# Need Help Identifying



## Pinklady038 (Mar 18, 2015)

Hi Everyone,
My fiance has been a cichlid fan for years, I am just now becoming a fish person and am curious to learn what cichlids he has in his tank. I would like help identifying each of them and would like help tweaking our tank to get the best out of it. I'm becoming a little OCD about his tank the more I read the forum topics. They all seem to get a long for the most part (they aren't killing each other). Only real jerks in the tank are #10, #16, #19 and occasionally #20. #19 & #16 have been behaving lately since we raised the water temp. However, the other two are still jerks, especially #10. He will chase anyone even for his smaller size. Even our baby baby #7 is starting to run his territory in the tank (I have been protective of him. lol) We have also noticed their colors aren't as vibrant anymore. The local aquarium store told us to feed them the new life spectrum pellets, however we don't see a change. HELLLPPPP!!!!

I do know #2 is a Lemon Jake (so breeder told us), #5 is a yellow lab, #8 is a johanni & #9 is Fred (yes, I named him) and he is an OB Peacock. The others we think we may know, but really aren't sure.

Water temp: 80
PH: 8.2








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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

1. Maybe Scieanochromis fryeri... hard to tell with this picture... head looks weird but could be the angle.
2. Not a Lemon Jake afterall... Sunshine Peacock... baenschi or Maleri Island Stuartgranti.. can't tell which at this point
3. Maybe Ps./M. crabro Bumblebee
4. Albino Peacock.. 
5. Labidochromis caeruleus
6. Ps. auratus
7. M. johanni
8. M. johanni
9. OB Peacock
10. Albino M.greshakei
11. Hybrid 
12. Beat up Scieanochromis fryeri
13. Scieanochromis fryeri
14. M. zebra type... 
15. Aulonocara type.. species unknown until it colours up.
16. Ps. auratus
17. Looks like a Nimbochromis polystigma x livingstoni cross
18. ???
19. Hybrid
20. Possibly Labidochromis hongi type or hybrid of
21. Hybrid peacock


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## jw85 (Dec 24, 2013)

I don't disagree with any of Fogelhund's IDs. And I name all of my fish


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## Pinklady038 (Mar 18, 2015)

Fogelhund said:


> 1. Maybe Scieanochromis fryeri... hard to tell with this picture... head looks weird but could be the angle.
> 2. Not a Lemon Jake afterall... Sunshine Peacock... baenschi or Maleri Island Stuartgranti.. can't tell which at this point
> 3. Maybe Ps./M. crabro Bumblebee
> 4. Albino Peacock..
> ...


You were very helpful, thank you! :thumb:

Okay- now you have TOTALLLLLY thrown me off. We were assuming our Lemon Jake wasn't a Lemon Jake after all... But needed that second opinion. Makes us sad, we reallllly wanted a lemon jake. Oh well..... Anyone know of a reputable lemon jake breeder?

#4, was a very bright almost neon fire like orange/red. The color has died down since in our tank. Are albinos colored too?

#21, we were told was some sort of dragon... Again, I dont know my names...

#19, we were really curious about him. He was the problem child for awhile and when he is pissy he gets black vertical lines down his body.. Thought he would have been some sort of peacock.... :-?

#12, we have 2 of them and they look the same. Agree they look beat up, but they are the peaceful ones in the tank and usually will swim around with each other.

#14, hope it is a Zebra type.... I have grown fond of the coloring on #20. 

#15, he had a lot of red when we got him. I'll try and get another pic of him.... He is one that we have noticed the colors have dwindled a lot. 

Soooo- about my jerk of the tank #10, Albino M. Greshakei.... Is he always going to be a total jerk? I've never seen such a small fish be so territorial and chase. 

How do I get them to color back up? That is the biggest question I have. :-? :-? :-? :-? :-?


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## Pinklady038 (Mar 18, 2015)

Could #19 be a M.Greshakei? I googled it, and he looks exactly like most of them...

http://www.borstein.com/sam/?Species_Profiles:Malawi:Metriaclima_greshakei


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Pinklady038 said:


> Could #19 be a M.Greshakei? I googled it, and he looks exactly like most of them...
> 
> http://www.borstein.com/sam/?Species_Profiles:Malawi:Metriaclima_greshakei


Your picture shows a fish with yellow colouration in the body... a Greshakei will never have any yellow like that in the body.


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## Pinklady038 (Mar 18, 2015)

Understood. Thank you


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

#1 looks to have P. phenochilus in it.

As far as their colors, you have a pretty bad mix of fish. Many of those fish will not color up with the other fish in the tank regardless of which food you use.


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## Pinklady038 (Mar 18, 2015)

Thanks for replying! If we were to keep the fish we have and get another tank, is there a way to split them up with the mix we have?


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## nmcichlid-aholic (Mar 23, 2011)

lilscoots said:


> #1 looks to have P. phenochilus in it.
> 
> As far as their colors, you have a pretty bad mix of fish. Many of those fish will not color up with the other fish in the tank regardless of which food you use.


Exactly - diet actually has very little to do with the coloration of these fish when you consider all of the other factors that can affect it, the most important of which is dominance/aggression issues. You've obviously got some very aggressive mbuna mixed in with more timid hap and peacock species, and the timid ones won't color up if they don't feel comfortable in the tank. It may not even be the most aggressive fish in the tank that's keeping any one particular fish from coloring - for example, I've got a red empress that would never color up and I wasn't sure why. Nobody was picking on him, and none of the other fish were overly dominant. One day this old red peacock I had died, and within a week the red empress had colored up enough that it looked like a completely different fish. I would have never thought to remove that peacock in order to get the empress to color because there was never any sign of conflict between them. In your situation, you may start by removing the most aggressive fish for a while and seeing what happens, but all male tanks are just a lot of trial and error.


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