Kribs With Red vs Purple Belly

[HookedOnFish_MI]

Most female Kribs I see in LFSs have the red belly, but I see some online with purple bellies. Are these a different species of Kribs, or perhaps the same but from different locations in the wild? I’ve bred Kribs in the past with the red bellies, but would love to find the purple.

 

[rasmusW]

I’n no expert in westies and there is so many of them that looks similare, but it sounds like p. Sabinae, to me.
Kinda hard to tell without pictures.

-r

 

[MacZ]

There are roughly a dozen species of Pelvicachromis, the once you call Kribs in English are usually P. pulcher. Those have a purple belly. Red belly
Ies are not that species. But there's a lot of confusion, because Pelvicachromis are prolific breeders that overcrowd a community tank withinhalf a year easily, meaning there are a lot of fish on the market. Combine that with a lack of knowledge and people just using generic terms: And no ody knows what's going on anymore

 

[HookedOnFish_MI]

There are roughly a dozen species of Pelvicachromis, the once you call Kribs in English are usually P. pulcher. Those have a purple belly. Red belly
Ies are not that species. But there's a lot of confusion, because Pelvicachromis are prolific breeders that overcrowd a community tank withinhalf a year easily, meaning there are a lot of fish on the market. Combine that with a lack of knowledge and people just using generic terms: And no ody knows what's going on anymore

I am referring to pelvachromis pulcher when I say ‘Kribs’. Most pelvachromis pulcher you see online or LFSs in my area have the red belly. Please see the image below to see the difference I’m speaking of including females with the purple belly instead of red:

https://aquariumfishonline.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Kribensis-JPG.jpg

 

[rasmusW]

I see p. Sacrimontis (bottom) and what I think is p. Sabinae.
-but I could very well be way of.

-r

 

[MacZ]

True. The red ones are often sold as P. pulcher "Somethingsomething red" but are nowerdays believed to be a separate species scientifically, while the purple ones are the actual P. pulcher. Hence the german name "Purpurprachtbarsch" [magnificent (pracht) purple (purpur denotes the roman imperial colour) perch (barsch)]. Can't look up the correct name for the red ones right now I think it was something like "Molimwe red" or sth)
But that's exactly what I meant with confusion. When you call a whole genus by just one common name this crops up a lot and people start to also confuse genus and species on top.

 

[anewbie]

Life is confusing when you are a krib; though i admit there are some pretty interesting west african fishes. Just kind of wish they were such good parents. A few frys are fine but a few million....

 

[Hellfishguy]

Pelvicachromis kribensis and P. roloffi females have purple bellies. P. silviae, P. pulcher and P. sacrimontis females all have red bellies.

 

[MacZ]

Pelvicachromis kribensis and P. roloffi females have purple bellies. P. silviae, P. pulcher and P. sacrimontis females all have red bellies.

I'm starting to ask myself whether we have different original strains of P. pulcher in the European and North American hobby. The red ones have been introduced here far later and under a different name and keep being separated from the purple ones.

 

[rasmusW]

Sorry to the op and others for making the confusion even bigger.
When I said sabinae I meant silviae. Just got the names mixed up and there is no sabinae as far as I can see.

-r

 

[HookedOnFish_MI]

I'm starting to ask myself whether we have different original strains of P. pulcher in the European and North American hobby. The red ones have been introduced here far later and under a different name and keep being separated from the purple ones.

I was actually wondering the same thing…

 

[Gamegurl]

There are roughly a dozen species of Pelvicachromis, the once you call Kribs in English are usually P. pulcher. Those have a purple belly. Red belly
Ies are not that species. But there's a lot of confusion, because Pelvicachromis are prolific breeders that overcrowd a community tank withinhalf a year easily, meaning there are a lot of fish on the market. Combine that with a lack of knowledge and people just using generic terms: And no ody knows what's going on anymore

There you go giving misinformation again.
Look at the pictures of Pelvichromis Pulcher and you see red belly

 

[MacZ]

I'm starting to ask myself whether we have different original strains of P. pulcher in the European and North American hobby. The red ones have been introduced here far later and under a different name and keep being separated from the purple ones.

There you go giving misinformation again.
Look at the pictures of Pelvichromis Pulcher and you see red belly

And you stop reading too early. If I was giving misinformation on purpose I'd not correct myself.

 

[MacZ]

Also additionally: All the books I own (published 1960s to 2000s) show purple specimen and descriptions in german say so. An image search gives me equally both purple and red, with english language sites showing mainly (not exclusively) red and many european ones purple (also not exclusively, but mainly).
And lastly, it's what you see in stores here

 

[anewbie]

There you go giving misinformation again.
Look at the pictures of Pelvichromis Pulcher and you see red belly

When stating this it would help if you provide the source that identifies the fish as many web sources misidentify a fish but just copy misinformation.