# need help identifiying my fish



## jenandcoffee (May 3, 2008)

does anybody know what kind of fish this is? i've searched the profiles, i'm just not sure. i have 2 that are similar but the mouth seems to be different 1 has a wide mouth other very narrow.

these guys change colors all the time. some times they have black bars other times they look like my cobolt zebra. they seem to stick together. i'm clueless, need help with id please.


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## etcbrown (Nov 10, 2007)

Hmmm, top one looks like the original metriaclima estherae where the males are blue.

Second fish has psuedotropheus type features like a saulosi but the colors are off. Maybe its a psuedotropheus saulosi male that is subdominant so is in the purgatory of color change. Was it ever solid yellow if you bought it small?

Then again it may be a hybrid.


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## jenandcoffee (May 3, 2008)

i swear these 2 fish change colors all the time ..... its like they camoflauge. sometimes you can't even see the bars on them & other times the bars are so black.. 
only difference i see is the dots on the tail & they have different mouths

i bought them awhile ago but they were not yellow.

notice they are always together, well they used to pick on each other non stop and they never leave each others side and are officially my tanks bullies....

heres are some more close ups i just took:


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## etcbrown (Nov 10, 2007)

The more pictures I see the more it seems to confirm that the big guy with the big mouth is Metriaclima estherae:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=791

And the guy with the smaller mouth is Psuedotropheus saulosi with washed out colors:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1

Make sure you look through all the pictures in the drop down box under the photos, then tell me what you think?


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

If the bars go black at times on the big blue one it can't be M. estherae, it is just a more normal "Zebra BB"if unknown heritage.

The other one does look Sauloisi-ish... but i'm not sure.


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## jenandcoffee (May 3, 2008)

by the pics i think you could be right about him being an Metriaclima estherae, looks pretty close anyways.. so is this the same family as my cobalt zebra? would they get along, i was looking for another cobalt but can't seem to find any around- i have a nice big 90 gallon with only 5 fish and wanted to add more but my cobalt is rough.....

could be a psuedotropheus saulosi maybe, i think when i first got him his stripes were that black, so why would his colors be washed out?

Thanks Jenn


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## etcbrown (Nov 10, 2007)

Only a dominant male saulosi has the very dark coloring, not being the dominant fish and not having any females around to show off for there is no reason to bring attention to himself with dark contrasting colors.

Agree that if the large zebra has bars that go completely black it is likely not pure metriaclima estherae. Blue estherae males do have bars that can turn dark blue for short periods when excited.


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