# brichardi x leleupi hybrid???



## tony111 (Jan 25, 2009)

My fifty gallon tank contains one pair of leleupi and five brichardis, three male two female, as well as some shellies. The leleupi spawn every few weeks but soon after the fry become free swimming the male freaks out and drives the female to the other end of the tank while he gets on with the job of murdering the fry. There are also two generations of brichardi fry in the tank. The older generation consists of four individuals about an inch long. Of these one has normal brichardi colouring while the other three have a distinct yellow colour. The yellow seems to be getting increasingly intense as time passes.

I've seen no sign of flirtation between the species. In fact the male leleupi is not really tolerated for long in brichardi territory. The female leleupi does go and hide in a niche near them when chased away by the male but shows no real interest in the brichardis as far as I can tell.

Could these be hybrids? Is this possible? Likely? Is there another explanation for the colouring?

Would include pics but can't figure how to attach them. New to this forum. Any advice?


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

How to post pictures is at this link.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... hp?t=21085

It is possible that they are hybrids. If they are, you'll want to get rid of all of the fry, in case others have mixed genetics, but don't look like it. I had them hybridize in a 36 gallon, where the leleupi spawned at one end, and the brichardi at the other. Somehow a couple of the brichardi eggs were fertilized by the leleupi, even though they stayed on their own side of the tank.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to post pictures of the brichardi parents either, as there are many daffodil pulcher x brichardi crosses in the hobby, and the daffodil pulcher can be yellowish as well.


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## zugbug (Dec 12, 2005)

tony111 said:


> My fifty gallon tank contains one pair of leleupi and five brichardis, three male two female, as well as some shellies. The leleupi spawn every few weeks but soon after the fry become free swimming the male freaks out and drives the female to the other end of the tank while he gets on with the job of murdering the fry. There are also two generations of brichardi fry in the tank. The older generation consists of four individuals about an inch long. Of these one has normal brichardi colouring while the other three have a distinct yellow colour. The yellow seems to be getting increasingly intense as time passes.
> 
> I've seen no sign of flirtation between the species. In fact the male leleupi is not really tolerated for long in brichardi territory. The female leleupi does go and hide in a niche near them when chased away by the male but shows no real interest in the brichardis as far as I can tell.
> 
> ...


Yes they can hybrid I have seen them in a LFS. The ones I saw were the brilliant orange color of the Lelepi with the lyretail of the brichardi and a little heavier body than a leleupi. They were quite nice looking.


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## tony111 (Jan 25, 2009)

thanks for this fogelhund. here, i hope, are the pics. my adult brichardis certainly look like the real deal to me, no hint of yellow about them.

http://s698.photobucket.com/albums/vv343/tonyj111/

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## vince0 (Sep 7, 2008)

could it be some of the leleupi fry that just moved over to the other side of the tank? possibly raised by the brichardi as their own?


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

The brichardi parents look fine. Have to wait and see on the fry, vince0 could be right.


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## JWerner2 (Jul 7, 2008)

Interesting. I would like to see some pics soon as they grow.


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