# 3 Blue Malawis living in my tank, help ID please! :)



## anonimus

What you think they are? :fish:

Click the image to make it bigger


----------



## lilscoots

We'll probably need better pics than these...
no3 looks like a protomelas "sulphurhead"


----------



## anonimus




----------



## mattrox

Some sort of red shoulder peacock. 2 might be a subdominant peacock, let it grow and colour up a bit more .

I agree with the Sulfur head protocols.


----------



## m1ke715m

1 is possibly a taiwan reef

3 is one of those sulferhead/red empress hybrids


----------



## anonimus

New photo from the blue 1

Is this better to ID?


----------



## nmcichlid-aholic

This one looks like one of the Aulonocara stuartgranti "Red shoulder" peacocks - most resembles Chiloelo, but is surely just a common aquarium strain. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1389


----------



## Fogelhund

The last picture is a Hap hybrid, wrong shape in the head for an Aulonocara.


----------



## Hock

#1 to me looks like a Aulonocara stuartgranti "Ngara"
#2 you cant tell yet, could even be a female
#3 is a Aulonocara Maylandi "Sulpher Head"


----------



## cichbilly

No1 looks like Otopharynx tetraspilus

I have a group and im fairly confident


----------



## 13razorbackfan

Fogelhund said:


> The last picture is a Hap hybrid, wrong shape in the head for an Aulonocara.


Yep...looks to be a Borleyi hybrid of some sort. The bottom two pics of the OP are going around big time right now and they are thought to be a Protomelas Spilonotus mara rocks mixed with something. Looks very similar to mine. I have seen tons of these at the local chain stores being shipped in from asia.


----------



## Fogelhund

13razorbackfan said:


> Fogelhund said:
> 
> 
> 
> The bottom two pics of the OP are going around big time right now and they are thought to be a Protomelas Spilonotus mara rocks mixed with something. Looks very similar to mine. I have seen tons of these at the local chain stores being shipped in from asia.
Click to expand...

By the looks of the heads, probably S. fryeri with mara rocks. Attractive colouration.

Very disappointed in the direction the hobby is taking with all of these hybrids being dumped on unsuspecting hobbyists.


----------



## 13razorbackfan

Fogelhund said:


> 13razorbackfan said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fogelhund said:
> 
> 
> 
> The bottom two pics of the OP are going around big time right now and they are thought to be a Protomelas Spilonotus mara rocks mixed with something. Looks very similar to mine. I have seen tons of these at the local chain stores being shipped in from asia.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> By the looks of the heads, probably S. fryeri with mara rocks. Attractive colouration.
> 
> Very disappointed in the direction the hobby is taking with all of these hybrids being dumped on unsuspecting hobbyists.
Click to expand...

That is my problem with hybrids as well. I am not sure why the breeders and wholesalers, whether it here or Asia, feel it necessary to do this. These fish coming into the local chain stores are not any more or less colored than any other hap. They are simply cross breeding and selling. The ones I saw, and bought one almost a year ago, were all gray and looked similar to other protomelas at that size. You would think they would just hormone them for a quick sell instead of trying to create something different. It is because of these actions that I have resorted to buying from reputable online dealers and so far so good.


----------



## 1025667

# 3 is defiantly a Electric Ahli (look at the top fin and head shape!)
Mixed with a German Red Peaock (look at the slight orange on side and body shape!)
I am 90% sure! I have owned both of these, and I know for a fact that a Ahli will cross breed with anything!

Ahli:









German Red Peacock:


----------



## anonimus

New photos; of my undefined :s


----------



## 4RSo

where did you get these fish? Forget what it _looks_ like because if these fish were hybridized, which may be the case, it is impossible to name them accurately. Your dark blue fish appears to be some sort of copadichromis azureus hybrid. They do not get that orange coloration in the body though.


----------



## anonimus

Well actually, I know I´ve never gonna know what are the blue fishes I have. By the replys I got here, I assume is some sort of hybrids... So, Im just gonna share the evolution of them.

In this time, I share of my favorite blue!


----------



## 13razorbackfan

Maybe hybrid Ngara flametail....not sure.


----------



## anonimus

Sharing photos of how it looks at this point my beautiful and rare blue fish, I named him "Freddy" hehehe


----------



## 13razorbackfan

I am just not sure....I keep going back and forth with Borleyi or Ngara flametail hybrid. Nice fish though.


----------



## Snowfade

Fish in photo 1 is DEFINITELY a male Red Fin Borleyi (Copadichromis borleyi), and the other is a female or juvvie Red Fin Borleyi (Gray/silver body with orange fins). They all look like that when they are young, the males just develop into those pretty red and blue colors as they mature.

It appears you have a similar colorationed fish in there with more teal on the head, which I assume is a Red Empress Peacock. (Though that may just be a reflection)

(German red generally has way more red than your fish have). Although, all three species are very similar in colors.


----------



## m1ke715m

thats not a red fin borleyi..


----------



## noki

Borleyi mixed with Fryeri?


----------



## 13razorbackfan

noki said:


> Borleyi mixed with Fryeri?


Yeah...I was thinking Borleyi mixed with something. Definitely not pure Borleyi. I was thinking in a couple of the more recent pics it may have some Ngara flametail in him or Borleyi. I keep going back and forth.


----------



## 24Tropheus

Fogelhund said:


> Very disappointed in the direction the hobby is taking with all of these hybrids being dumped on unsuspecting hobbyists.


Sad too. Here we blaim Czec bred and far easten fish coming in real cheap. Often labeled as pure.
No prob with hybrids just they should be sold as such.
Iding em a nightmare. Some seem to be deliberatly bred to look like real species.
I just do not get it, as pure are so easy to breed and grow. 

All the best James


----------



## anonimus

What about some sort of copadichromis verduyni with azureus? or maybe with kawanga?


----------



## anonimus

By the way, I want point my opinion about some comments I read about how sad it is the situation of hobbyst and "hybrids", In either case the hybrids, are a living fishes. And certainly there are many "hybrids" on the market that we bought and many of us have like a "pure fish" per lot of money, we can find many examples with peacocks, and at all the Flower horns, there are many other examples, and is just "market". Im not agree with the ones who think that the "hybrids" should not be. Is not sad, in fact is nature and in nature every fish that we know already, is an hybrid that comes from years ago before we exist...

Please dont take me bad, is just my opinion and my way to think about a living thing...


----------



## anonimus

anonimus said:


> What about some sort of copadichromis verduyni with azureus? or maybe with kawanga?


Also I think it can be Copadichromis mbenji with azureus... I dont know but I see face on him of copadichromis...


----------



## nmcichlid-aholic

anonimus said:


> anonimus said:
> 
> 
> 
> What about some sort of copadichromis verduyni with azureus? or maybe with kawanga?
> 
> 
> 
> Also I think it can be Copadichromis mbenji with azureus... I dont know but I see face on him of copadichromis...
Click to expand...

You can keep guessing and guessing about what species bred together to make this fish, but you'll never really know. It's likely that the parents were hybrid, too, so who knows how many species are in the genes of this one. It's a nice looking fish, so just enjoy it and don't worry about "what it is"!


----------



## 24Tropheus

Sure hybrids exist and sure we have to cope with this.
Natural and un natural/man made.
However just because it is the case we do not have to like it or not live in hope that hobiests will one day learn there is a better way.
Arg I do not believe it for a minuite.
The Malawi hobby is spoilt beyond redemption.
Sad thing is the Tang cichlid hobby is going the same way.
They are recently evolved species that cross very easily esp in un natural situations.
Folk like to make new things and money. The rest just follows.  
On the fish in question. Yep hybrid. No guessing its provenance.

Old pick but can anyone guess what went into this one?










All the best James


----------



## 4RSo

it's strange but i'm seeing some lwanda/jacobfreibergi in the tips and edges of the dorsal, anal, and caudal fins. But the bars remind me of a demasoni.


----------



## 24Tropheus

4RSo said:


> it's strange but i'm seeing some lwanda/jacobfreibergi in the tips and edges of the dorsal, anal, and caudal fins. But the bars remind me of a demasoni.


Not a bad guess.
Its half of one of those three. :wink: 
Another clue, bars from another Mbuna not Pseudotropheus.

If you want to cheat just read the URL of the pic. :thumb:

All the best James


----------



## twankyfive2

Looks more like a ngara in that on.


----------



## 4RSo

24Tropheus said:


> 4RSo said:
> 
> 
> 
> it's strange but i'm seeing some lwanda/jacobfreibergi in the tips and edges of the dorsal, anal, and caudal fins. But the bars remind me of a demasoni.
> 
> 
> 
> Not a bad guess.
> Its half of one of those three. :wink:
> Another clue, bars from another Mbuna not Pseudotropheus.
> 
> If you want to cheat just read the URL of the pic. :thumb:
> 
> All the best James
Click to expand...

there should be a thread where all the pictures are pictures of hybrids, and before another picture can be posted the correct fish that were bred to make the fish in the picture must be guessed. It would be fun and educational!


----------



## 24Tropheus

4RSo said:


> there should be a thread where all the pictures are pictures of hybrids, and before another picture can be posted the correct fish that were bred to make the fish in the picture must be guessed. It would be fun and educational!


Could be fun. Prob is someone posts a pic of a common one like Firefish/Dragons Blood Peacock. We all go Aulonocara ?sp x Metriaclima estherae (Double Red). Its prob right but most hybrid breeders like to keep it secret and we are all left just guessing.

All the best James


----------



## 4RSo

aw perhaps one day


----------



## Blooper01

I've got one that looks a bit like Freddy that sprung out of my non-breeding, supposed fry-free, mix-up hap tank a few years ago and is a almost certainly a Borleyi x Taiwan Reef. Oh, well. Nice fish! Freddy's "cousin" says "hello."


----------



## anonimus

Blooper01 said:


> I've got one that looks a bit like Freddy that sprung out of my non-breeding, supposed fry-free, mix-up hap tank a few years ago and is a almost certainly a Borleyi x Taiwan Reef. Oh, well. Nice fish! Freddy's "cousin" says "hello."


great! can you post a pic of him? im really curious about how his cousin looks :fish:


----------



## Blooper01

Hi, anonimus, I want to apologize to you and the forum for talking out of my (well, for being incorrect). I was *sure* that I had a fish that looks like Freddy. Not anymore, apparently. Quite a few years ago, I had a lot of Borleyi who took it upon themselves to breed, and a lot of Taiwan Reef that took it upon themselves to breed, and after that wore out for me, I retired some of the adults into my largest tank at the time and got a few hybrids that survived, some I still have and some who have gone to the big lake in the sky through various natural causes including perhaps at times sub-optimal fish keeping. This will teach me not to post after midnight, as I seem to no longer have the particular fishy I had in mind. As they say here in the states, DERP! Sorry.


----------



## anonimus

The Evolution of this dude:










I think at this point his transformation is beautiful


----------



## chopsteeks

no. 1.

Looks like a Red Shoulder Hybrid. Dorsal fin is not tall enough compared to profile photos of Red Shoulder. One I have has a tall dorsal fin too.


----------

