Id needed for our new friend!

[j0ns]

Hi everyone-

I've had mostly koi fish growing up, but now that I'm off at an apartment near UCSD, I decided to get a cichlid for a small tank, after reading about them briefly in Aquarium Fish magazine and elsewhere.

My roomate and I went to a LFS yesterday, and purchased a nice looking cichlid under "Assorted Cichlid", for $2.99. I'm aware it's on the pricey side, but I think we got the perfect cichlid.

Now though, we can't identify what species this cichlid falls under. Nothing in this ID topic seems to match up to it. Any help ID'ing it would be great.

Thanks!

-JOnathan

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[a.d.wood]

Hi there,

The reason for not finding a match on this site is due to this being a Rift Lake cichlid (Lake Malawi I think,as to actual species....??) and not a 'dwarf' cichlid.

Andrew

 

[eranu]

As above

Did you ask at the shop about the fishes suitability for you setup? You haven't specified your setup but this fish is probably completely unsuitale for it. Its quite likely to be a hybrid species, often sols as 'mixed'.

The only advice I cam give is that you take i straight back.

 

[aquaticclarity]

Your fish looks like a young Pseudotropheus kenyei. Juvinals and females will be blue and males as they mature turn yellow.

The fish can reach sizes arond 5" and are on the aggressive side. It will work for a while in a smal tank, but only by itself.

Jeff

 

[Travis_Conklin]

Also, the fish pictured above will have very different water parameters than the vast majority of fish on this forum. I know of a site which could probably help you out... it is called Malawi Mayhem.

http://www.malawimayhem.com/

Good Luck.

 

[Mark]

Absolutely a Malawi cichlid. Its official name is Pseudotropheus lombardoi (and not P. kenyi; that's an old non-official name).

Mark

 

[aquaticclarity]

Absolutely a Malawi cichlid. Its official name is Pseudotropheus lombardoi (and not P. kenyi; that's an old non-official name).

Mark

Opps, thanks for the name correction. I'm aware of both names but couldn't remember off the top of my head which name was current!

Jeff