# What is this?



## justhooked (Jul 31, 2008)

What kind of cichlid / mbuna is this? My husband's cousin was going to flush this and a couple lombardoi 2 - 2 1/2" (one young male & one young female I think). I put them in one of my tanks and will list them in the trading post, but I do not know what this one is. I am new to this and I only know a little about the lombardoi because I have another one I need to find a new home for.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhoto ... &ownerid=0


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## zazz (Apr 5, 2008)

...looks like a goldfish to me lol....but seriously flushing !! couldnt do it myself....thats why i try to work things out ..no way would i flush a fish because i didnt like the look. hope he gets a good home.


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## justhooked (Jul 31, 2008)

Yeah me too. I finally decided what to do with my tank.....Bolivian Rams...and find homes for all of the aggressive mbuna I have and then end up with more....I am verrrryyyy new to cichlids and decided milder was the way to go. Now I have one in my tank that I don't know what it is. Oh well it can't be any more aggressive than the kenyi is going to be. And hopefully they all will find new happy homes!


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

It is a mbuna...Not a goldfish! :-?

I'm not sure what it is. Most likely a female of some zebra or Cynotilapia variant, but it's not going to be easy to say for sure!


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## zazz (Apr 5, 2008)

cichlidaholic said:


> It is a mbuna...Not a goldfish! :-?


yeah..tounge in cheek :thumb:


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## chapman76 (Jun 30, 2004)

cichlidaholic said:


> I'm not sure what it is. Most likely a female of some zebra or Cynotilapia variant, but it's not going to be easy to say for sure!


See, the shape looked more like a Labidochromis to me. Like one of the all yellow labs. I doesn't look like a Cynotilapia to me. No snout/mouth area like the ones I've seen.

Why Spyder would be able to help with that. He has a good handle on those.


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## why_spyder (Mar 2, 2006)

It's definitely mbuna but other than that I have no good guesses as to what it could be. Like Kim stated, it is probably a female of some sort. In the first photo - I can see a hint of interorbital barring - so it might be a male.










Does it always look that color? Has it ever barred up or intensified in coloration?


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## justhooked (Jul 31, 2008)

Looking at it from the front, it sometimes looks like it has a unibrow, sort of a dark bluish or purple. Other than that, not that I have seen today. I just got it, so maybe it will show more. It is about 3" long, if that helps.


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## CichlidWhisperer (Apr 12, 2008)

I am guessing some sort of hybrid... I agree it looks labish.. maybe a labidochromis perlmutt crossed with something... It has that pearly appearance and also the unibrow look is common on them. It also has the right body shape. They tend to have pale black bars that fade in and out with the pearly coloring most notable when the bars are completely faded (breeding colors). Also they have bright yellow upper fins and tail fin, and black lines on the lower fins. That fish does appear to have slight yellow on it's fins. I really think it might be a hybrid of maybe a lab perlmutt with something else, maybe a yellow lab, but who knows for sure.

Does anyone else think this could be the case?


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## justhooked (Jul 31, 2008)

After watching it last night, when it fans all of it's fins its "unibrow" becomes much more pronounced and looks as though it has 2 with a yellow one in between, and it gets a dark bluish purple on its top half (not bars, more solid that fades to the yellow bottom) as well as on the base area of its tail fin.


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## justhooked (Jul 31, 2008)

Oh yeah, it also has a reflective spot on its gill.


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## CichlidWhisperer (Apr 12, 2008)

Still wounds like a perlmutt hybrid to me


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## justhooked (Jul 31, 2008)

I ask my husbands cousin, he said it was sold to him as a makunka. I don't see anything in the profiles with that name. lol....Does anyone here want a perlmutt/hybrid, makunka, or whatever it is mbuna with unknown temperment?


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## why_spyder (Mar 2, 2006)

Makunka is probably Magunga. Possibly Ps. msobo Magunga...


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## justhooked (Jul 31, 2008)

It doesn't look like any of the pictures of the msobo in profiles. I also had 2 young ones of those and it doesn't look like I remember them looking. However, the place where he got it could have told him anything.....he is as much of a novice as me. Oh well, I guess the next question is how do I give / sell it without knowing anything for sure.


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