# Protomelas 'Tangerine Tiger'



## secondnature (Nov 1, 2009)

Hello everyone. This is my first post here. 
Today at the aquarium store I work at I purchased one large male Protomelas 'Tangerine Tiger' from a customer. I'd heard of them before and thought I knew what they looked like from internet photos but the fish i got is nothing like a Tiger but more like a Red Empress.
Being somewhat confused I started scouring cichlid books and the net and ended up being way, way more confused.
Does Tangerine Tiger even exist?
I have found references to P.taeniolatus and steveni as "tangerine tiger" and they are not my fish. Even comparisons between different references for tangerine tiger look totally different. I even found an Aulonocara 'Tangerine tiger'. Ad Konings Malawi Cichlids in their natural habitat has nothing on them and surprisingly nothing about Red Empress either.
What is going on? Is this one of those things where if enough people believe a certain thing it becomes "truth"?
Hap experts please help
I will post a pic of this fish asap


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Common names are a problem because they can be used for more than one fish (or incorrectly).

Here are links to the profiles for the fish you are asking about. An easy way to find scientific name using the common name is to use <Find> when you are on the Malawi Hap list in the profiles.
Tangerine Tiger
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1365
Red Empress
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1369
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1368


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

The fish that I've always seen sold as a Tangerine Tiger looked more like this...
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1240

Many thin bars and a slightly more pointed face than a Red Empress.


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## Kinsol (Dec 5, 2006)

Heres a Picture of my male as you can see he does look like a tiger from the body.


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## nickinsmokerise (Jun 22, 2008)

you better just send him to me as soon as possible!


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## solgood (Sep 23, 2009)

Looks like the Tangerine Tiger i have.


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

that's a pretty fish


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## copasetic (Nov 26, 2007)

This is a species with very different location variants.. A "tangerene Tiger" and a "red empriss" are the same fish if you only go by the species name.. The location variant is what makes them a diffenrent fish.
hope that help you!


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## Kinsol (Dec 5, 2006)

Thanks :thumb: I dont think *** ever seen someone besides me have one in there tank and I think there cool looking, u see the red empress, or taiwan reef but not the tiger.


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## copasetic (Nov 26, 2007)

The females are very cool.. they have a crazy tiger pattern that is nothing like any other female africans..


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