# Cyathopharynx foai (Sibwesa) Lighting??



## Thanusan (Dec 29, 2011)

I have a group of Cyathopharynx foai (Sibwesa) 2m 8F. Both males colour up very nice in day light and when i put my fish tank lights on, both males fully lose their colour. does any one know why?? my tank is 60x18 x30h( tall tank). Iam not using bright lighting, iam only using 3feet T5 (double Lighting). If i turn off the tank light and turn on my living room light, both males will get the colour back.
Any one have these cichlids, do you know what kind of lighting is best for them

Thanks
Shawn


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## Thanusan (Dec 29, 2011)




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## dmiller328 (Nov 17, 2008)

Very nice Sibwesas you have there!!

The problem with lighting for most featherfins and many Tangs is not as much the intensity of light but the angle that the light hits the side of the fish,which bounces off them to show their color.The best lighting for color is natural sunlight hitting the side of the tank.A strip light mounted close to the front and angled back can help but with a very tall tank like yours it would do much good.Right now I have a 6ft 210 gallon with my Kigoma furcifers and a 4 ft T5 light strip.I found that a mix of daylight and 10K looks pretty good while actinic bulbs tend to wash out the color.One of these days I would like to try a metal halide angled to see how it looks.

I am watch my alpha male furcifer Kigoma getting ready to breed as I type!


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## Jolly cichlids (Jun 19, 2009)

seems like you as well as others in the GTA got hit with wrongly labeled sibwesa. Those are not foai sibwesa, foai sibwesa don't get the yellow fringing around the anal and dorsal thats on your fish. Here is a true wild sibwesa


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## Thanusan (Dec 29, 2011)

These fishes are 100% foai sibwesa, I bought it from price network member and he got it form Darius, here is the video of the actual fish breeding.

http://s824.photobucket.com/albums/...nt=MVI_5003.mp4

thanks
Shawn


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## PrinceG (Feb 9, 2011)

Those are exactly the same with mine:
http://i907.photobucket.com/albums/ac27 ... 186750.jpg
but not sibwesa i wish i knew what mine are!!!
Mine show that red color as yours with living room lights on.
I use led for the tank so i plan to put a warm light led or T5 or T8 .
You can also give a try with one T5 daylight and one T5 white warm light around 6000kelvins


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## Jolly cichlids (Jun 19, 2009)

Maybe they could be furcifer sibwesa but now your in the furcifer guessing game. You bought them from a guy who bought them from Darius who bought them through the czech replublic. While all the while everyone in the chain has never seen the parents  , and this wouldn't be the first time that Darius sold someone a hybrid fish maybe not knowingly. Darius is a nice guy but its the ones he was ordering from that can't be trusted 100% you can't tell at the size he imported them at. Do you think your the only one in the world that got wrongly labeled furcifer/foai, recently their was a few people who i know of who got bad foai/furcifer off of bluechip aquatics and he's been around longer than Darius. A little birdie told me he's getting out of the business tho so makes sense "what do you want, yeah its right here" lol


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## Thanusan (Dec 29, 2011)




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## BioG (Oct 12, 2008)

nice fish all, regardless of where they came from. Sometimes, I'll admit, I'm a prude when it comes to fish source etc. but with Cyathopharynx for some reason, I'm just not.

They are all just so similar... Maybe if I was really set on acquiring one of the yellow cap varieties I would be particular but I could really give a rip if their is a bit of yellow in the fins or whatever.... I'm just counting the hours....days...months...years until I get to see those beautiful blue bodies and long fins!


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## dmiller328 (Nov 17, 2008)

How can someone tell with 100% certainty that their wild C.foai females are not C.furcifer if they are caught at same location such as Sibwesa.Many of the importers just label them under C.furcifer.

I have seen many pics of tank raised C.foai copper with a little yellow in the dorsal.

That is one of the reasons I like my C.furcifer Kigoma,they already look like a foai crossed with a furcifer but the only type found at Kigoma.


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## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

Jolly cichlids said:


> seems like you as well as others in the GTA got hit with wrongly labeled sibwesa. Those are not foai sibwesa, foai sibwesa don't get the yellow fringing around the anal and dorsal thats on your fish. Here is a true wild sibwesa


If you enlarge this pic, you can see the yellow outline of the fish's dorsal.


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## Thanusan (Dec 29, 2011)

Now iam not sure the type of foai, my foai have the yellow outline too.. after doing some reading i know that there is few diffent kind of sibwesa out there example-copper, blue
Maybe some one could tell me the type..Mine are not fully grown yet.... when breeding my males face get fully black.


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## Thanusan (Dec 29, 2011)

http://www.tomstanganyikans.com/

tom has 2 dif kinds of Sibwesa blue and sibwesa copper ( one type have lots of yellow in the back tail)


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## Jolly cichlids (Jun 19, 2009)

Yes your cyathopharynx look like furcifer with all that yellow in the dorsal and anal fin. So they definitely could be blue blaze furcifer sibwesa. Eventually you should see a blue sheen on their flank when fully colored. As for the lights which was the original question i use two 10,000k coralife HO and they show off their colors very well.


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## Thanusan (Dec 29, 2011)

Thank you , single light or double?


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

I suspect the 'sibwesa' label is being applied to ffins as often as it can be because hobbyists have come to regard it as the premier ffin. I looked up some photos in Ad's Natural Habitat book and he shows one with the yellow on the fins from Magara, I believe. Looks like yours, but regardless, beautiful fish. More than ok if yours is Magara and not Sibwesa. I think the yellow makes yours a nicer fish, but just my opinion.



> blue blaze furcifer sibwesa


The naming of these fish is getting ridiculous. :roll:



> Yes your cyathopharynx look like furcifer with all that yellow in the dorsal and anal fin.


That doesn't make it a 'furcifer'.


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## kenko (Jan 19, 2012)

Naming of these fish IS getting ridiculous. I'm still trying to figure out if mine are truly Ruziba - or if they have come from further south in Nyanza. (In Unidentified section in these forums.)

The body coloration with the yellow highlights on the fins look awfully similar to Furcifer "copper" Kabogo (especially from Tom's Tangs). Or possibly Foai Karilani "Copper". The Magara are generally more green/blue than these.

As for lighting, I notice that my Cyathopharynx (and Aulonocranus, among others) seem to be most active during dusk and dawn. Not sure if it is a direct influence from the actual light and intensity, time of day, etc. - but they do seem to go into full attract mode during those times.


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## Thanusan (Dec 29, 2011)

thank you guys


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## Thanusan (Dec 29, 2011)

After i contacted the seller, he send me these pic ( this is his 7-8inch adult male) this is also from the original group from Darius.


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## kenko (Jan 19, 2012)

The breeders seem to be lacking the yellow trimming that your particular fish have, especially on the anal fin. It also appears to me that your fish are surprisingly similar to this fellow's: 
http://www.pbase.com/mckchu/cyathopharynx


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## Thanusan (Dec 29, 2011)

Yap looks the same. Thank you for your help


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## Thanusan (Dec 29, 2011)

sellers video
http://s824.photobucket.com/albums/zz16 ... I_2557.mp4


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## Jolly cichlids (Jun 19, 2009)




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## PrinceG (Feb 9, 2011)

Thanusan said:


> sellers video
> http://s824.photobucket.com/albums/zz16 ... I_2557.mp4


In my opinion they don't look like yours.I really don't want to be negative but helpful cause as i told u we have the same fish!

I took some photo about 2 weeks ago:
















Can you spot any difference?
I was convinced that mine were from Magara but now i can't explain that reddish glow on their body.
ps.I bought mine as karilani cooper like *kenko * post above.
We should search which cyathos of the "flashy" variants have yellow ending on their fins.

How is it going with the lighting?have you tried anything with better results?


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## Thanusan (Dec 29, 2011)

i think mine are karilani cooper.. still waiting for the importers reply.. i checked his post he also sold karilani cooper same time. 
Lighting i use single 10,000 k , these fishes love natural sun/day light and black sand...


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## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

Thanusan said:


> i think mine are karilani cooper.. still waiting for the importers reply.. i checked his post he also sold karilani cooper same time.
> Lighting i use single 10,000 k , these fishes love natural sun/day light and black sand...


Shawn.
If the seller was George, I bought the Karilani copper Foai from him, they turned out to be Kigoma Furcifers.
Paul b


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## kenko (Jan 19, 2012)

Wow - now that's how not to run a fish selling business. Great for the seller, since most juvies/females look the same - and it's not like most people will complain several months later once the males color up. It's disheartening for those with every intent on keeping bloodlines as pure as possible - and especially these days considering how many collectors or breeders are making up their own common names or variants.

I hope this hobby doesn't go the way of dogs, where now "mutts" are considered "fancy mixes" - and I'm sorry, the puggle is just fuggly. I like my fish as they appear in nature and not some lab or breeding cesspool. Thanks.

Now if I could just figure out the variant of my furcifers or foai......


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## Thanusan (Dec 29, 2011)

importer just told me this is Karilani copper Foai 








new Pic


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## kenko (Jan 19, 2012)

So, I think we have determined that Shawn's (Thanusan) are not Sibwesa, but in fact Karilani Copper.

And looks as though PrinceG's are not Karilani Copper, but could possibly be Sibwesa.

=D>

Now about the original topic - lighting... :lol:


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## Thanusan (Dec 29, 2011)

Yes i think your right!!!!

Thanks guys


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## PrinceG (Feb 9, 2011)

I still believe that they are the same variant...and i don't think that mine are Sibwesa.
I will refresh my topic so maybe we finally find out that mystery


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## Thanusan (Dec 29, 2011)

I found this post in price network.ca ( buyer also got it from darius same time)
and mine looks the same.

http://www.pricenetwork.ca/ddeal/FS_Cya ... 43193.html

Cyathopharynx foai Sibwesa will look like this( i found a good pic on this website)

http://www.akvaryum.com/Yarisma/cyathop ... a_3943.asp


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## kenko (Jan 19, 2012)

I guess this goes to show how different the colors truly can look in person as opposed to a camera based on angle of lighting and type of light - and how closely variants look to each other. Especially when certain colors pop more than others in the same fish but taken from a different angle.

Here's a suggestion - it might be really cool to have an exclusive Featherfin ID section, or maybe a new site all together to help in ID-ing these things. hmmm...


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## PrinceG (Feb 9, 2011)

kenko said:


> I guess this goes to show how different the colors truly can look in person as opposed to a camera based on angle of lighting and type of light - and how closely variants look to each other. Especially when certain colors pop more than others in the same fish but taken from a different angle.
> 
> *Here's a suggestion - it might be really cool to have an exclusive Featherfin ID section, or maybe a new site all together to help in ID-ing these things*. hmmm...


I hope our dearest mods read that and have already inform Admins


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## Thanusan (Dec 29, 2011)

New Pic with the Black sand


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 11, 2006)

Very nice pictures of very nice specimen.


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## Thanusan (Dec 29, 2011)

http://www.tomstanganyikans.com/


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## Razzo (Oct 17, 2007)

Beautiful


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