# NEED HELP WITH THIS CICHLID!!!



## abercrombie2177 (Dec 1, 2013)

I've had this cichlid for about 6 months now. He/she is currently about 3 1/2-4 inches... it's hard to say for sure because it is so incredibly active! Anyways, when I bought him, I was under the impression that he/she is a blue cobalt? cichlid, but now, out of the blue, the fish is getting these yellow marks on the rear fins. I have 6 other cichlids in the tank as well and all have been tank-mates since day one. None of the other cichlids have this yellowing going on. Is this normal? or is he/she a different type of cichlid? My tank is a 55 gallon with plenty of hiding and daily maintenance. (checking to make sure PH is good, regular water changes, everything of the sort.) This particular fish is RAVENOUS and active, so I am not so much concerned that he is sick. He isn't acting any different. I can't seem to find anything on the internet about this type of thing, so I was hoping that maybe someone here could help me out and tell me what is going on, if anything, so I can fix it if I need to. Please let me know, and thanks so much!


----------



## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

You mean the eggspots? Eggspots of some sort are normal with most Haplochromine cichlids.The Acei in that pic has two eggspots also.

The fish seems like a Socolofi X Zebra hybrid, looks somewhat like a Socolofi except it looks wrong.


----------



## amcvettec (May 11, 2012)

The fish looks more like a Cynotilapia sp. hara - i can see some faint barring on his side. Eggspots are normal and will develop as they get older. Looks most likely male.


----------



## Michael_S (Aug 18, 2013)

Cynotilapia axelrodi? I can't say for sure because this fish has blue lining on the top of the dorsal which most axelrodi do not.


----------



## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

He does look alot like C. axelrodi, except for the black line in the dorsal. The fish would vary in color thou and is not something you would find in most unmarked tanks.


----------



## abercrombie2177 (Dec 1, 2013)

Thanks, you guys. I was unsure of the egg spots and what they were. I don't necessarily care why type of cichlid he is because I thought he was really pretty and different looking than the others I already had in my tank, but I will take a look at some of the suggestions that I received and hopefully figure out what he is, for sure, now. I appreciate the help!!! One more quick question. I'm sure you guys can help. When do Jewel cichlids start getting their red color, if at all? My Jewel cichlid is about 2 1/2-3 inches long now. The black spots on it have gotten darker and it has a red tint, but it's still the dull brown color. Just curious. Thanks again!!!


----------



## BC in SK (Aug 11, 2012)

abercrombie2177 said:


> When do Jewel cichlids start getting their red color, if at all? My Jewel cichlid is about 2 1/2-3 inches long now. The black spots on it have gotten darker and it has a red tint, but it's still the dull brown color.


Jewels do vary in terms of how much bright red color they have, but in the very least, they need to be high up in the pecking order to show much red coloration. You will see their brightest red color when they are paired up and have a territory and even more so when they are spawning.
Here's some poor video of my last pair of jewels. Hard to see behind the dirty glass, but they have fry:http://s192.photobucket.com/user/Bern-C/media/034.mp4.html

Not so long after, they were unable to defend their territory and became brown fish at the bottom of the pecking order. Swimming peacefully in the water column, it's not like they were getting picked on much, but 2nd time I have had to remove a pair of jewels from my 180 gal. because they really were not doing well enough. If they can't hold on to real estate, from my perspective, they do not belong in this tank!


----------



## abercrombie2177 (Dec 1, 2013)

Well, my Jewel is active and swims around with everyone most of the time. I wouldn't say it is HIGH up there with everyone else, as the big bully pictured above seems to be the King of the tank. My Jewel has its own territory, though. I only have 6 cichlids in my tank and all of them have their own space that they hang out in. Plenty of rocks and hiding spaces for EVERYONE. I will certainly take that into consideration though... and possibly separate my Jewel from the biggest bully if it does not color up. Some days the red shines through more than others... so that would make sense.


----------

