# please help with id- before i go out and buy.



## jenandcoffee (May 3, 2008)

looking to buy these fish off of somebody local whos selling . i need to id them before i go and buy to see if they will be compatiable with the ones i have right now. i have all male, no problems yet anyways.

heres what i have:

1 yellow lab
2 hongi
1 auratus
1 johanni
1 colbalt zebra)metriaclima callainos
1 metriaclima estherae
4 acei
1 sciaenochromis fryeri
1 rusty

need to know what kind these ones are and if they will work with the ones i have:



















Thanks Jenn


----------



## why_spyder (Mar 2, 2006)

My suggestion - if you can't identify them (which I can't), I wouldn't buy them. They may look nice (first photo at least), but if they are hybrids, their tempermants/behavior may be unpredictable.


----------



## jenandcoffee (May 3, 2008)

so you think they are all hybrids......even the light blue with black stripes, hes a beauty, i really wanted to get him... oh well.............


----------



## Gibbs (Apr 21, 2008)

I don't think they are. That one with the blue horizontal stripe through it, i have definately seen pics of them before in the profile section.


----------



## Afrowanksta (Feb 4, 2007)

The one with the horizontal strip could be a male Auratus. 
It seems to have a pointier head than the ones I've typically seen though.


----------



## why_spyder (Mar 2, 2006)

jenandcoffee said:


> so you think they are all hybrids......even the light blue with black stripes, hes a beauty, i really wanted to get him... oh well.............


No, I don't think they are all hybrids, I just wanted to make sure you knew that *if* any/all of them were, that you knew what might happen.


----------



## Exiled (Dec 26, 2003)

Ist photo, fish in foreground looks like a run-of-the-mill male _Pseudotropheus saulosi_. Pretty docile.

2nd photo, fish on the left looks very much like an adult male _Melanochromis chipokae_. 
Very aggressive.

Darker fish in background of the 1st photo and on the right in the 2nd photo reminds me of a
_Pseudotropheus macrophthalmus _. Not sure of it's temperment--never kept them.

Hope these possible ID's help.


----------



## CICHLUDED (Aug 4, 2006)

This is what they look like to meâ€¦

Pic #1
Front â€" Pseudotropheus saulosi (male)
Back - Pseudotropheus Blue Dolphin

Pic #2
top â€" Melanochromis chipokae (male)
Bottom â€" the same Pseudotropheus Blue Dolphin

.


----------



## etcbrown (Nov 10, 2007)

Pic #1 is most certainly not a Psuedotropheus saulosi. The head is completely wrong, my money is on Cynotilapia afra, several locations have that color pattern. 
The other darker fish is definitely a Cynotilapia (at least partly) as you can see the characteristic Cynotilapia teeth in the second photo. As far as which one, it most resembles Cynotilapia sp. black dorsal. But again not a Psuedotropheus macrophthalmus or blue dolphin because of the mouth and teeth. Second darker fish in my opinion is likely a hybrid.

Pic #2 is a Melanochromis chipokae and the fish from pic #1.


----------



## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

They all are probably hybrids except for the male Chipokae. These don't look like pure Cynotilapia. The dark one does kinda look like P. "Blue Dolphin", but then again maybe not, at least not a very good example of one.

Personally, i would not buy random adults unless they were really, really nice. And these are mediocre specimens at best. Buy juveniles, they are less trouble to add and you may get nicer fish in the long run.


----------



## jenandcoffee (May 3, 2008)

i think i'll just stick with what i got..

i'll just buy from the lfs,the only thing that sucks about that is the fish i have are pretty big, and if i buy little guys i'm sure they will get picked on.

but i definatly don't want to buy a hybrid just to save a couple of bucks!

thanks everybody!


----------



## cichlids4everr (Jun 26, 2008)

the top pic looks like some sort of afra to me


----------



## TheeMon (May 11, 2004)

etcbrown said:


> Pic #1 is most certainly not a Psuedotropheus saulosi. my money is on Cynotilapia afra, several locations have that color pattern.


exactly


----------



## CichlidLover2 (Jul 31, 2005)

That one in the first picture in the front I think is a Cynotilapia afra "White Top"

Looks like one atleast. Those fish (White Tops) will go great with the fish you have listed in your tank at home.

EDIT: However I think that the black line on the dorsal fin may make it some kind of hybrid of the White Top


----------



## why_spyder (Mar 2, 2006)

That first picture is definitely NOT of the _Cynotilapia_ genus. And its definitely NOT a _Ps. saulosi_. 
Personally, I think some people are a bit blind...... :lol: You people need to pick up some of these species so you know what they look like.


----------



## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

I've never had any of the cynotilapia and I'm not very experience with any fish for that matter and wouldn't have posted even a guess but in the back of mind I was thinking the first fish in the foreground looked like an afra I'd seen in the profiles, so I for one, can understand that guess :roll: .

Noki is very experienced though and I would trust his judgement.

If jenandcoffee likes the looks of the fish and isn't going to breed it, since (they?) have all males, I don't see the harm in adding it. As long as it's male too. Just my opinion.


----------



## jenandcoffee (May 3, 2008)

hey Dewdrop!

jenn here & coffee is my cat...lol, he enjoys the fish too!

i'm new with keeping cichlids & not very experienced either. before i found this website, i really had no clue..

i find that the info given from lfs very misleading and most times wrong, i would not even know if i was buying a hybrid, but i really don't want to get stuck with an aggressive fish if they are hybrids, even if he is a beauty.

the problem is around here there's not much selection of cichlids, every now and again i will find a really nice one most often they are labeled wrong so i get it home with the new fish then i do my research on here only to find its not what i was lead to believe i bought....very frustrating! i have a tank of fish hoping they are all males, but who knows.

anyway i think i'm off the topic just ranting a little..

thanks everybody!


----------



## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

No problem Jen, & Coffee too lol
This is a great forum & what I do know about fish I've learned mostly here. It's really all so interesting. Oh course there can be differenses of opinion but that's what makes the world go around :thumb: .
I'm in about the same boat as you when it comes to local availibility. There aren't many breeders around and what's in the shops is mainly in mixed or assorted african tanks of juvies. Occasionally a shop will have a tank with some bigger ones in it. They are usually males that people have brought back. That would help you some if you could be sure they weren't hybrid, but how could you be sure? I need some adult females but pretty much have to buy juvies out of the assorted tanks hoping they aren't hybird (but how can I be sure) and grow them out to see if they are female.
I don't have reason to travel to far from home but could drive a couple hours to find some decent shops if I could justify doing it with the price of gas lol.
LOL I can ramble and rant too.
Good luck


----------

