# id please



## Munchie1010 (Oct 19, 2009)

me and my friend are going back and forth on this one he says its a demasoni and i say its a kenyi, he picked it up at wal-mart please help thanks


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## Markito (Feb 26, 2010)

Yes the fish was bought at walmart. Hybrid? Maybe maybe not... I own 3 kenyis and none of them have ever had solid black bars or a white strip on the top dorsal fin like a demasoni does.Also my kenyis bars lighten up, on this fish the bars stays dark and his blue fades like shown in the picture above. He does get blue like what you see in the pic, he just happend to loose his color at the time the picture was taken
I understand walmart has "assorted cichlids" on their tanks. I'm not gonna lie I have a few yellow labs, Rustys, red top zebras from walmart.They look to be the correct species and not hybrids. maybe 1 fish got in a batch on their new shipment? I just started.I've bought a lot of my fishes from reputable shops and have looked at their demasonis and seen ones that look identical to the one I have. 
One of our friend has 10 demasonis and says what I have is infact a demasoni cause they too look identical to his. I understand that this may not be a show quality fish with perfect barring colors etc. I'm just here trying to settle this haha.
No way am I endorsing buying from walmart, petsmart etc... I'm sure everyone atleast starting into this fish game has bought a fish from one of these places once in their life. I just happen to have 90 day warranty on some fishes haha. Thanks guys and let us know what you think. Will try to get some better pics up. Had a friend snap some with his camera to settle this. He says its a demasoni as well.kenyi or demasoni????


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## Markito (Feb 26, 2010)

Oh yah that fish is about an inch big so he's still a juvenile... Don't know if he will get more color or what not when he matures. He or she I don't know the sex


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## SinisterKisses (Feb 24, 2004)

It's a demasoni.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

SinisterKisses said:


> It's a demasoni.


agreed


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## Zion Lion (Jul 9, 2009)

It's a demasoni :thumb:


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## Markito (Feb 26, 2010)

thanks guys any more opinions?


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## firenzena (Nov 29, 2009)

Yep put me in Dem camp also.

Nxt question -what are your plans for one juvi Dem?
Be very careful introducing to a single dem, especially that size, into established colony
lest you get accused of infanticide.


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## Markito (Feb 26, 2010)

he seems to be doing fine.. the other fishes are about 2.5"-3.5".. he minds his own business he was all crazy in the bag but when i put him in he was all quiet and just loves swimming against the current. hes been in the tank for a few weeks. my whole tank has been up for about a month and a half he was like the 12th fish i put in theres. now theres a lot more... still growing

quick question will the demasoni look different as it gets older or will he basically look the same... someones still in denial


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

If he has lombardoi blood in him he will go more yellow with time, even if female she should lose those great blues and blacks. Dunno about the Id I am rubbish at telling these two (line bred lombardoi can look real blue and have that number of bars) and the mixes apart.


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## knotty dreadlocks (Oct 31, 2008)

SinisterKisses said:


> It's a demasoni.


x100 and some mcdonalds ha ha


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## Markito (Feb 26, 2010)

*** had kenyis that size and they were never that dark blue with that deep of color. like i said above that guy turned pale i will try to get another shot of him when i get the chance so i can show him fully colored
the "demasoni" also has black markings on his bottom fins and on his tail. that i dont see on kenyis. the tail also looks different from kenyis and more of a demasoni. all the kenyis *** seen their bars lighten.. this guys bars dont his blue goes from bright purpleish blue to white. im more certain i have a demasoni, i just need my buddy to realize it so i can win out bet! haha

i think the "walmart bought and assorted cichlids" is whats throwing him off and makes him say it could have 1/3 kenyi in him. i think i got a demasoni i just need more votes to prove it. thanks guys your opinion means alot :thumb:

so 24tropheus in your eyes what do you think that is if you had to pick one?


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## firenzena (Nov 29, 2009)

My Dems aren't the best but at least a comparison










young ones


















In terms of colouring- colours will intensify- how much depending on sex and position in the colony.
An alpa male will get very dark bluey black bands


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## Markito (Feb 26, 2010)

your dems looks just like mine and thats a good thing!! :dancing: i do like the more of a black face and body but there was just 1 the tank i wasnt gonna be picky. i was more shocked that i saw it at walmart of all places. in your second pic the one on the bottom looks just like my little guy!
im sure if i would of hand picked some demasonis i would of all got dark faces. i dont know why but i like those kinds. but im not gonna be picky :thumb:

great looking fishes by the way, how many do you got? got a pic of the whole tank? your set up looks crazy!


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## firenzena (Nov 29, 2009)

To get the best colour you want to keep them in numbers. 10-12 would be good.
Top dog will have great
Yours is a youngster so could yet deepen.

Never kept just one.

I had 20 from a couple of spawns growing out in this tank. Tank as it was.










it's a little re-arranged now. Split them into two lots of ten as they got bigger. Must admit I just let them spit in the tank now as they are hard to catch without breaking whole tank down. Still manage to see the odd surviving juvi pop out from rocks


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## Markito (Feb 26, 2010)

yah i want to get atleast 1 or 2 more... i know what you mean with catching fishes... im gonna catch one in a week or 2 cause shes holding still for the past 2 weeks and put her in her own tank so she can spit em out. would be my first batch! :dancing:

tank looks sweet!


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## SinisterKisses (Feb 24, 2004)

One or two more is a very bad idea. With dems, you need either one lone fish or a large colony of at least 10-12 demasoni. Otherwise you end up with dead fish and usually end up with just one anyway.


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## Markito (Feb 26, 2010)

1 it is then!

back to the topic .... any more voters on wether its a kenyi or demasoni so far all the votes have been towards the demasoni. my friend is STILL in denial... =D>


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## Munchie1010 (Oct 19, 2009)

Yes I'm still in denial, would there be any chance you can get a demasoni or a cyno afra jalo reef, or any rare kind of cichlid at wal-mart, petsmart or petco in a tank labeled "assorted African cichlids" aren't the fish from these tanks hybrids of some sort? I've read somewhere that they get these fish from fish farmers that have all the fish in one giant pond and distribute them from there , and I don't think you would find a pair of demasonis or any rare cichlid in there, just the common ones, like yellow lab, zebras, and auratus'.


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## SinisterKisses (Feb 24, 2004)

Demasoni aren't rare. Especially in certain areas. In some areas, you can't even give them away because they're so common. But yes, it's entirely possible for somewhere like Walmart to occasionally get one or two mixed in with their normal stock.


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## Munchie1010 (Oct 19, 2009)

from what *** seen in socal only some lfs have demasoni, and *** been to many lfs around here, maybe its common up there but not down here, its hard to find a cyno spec in so cal unless a hobbyist breeds them


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## Markito (Feb 26, 2010)

Cyno afra species might be a rare and hard to find item. But were talking about pseudotropheus demasonis and I could think of 3 places out of 5 that have tanks of em


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## Munchie1010 (Oct 19, 2009)

Name them and do they have them stocked with demasonis most of the time, I know I've been to jans, reef, global, Fontana many of times, and I went to strictly fish today for the first time and I look at all the cichlid tanks and know that they don't have dems all the time, only once in a blue moon they have them


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## Markito (Feb 26, 2010)

I never said they have them 100 percent stocked everytime... I was saying its not uncommon to see them at petstores. Fish city has demasonis, jans, stricly fish, reef and u said global has them. That's besides the point. I want to hear why you think its a kenyi. Everyone here so far says theyre demasonis. 
That's the whole fun part of fish shopping you never know what your gonna get when you look..


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## Munchie1010 (Oct 19, 2009)

the reason i think its a female kenyi is 1 you got the fish from walmart in the assorted cichlid tank, and 2 this is the 1st picture you sent me










that is why i think its a female kenyi


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## SinisterKisses (Feb 24, 2004)

It ISN'T a female kenyi. It's a less-than-ideal quality demasoni.


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## CaseyV (Jan 2, 2010)

Definately a Demasoni


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Markito said:


> so 24tropheus in your eyes what do you think that is if you had to pick one?


If I had to pick one sure I would say demasoni.
But I would not be sure yet it was pure demasoni. 8) ?

All the best James


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Munchie1010's fish photo dunno but I think like SinisterKisses
It ISN'T a female kenyi. It's a less-than-ideal quality demasoni 
(for the most part but I think it may be hybrid).
Iether way I would not be keeping it.
I guess I go back to what I said before I am rubbish at telling poor bred from hybrid and that one is particularly hard to ID I think. :wink:

All the best James


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## Jenn84 (Mar 20, 2010)

true he doesn't look all that great in that picture


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## Jenn84 (Mar 20, 2010)

Not the best picture to go off of


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## Jenn84 (Mar 20, 2010)

I understand that Walmart doesn't sell the best quality fish but they do have to get them from someone who breeds cichlids and for a demasoni going for 5-12 dollars I wouldn't consider that a rare fish in our area.


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## Jenn84 (Mar 20, 2010)

Thank you to everyone who has responded. I am the other owner of the little "demasoni" in question and am excited to know that most of you think it is a demasoni even a less-than-ideal one  I just wanted to put some other pictures up to give a better idea. I apologize now they are from a camera phone.

This is when we first got him home after he lost his color but still had black bars that never fade









A side view









And a blurry picture just to show he does get blue a real nice blue....he doesn't get that blue often just on occasion


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## Markito (Feb 26, 2010)

in the pic he was underfed and small with a slight sunken in belly. he was also white from being stressed from trying to catch him. hes like the top 4 smallest fish in out tank out of 32 haha.. wow jennifer made a screen account just for the debate! :thumb:


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## knotty dreadlocks (Oct 31, 2008)

ha ha this is still going on.. like other people said. its a less than ideal demasoni. either way my 10 demasonis look just like that and were real lite in color when i first got them but no theyre very dark. the tails of my demasoni and that one picture looks exactly like mine. can anyone post a pic of a kenyi that would look similar.

its a DEMASONI


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## knotty dreadlocks (Oct 31, 2008)

young female kenyi
















adult female kenyi

















pair of demasoni

































thanks to our handy dandy profiles section it looks like its a demasoni. the dorsal fins and tails of the demasoni are mainly black with some color of blue. walmart dont care what they get from their breeders and also what they label their tanks and what they put in them. walmart is there to make a profit. just like walmart say that their products they sell there are 100% made in USA, but if you look at some labels on what they sell it says "made in every country but USA" they can careless what fish they carry just like how they dont care about their workers.


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## Markito (Feb 26, 2010)

AMEN TO THAT BOYEEEEEEEE !!!

Guess we should just name it a kenyasoni or a fakesoni? :thumb:


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## SinisterKisses (Feb 24, 2004)

Huh, look at that...I didn't even know my demasoni picture was in the profiles lol.


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## Floridagirl (Jan 10, 2008)

SinisterKisses said:


> Huh, look at that...I didn't even know my demasoni picture was in the profiles lol.


Great Pic..love the blue in the face. Too bad the fish in question isn't as nice a Demasoni as your's. Yep, my vote Demasoni, but Walmart quality...lol! I wonder if he was made in Singapore...or Japan, or Malaysia? Buy American or African in our cases... :lol:


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## StructureGuy (Jul 27, 2002)

Munchie1010 said:


> me and my friend are going back and forth on this one he says its a demasoni and i say its a kenyi, he picked it up at walmart please help thanks





Jenn84 said:


> Thank you to everyone who has responded. I am the other owner of the little "demasoni" in question and am excited to know that most of you think it is a demasoni even a less-than-ideal one  I just wanted to put some other pictures up to give a better idea. I apologize now they are from a camera phone.
> 
> This is when we first got him home after he lost his color but still had black bars that never fade


Just because a fish comes from Walmart does not automatically mean it is a hybrid. And when some one buys a juvenile fish (especially one that looks to be a bit underfed) and brings it home and starts taking pictures it might have a less than perfect appearance because it is stressed.

I'd like to suggest that every one drop the _"less than ideal"_ label for now and give it a chance to settle in, have a few meals and get comfortable. It looks to me like this demasoni has the potential to turn out just fine. Time will tell.

Just my opinion
Kevin


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