ID this angry fish please!

[Rachel0001]

Bought this guy last night thinking he was a Rusty (I'm embarrassed to say that now). Now that he's in quarantine and settled in, he's showing stripes (what! He had none last night!) and instead of the brown/orange/purple he was last night, he's actually yellow with dark stripes and light blue fins.

I've never had any fish undergo such a dramatic transformation. My worst fear is that I've got a bumblebee or a kenyi on my hands, both way too aggressive for my (relatively) peaceful tank. This guy is in with one other fish- same size, added at the same time into my 30 gal quarantine. They don't look alike and there's plenty of caves, but he seems pretty pissed that the other fish is just alive in general. I had to put a divider in the tank because I feared I'd come in and find the other guy floating.

I'll leave this to the experts, I'm terrible at ID'ing. Now I'll go hang my head in shame and never buy from the Assorted tank again...

 

[garfy]

I would say you have a kenyi or kenyi hybrid.They can co exist with enough space.I just get away with it with my 143 and plenty of hiding spaces but they are relentless if they take offence to another fish.Just like you said they seem to be pissed even at the other fishes existence.
You say you only have 2 fish in the tank

 

[garfy]

Things may be different when he goes in the main tank as your resident fish have already claimed territories but in my experience a male kenyi can upset any apple cart and he will want to be top dog for sure.Looking at your stock list I don't think it would be hard for him to take the reins.

 

[RLBeausoleil]

Is you new fish still a juvenile. It is hard to tell the size in the piture. It looks exactly like my Labidochromis mbamba female. Males became a rich blueish purple with bold stripes and a yellow top fin. It sounds like their behavior too. They tend to be more agressive toward their own species, but in general act like other labs. My male is different. He is in my one 150gal tanks and he rules every ounce of it. He makes my kenyi look like a guppie. But he is by far the best looking fish in all of my many tanks. Every so often on of my fish earn a name. His starts with an "A". It ends with a "hole". But don't worry my male is strait from mabmba and I think that has something to do with it.

I attached a picture of my female its kind blurry my phone take horrible pictures.

 

[garfy]

The blue on the gill looks the same.I think we may have a match.

 

[RLBeausoleil]

This is what my male looks like. The picture does not do him justise at all. I have to find my camera. My 5 year old son had it and now it's MIA. He doesn't really ever stop moving. The rare moments he is settled down the stripes on his body toward his tail lighten up.

Also pay no attention to the pirate ship. My son decorates my tanks.

 

[RLBeausoleil]

oops it didn't work. Let me try again.

 

[garfy]

oops it didn't work. Let me try again.

Great looking fish!!

 

[RLBeausoleil]

Thank you. I spent 20 minutes trying to get a decent picture of him and it still doesn't show him for what he is. He made me some great looking babies.

 

[Rachel0001]

Wow, he's beautiful!

Your female picture does look exactly like mine. I'm going to have t take mine back to the LFS...it's too bad. He's still a juvenile (about 2 1/2") and I wouldn't mind adding him to my main tank if I thought he'd be put in his place but after watching him with a couple of different fish now I'm not convinced.. He is relentless!

 

[RLBeausoleil]

If you have a decent sized tank with a lot of places to hide he should be okay once hes settled into the big tank.

 

[Malawi Freak]

That's no Kenyi. Looks to have some demasoni in him. I don't know where that yellow is coming from though.

 

[RLBeausoleil]

Jos Snoeks wrote a good book on taxonomy of malawi fish i forget the exact title but if you search him on amazon it should come up

 

[Malawi Freak]

Ad Konings is the best author on cichlids IMO.

 

[RLBeausoleil]

Ad Konings is the coauthor of the book im talking about. I'm trying my hardest to think of the name.