# Unknown C.leptosoma



## Ptyochromis (Mar 23, 2012)

My LFS sold me 11 of these guys as 'kigoma'. They were still floating in the shipping bag when I bought them.

Here is the album


http://imgur.com/GOFOl


They definitely not kigoma, but I have no idea what they are.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

With both blue and yellow tail males and as yet so uncoloured I am struggling to understand why you say they are not Kigoma.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=2144
Can you explain please.
All the best James


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## Ptyochromis (Mar 23, 2012)

They have blue heads, I do not believe kigoma have blue heads.


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## Guest (Jun 20, 2012)

kigoma have powder blue dorsals those look like the dorsals are yellow


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Kigoma
Blue-tailed males: Yellowish head with blue dorsal and anal fins.
Yellow-tailed males: Yellowish head with white dorsal and anal fins.
Yep sorry photos not clear enough on my computer (seems quite washed out on mine) for me to tell what your ones colours are.
Perhaps if you just type the colours you see for head and dorsal for the yellow tails and blue tails we will be able to match them to a known variant.

All the best James


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## Ptyochromis (Mar 23, 2012)

Yellow tail yellow/blue(back to front) dorsal blue head yellow pelvic fin tips
Blue tail yellow dorsal yellow anal blue head yellow some have yellow pelvic fin tips
Females yellow dorsal edge

Ill try and get better pics when my batteries are done charging.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Well no expert but apparently its Ikola and close to variants (Kasoje to Kekese to Ikola) that the yellow tails have blue dorsals and blue tails have yellow dorsals.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=2143

All the best James


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## Ptyochromis (Mar 23, 2012)

I got more


http://imgur.com/a


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## Ptyochromis (Mar 23, 2012)

Also fish pictured in number 9 has colors but looks like he has a green head, so I have no idea.
The pic is kinda bad but this is him http://i.imgur.com/RKQ0C.jpg. This may also be him http://i.imgur.com/E6mNV.jpg, http://i.imgur.com/jMfQU.jpg and 
Stark contrast to http://i.imgur.com/A4zHz.jpg or http://i.imgur.com/LmnZo.jpg(tbe one that is cut off is a yellow tail pictured here http://i.imgur.com/9liGM.jpgnote the ocellus on one but not the other).

And this guy is blue here http://i.imgur.com/LmnZo.jpg and yellow here http://i.imgur.com/5M7gp.jpg (note the chunk in the tail)

I think they may be karilani or utinta. I am slightly colorblind so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about but this is the same store that keeps all their female Aulonocara in the same tank and refers to them all as "female peacocks".


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## Ptyochromis (Mar 23, 2012)

Or manybe its isanga, which I stumbled uppon here http://www.suephoto.com/index.php/galeria/index/5/244/9 and here http://aquafisher.org.ua/cichlidae-tanganyika/rod-cyprichromis/.

Not knowing drives me crazy, almost makes me want to toss some copper sulfate in their coral tank :lol: :lol:


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## Guest (Jun 21, 2012)

can you find the person that does the ordering for the store and find out where they got them from? theres only so many places people really order cyps from you know.. its not a fish that is mass bred in asia since they are so sensitive and die easily when small and even when adults.. i would try to find out where they came from and that would narrow it down a bit


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Thing is I not all LFSs are careful about keeping different variants separate (in the UK at least)
I spotted some well priced Mpulungu in one (very well known and well rated). Arranged a deal for 10. A guy came in with some home bred that looked to me to be Utinta, he did not know the variant.
Dispite my protestations they went into the tank labeled Mpulungu!
Needless to say at that point I had to cancel my buy as I no longer trusted the variant info on any of their Rift cichlids.

All the best James


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## Ptyochromis (Mar 23, 2012)

I think I found the wholesaler's site. http://www.floridatropicalfishdirect.com/5152/5194.html. It fits the name of the owner one of the manager's refereed to, their stocking reflects, almost to a tee what you can find in the store and the names by which they are called. Explains why they don't know where their J.marlieri are from.

My cyps could be 'bulu point', 'blue orchid' or 'jumbo black fin kapembwe', which doesn't necessarily help....


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## Ptyochromis (Mar 23, 2012)

And the more comfortable these guys get the more i think that they are all males.... Female cyps have _some_ color right?


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## Guest (Jun 21, 2012)

yea tropheus.. those guys are morons.. and yea mpulingus are nice.. im working mostly with jumbos right now other than kerenges and 1 micro.. but those are def a nice fish... ok ptyochromis.. after some digging... cyprichromis leptosoma sp. bulu point is basicaly the same looking fish as leptosoma kerenge... they are non jumbos and stay small (relatively speaking *** seen some biiiiig wild caughts before but they do stay smaller than lepto jumbos)... i dont really thing those are your fish.. they dont get yellow fins they get purple and blue in the face and light blue in teh fins and get either a yellow or blue tail.. i have a wild caught group.. this is what mine looks like









the next is cyprichromis leptosoma blue orchid.. most blue orchids are from livua and are a jumbo species and usually referred to as cyprichromis "leptosoma jumbo" livua blue orchids.. or just jumbos people call them... im pretty sure theres other variants that are also known as blue orchids but this is the most common... those get much bigger than the bulu points or kerenges...these get powder blue fins and yellow tails and yellow on the head... also im pretty sure all cyp variants have at least 2 color morphs usually the tail.. but *** noticed that certain off color tail variants sometimes the rest of the fish looks a lil different.. like i have cyprichromis leptsoma jumbo katete and i have a blue tail male and his head isnt yellow like the yellow tail males are... but hes still small and growing out so we'll see..actually i just found on google pics of adult blue tail katetes and their head is yellow but the dorsals are more yellow than 2 tone blue.. ok whatever.. im digressing, but i think that all cyps have 2 male color morphs.. still i see no yellow on any fins of any pics of that particular species on that guys list

next you have Cyprichromis Leptsoma Jumbo Black Fin Kapembwe
it looks like these are jumbo black bee cyps... yellow or blue tail... black fins with a splash of yellow..and yellow head

see this is the problem.. you should always buy fish like this from reputable sources.. theres soooooo many different variants of cyps you really gota trust who you are getting them from.. i mean if its a ruby red peacock or something like that then it doesnt matter where its from.. but with cyps theres just too many different ones.. id do some more digging at the store if i was you try to get the people on the phone that sold him the fish and ask them a few questions as to which they think they are... also if your fish stay small then you knwo they arent jumbos and they gota be the bulu points, assuming this is the place they got them from... which you cant really assume without asking... you shouldnt feel bad asking someone where they got their stock from.. you arent buying goldfish you are buying fish that you need to know their origin in the lake... idk if *** been helpful or just confused you more

and depending on the location some female cyps will have a small bit of color.. some have a lil yellow in the anal fin some hard darker dorsal fins... even withing a local the females will look different from each other with different splotchs or whatever... some have none


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## Ptyochromis (Mar 23, 2012)

Ya, getting any information out of the people there is like pulling teeth. The only reason I was able to find that website was because the manager mentioned that he gets his africans from a mike in northern Florida, about a 5h drive north, and the mike guy delivers them personally. http://www.mikescichlids.com/ leads to floridatropicalfishdirect.com and the area code matches 5 hours drive north of me. I am also past the return time on these guys.

A lot of the yellow tails look very similar to what you have pictured, including the yellow ocillus and the yellow tipped pelvic fin. I also hear that bulu point females have yellow ridged dorsals. I saw one of my males 'flashing/shimmering' at the female. Either that or it is showing aggression to a younger male. Vigorously not spasmodically like irritation. I cannot find any literature to confirm this though :/.
The color also changes on the dorsal, from blue to yellow depending on what direction the fish is facing/lighting. Example: http://i.imgur.com/C1sSI.jpg and http://i.imgur.com/8EKM2.jpg(the one in the middle) It is the same fish, it is the only one with a chunk missing out of its tail like that.

I knew I should have gone with dave, he would have been cheaper, including shipping :/. FML


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## Guest (Jun 21, 2012)

the good thing about cyps and one of the reasons i like them so much is males tolerate each other.. they display to each other and shake and shimmy at each other but rarely will murder each other..i know some people that keep all males.. or like to keep more males than females cuz it makes them constantly colored up.. i like to keep more females than males cuz i want fry to sell lol yea when you see them shaking and shimmying that spawning behavior and displays of dominance.. when they do it to a male its saying hey.. im runnin this back up... to a lady its saying ohhh look at me.. give it up!!!! you should have females holding soon if they are displaying.. as long as the females are big enough... if not.. sometimes it stresses the smaller cyps out they waste and die.. which is whats happening to my katetes.. i have a few bigger males.. i been just adding more and feeding them high protein smaller particulate food and it seems to ward off the wasting a bit..

dude get this guy mike on the phone and ask him which fish he sent to the local fish store.. as a hobbyist you cant sell fry without knowing which fish they are.. maybe it will work... where are you located anyways?


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## Guest (Jun 21, 2012)

yea those look like non jumbo bulu points to me.. looks like you have a few blue tail males tooo... they def not the black bees and dont look like the blue orchids.. i think those are the bulu points which look alot like the kerenges.. watch when they flash each other.. thats when they will color up the most.. thats the best time to snap a pic of them when the 2 males are flaring at each other and the fins open up that'll get you the best pic... my friend calls it "air shows" when cyps do this... its one of the reasons i keep 7 different kinds...


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## Ptyochromis (Mar 23, 2012)

Im down here in Tampa, FL. I got the fish from Marine Warehouse. Im going to swing by the fish store on my way home from class. Im there all the time and spent enough time there, they should be able to pull the order form for me.... Im afriad the manager is going to say "I didn't know which ones you wanted so I got a few of each" >_<". The colors are coming out more in them as they settle down, they are all beginning to look similar.

The cyps like to huddle around the marlieri's rock pile. Which pisses the J.marlieri off to no end. So between that and each other, ill have to keep a close eye out for wasting.

I might just order some Dwarf jumbo kigoma from Dave's rare fish. I totally can re-cage my amazon tree boa and free up a 46 bow, or stick them in a 29 that has a pair of L.ornatipinnis.


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## Guest (Jun 21, 2012)

take some flat rocks.. i like fieldstone and put it up against the back wall at an angle.. they will hang off it and behind it.. i have 3D backgrounds in my tanks and they hang off those and flat rocks up against the back like that also.. in a tank without a background they will hang off the stone.. this is how they sleep also without it they can stress... 
this is my 125 gallon with foai kachese, juli marlieri gombe, white calvus, kitumba cyps and xeno flourescent greens... rocks for the julies... shells for the calvus.. open spaces for the foai and xenos.. and fieldstone upright for the cyps


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## Ptyochromis (Mar 23, 2012)

Totally forgot to go by the LFS :/
Anyway, this is my 55 community, the large flat stone was originally to block the marlieri's line of sight of the ornatipinnis.
If you go to full resolution you can see the juvi marlieri <3


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## Guest (Jun 21, 2012)

switch it up put a rock pile on either side for the julies and put that flat stone up against the back


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## Ptyochromis (Mar 23, 2012)

If I give the julies 2 piles they will more than likely force out my ornatipinnis. I'm trying to figure out some way to get 2 tall piles. But moving that granite was a good idea, it has opened up a ton of floor space for the ornatipinnis and the julies don't seem to mind too much with all the extra dither in the tank. The are more worried about the cyps than the ornatipinnis


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## Guest (Jun 22, 2012)

my julies go in the piles and only really get aggressive when fish go in their piles... but thats cuz they havent spawned yet.. if ornatippinis are like occies then i think you should just put a bunch of shells along the back wall and get another piece of flat rock to put against the back.. the shellies should be happy with shells smaller than julies will care about.. my julies only seem concerned with the bigger shells like medium conchs.. i said a rock pile on either side cuz that gives the julies a chance to split up and you can have more than 1 dominant and lessens the chance they will kill each other


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## Ptyochromis (Mar 23, 2012)

I have never had occies, but from what I hear it sounds like ornatipinnis hold a larger territory, easilt 1sq foot. Ill see, the small rock pile helps me catch juvies that get kicked out of the main pile. I fear that if i put too many rocks in I will have more difficulty removing juvies. I can catch them on the underside of the slanted rocks or chase them to the right wall of the tank.


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