I learned the hard way to research it. (accidently got a Livingstonii which is going back this weekend.)

Really appreciate your help here. - REALLY


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## groahjc (Mar 22, 2011)

What size is your tank sheldon? And what are you going for? All males or a couple trios, quads etc.?


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## sheldon_goldwing (Sep 27, 2010)

I have a 125g and would like a Malawi Mbuna tank (because of colors). I want yellows, blues, reds, orange and purple. I Have a 37g which I raised Cichlids in for several years with a couple yellow Labs, a Blue one probably an electric blue, two red Zebras which were orange, and one lace catfish. One weekend they all got sick and before the weekend was over all were dead except kitty fish and Blue. Blue then died a little over a week later in my Doctor Tank. Lace Catfish was the only one who made it. That was last October. Anyway, I built a new tank stand and got everything ready. IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢m cycling with Seachem Stabality. I did not know anything about picking fish and still donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t as I got a Livingstonii and this blue character last weekend. I donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t know if I can keep this one or not yet. I donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t want huge 12Ã¢â‚¬Â


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## sheldon_goldwing (Sep 27, 2010)

Well, not sure if anyone is out there or not. he/she is not very aggressive and in fact is shy so I have no idea what it is so I'll take a chance and keep it. If anyone stumbles across the new pictures, please let me know. I'll continue with my plan of adding colorful cichlids!


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Well you seem to be laying down an ultimatum. Yep Aulonocaras esp hybrid Aulonocaras can cope with the more peaceful Mbuna in a 125g esp if they are not out numbered by them. Your guy looks like a Peacock I can not Id it as it may be just a mix of Aulonocara species or a mix with Sciaenochromis.

Good luck with the mixing I sure hope it does not end in beeten up and dieing fish and sadness for you.

Prob is no one knows just how hybrids will behave in aquariums. Its hard enough with pure species and variants.

Enjoy your cichlids. Mix what you want to mix. I for sure dunno if it will work for you or not.

"blue babyÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s" is a male for sure. Just dunno exactly what species or variant he is. Prob a mix.

All the best James


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## sheldon_goldwing (Sep 27, 2010)

I hope i did not sound nasty or sound like an ultimatium I have a backup plan. 
I have my old 37g so I can put him in there if needed. I'm just a bit depressed the more I read. I've kept cichlids for several years not knowing anything about compatible fish. I just picked colors I liked. Somehow they all just got along, Thankfully. I hope that happens again. This weekend I took back the Livingstonii and got two red zebras and one yellow lab. Everyone seems happy so far. Do just the males dig?


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

sheldon_goldwing said:


> I hope i did not sound nasty or sound like an ultimatium I have a backup plan.
> I have my old 37g so I can put him in there if needed. I'm just a bit depressed the more I read. I've kept cichlids for several years not knowing anything about compatible fish. I just picked colors I liked. Somehow they all just got along, Thankfully. I hope that happens again. This weekend I took back the Livingstonii and got two red zebras and one yellow lab. Everyone seems happy so far. Do just the males dig?


You sure are a lucky guy. No planning and happy tanks.

Wish I could be half as lucky.

There again how long together for cichlids do you consider a success. 6 months? 1 year? Or 5 years?
Any muppet can put a random mix of cichlids in a 125g for 6 months and have most of em all survive.
Planning a tank for a bit longer kind of takes a bit of forward thinking.

Took me 10 years of killing cichlids to figure this out. 

Kind of hoping folk I talk to will get to keeping and breeding cichlids long term a bit faster than that. 

All the best James


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## sheldon_goldwing (Sep 27, 2010)

Thanks for the help and best wishes. My 37g only lasted three years before they got sick. well......now what! Ifeel like a woman in a shoe store! I'm confused! I was going to 'start' with my old 37g stock. I had 2 red zebras, 3 yellow labs, one blue fish, and one lace catfish.

How did you tell the sex of Mr Blue?

and I just got to know, do the males or females dig?


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

sheldon_goldwing said:


> How did you tell the sex of Mr Blue?
> 
> and I just got to know, do the males or females dig?


Males have colour, females would be brown/silver in Haps/Peacocks.

Males and Females can dig, but males more often.


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## sheldon_goldwing (Sep 27, 2010)

Thanks for the info. I was trying to figure out the sex of my red zebras. The littler one is making tunnels under my holey rock. I thought it was a she but thought I heard only males dig.


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## groahjc (Mar 22, 2011)

Red zebras are one of the hardest fish to sex IMO


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## Suken (Jan 22, 2011)

groahjc said:


> Red zebras are one of the hardest fish to sex IMO


really?? correct me if i am wrong but the females are a vivid orange and the males turn a peach color with a blue sheen all over the body and fins, now yellow labs there is a difficult species to sex


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Suken said:


> groahjc said:
> 
> 
> > Red zebras are one of the hardest fish to sex IMO
> ...


Not in all double Reds. Natural variants will have a colour difference between male and female but not all man made types do.

All the best James


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## groahjc (Mar 22, 2011)

Suken said:


> groahjc said:
> 
> 
> > Red zebras are one of the hardest fish to sex IMO
> ...


You're correct but when I hear people talk about sexing red zebras I am assuming in 90% of the cases are man made varieties. Most people asking about sexing on this forum are not referring to wild or f1 red zebras.

I do agree with you that sexing yellow labs can be extremely difficult as well, but your basing sexing
red zebras on nothing more than color, you could essentially do the same with yellow labs. Many times yellow lab males contain more black in their fins and face as they mature, again this is a generalization.

I think that baseing sex on nothing more than close color morphs just causes trouble lol.

they mature.


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