# Sulphurhead Hap



## Marconi (Oct 7, 2013)

Video of my young male (4 inches) but almost fully coloured Protomelas spilonotus "Mara Rocks". I don't know why this fish isn't more popular, its colour is hard to beat and that blaze develops quick. Very happy with these.


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## Victor Meldrew (Feb 27, 2016)

Really beautiful fish Marcus, such stunning colour!

Maybe you can help me decide whether mine is Protomelas or Aulonocara. It was labelled at the shop as Apache Peacock so I've always thought of it as an Aulonocara maylandi. I attach a couple of shots but unfortunately the side-on flash doesn't show the yellow blaze particularly well. Certainly not as deep a yellow as yours but the finnage is similar.





Thanks,
Paul.


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## james1983 (Dec 23, 2007)

Looks protomelas to me. You can kinda see the horizontal line.


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

Apache Peacocks seem to have been a hybrid they have been marketing in recent years. If you google about the fish and pics, you get various confusing results. Not sure why they don't just sell the Mara Rocks Spilonatus.


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## jw85 (Dec 24, 2013)

Never mind. I may have been wrong.


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

noki said:


> Apache Peacocks seem to have been a hybrid they have been marketing. Not sure why they don't just sell the Mara Rocks Spilonatus.


These color up a few inches earlier....mara rock spilonotus don't start coloring until they're almost 4" and the blaze doesn't start coming in until they're 5-6" whereas this hybrid starts coloring up at a much smaller size and gets the blaze very early, it starts developing as little as 2".
(I've had both...this hybrid and the actual mara rocks i have now).


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## Victor Meldrew (Feb 27, 2016)

lilscoots said:


> noki said:
> 
> 
> > Apache Peacocks seem to have been a hybrid they have been marketing. Not sure why they don't just sell the Mara Rocks Spilonatus.
> ...


Yeah, think I've got the hybrid then as he was pretty colourful at 3" and showing a well defined blaze. I'm eager to see how big he grows as true spilonotus can grow upto 10" according to Konings. He was trying to mate today for only the 2nd time but was getting grief from my dominant male yellow. He was chasing everything else off but wouldn't take this yellow on even though they're the same size. The female seems to be holding though so mission accomplished.


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## spas (Feb 3, 2012)

You are correct - my Mara Rocks is just over 10" now...I will try and post a pic later today....True Mara Rocks only start to color up after they are 5.5"-6" - they are slow to color.


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## Marconi (Oct 7, 2013)

lilscoots said:


> noki said:
> 
> 
> > Apache Peacocks seem to have been a hybrid they have been marketing. Not sure why they don't just sell the Mara Rocks Spilonatus.
> ...


Can you post some pics so we have a good reference. Confusing thing about this fish is that many of the pics when you google the name comes up as the hybrid.


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## Hapguy63 (Feb 8, 2014)

I got fooled by this as well. There is a hybrid floating around the states that has been selling as Sulfur headed hap. I bought one thinking it was a Mara Rocks Spilonatus. When it started to color up at 3" I knew I had been duped...He is now around 5" and fully colored. I have since bought a real Mara Rocks Spilonatus and he did not start showing colors until 6". He is almost 7" now and his blaze is coming in solid now. I have both fish in my all male tank. I will try to get some pictures tonight to post showing the difference.


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## spas (Feb 3, 2012)

How do you attach images to forum posts? Do you have to reference a hosted image url (i.e. flicker)?



spas said:


> You are correct - my Mara Rocks is just over 10" now...I will try and post a pic later today....True Mara Rocks only start to color up after they are 5.5"-6" - they are slow to color.


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## Hapguy63 (Feb 8, 2014)

Ok here are some photos to reference.

This fish was sold to me as a sulfur headed hap which turned out to be a hybrid. Maxed out at about 5" and has stopped growing.





This is my actual mara rocks which didn't show color until around 6". He is about 7" now and still growing and color getting better.


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

This is my true mara rock at about 6"
















Blaze just beginning to develop, female at forefront, juvenile below.









And here is shot of the Hybrid I bought as a Sulphurhead Hap for comparison he is about 2.5" here - I can't find any shots of him bigger (maybe I deleted them out of anger), but he looked just like other shots of hybrids in this post. 








and a video at about 3.5"


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## jw85 (Dec 24, 2013)

This is the type of thread that needs to be stickied and linked in threads when people don't understand how hybrids impact the hobby.

That pic of your hybrid Hapguy... When I see that face from the front it looks so much like a peacock. I had a simalar thought with Paul's, that the face shape was just not quite right.

My guy has to be 10 inches now. He is bigger than my oscar that's almost 2 years old. These pics from a year ago I can tell he is smaller in them than compared to today.

I assume mine is pure but I guess we never truly know.

Here is a pic of my guy from a year ago straight on. 









And in the bottom left of the tank you will see a blurry side shot.


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## Victor Meldrew (Feb 27, 2016)

jw85 said:


> This is the type of thread that needs to be stickied and linked in threads when people don't understand how hybrids impact the hobby.
> 
> That pic of your hybrid Hapguy... When I see that face from the front it looks so much like a peacock. I had a simalar thought with Paul's, that the face shape was just not quite right.


Agreed. The relative size of the eyes (or should I say pupils) does suggest peacock. At least mine was sold as an Apache Peacock so I'm not complaining, although if I'd seen an example of the mara rocks fish I'd have gladly paid the extra and travelled some distance to obtain one.

As someone returning to the hobby after several years of not keeping up to date I've noticed that hitherto hard-to-find Malawis are now much more generally available in the UK at local shops. If this is due to the activities of breeders in Holland or Eastern Europe introducing the occasional desirable hybrids into the mix I'm happy with that for my display tank. Rather that than Stuart Grant's large scale wild-caught fish exports of twenty years ago.


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