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[Fishyfanatic]

Two months ago I visited the lfs and found a beautiful black African Cichlid with white trim on its fins and tail. We didn't get it at the time because I wanted to research it first. SOMETIMES I follow my own advice and research first. After some searching I find that it is an Acei Ngara. They are very rare to find in this area. Two weeks ago we went back to the same lfs and the fish was still in the tank. We continue to look around and came back to the tank about 30 minutes later with an employee. He took off the top of the tank and stuck in the net. He started searching for it and couldn't find it. He took out every rock and piece of decor in there, trying to find it. I think he thought we were dilusional. Eventually we just gave up and left.

Today we went back to the lfs to get some NLS food and browsed by the same tank. WALAH! There it was. I just figured that maybe someone bought it the same time we were there before and had returned it. James ran and got an employee while I kept my eye on the fish. The guy puts the net in and the fish darts into the rock structure. So again he proceeds to take out all the rocks and decor. This fish is NOWHERE to be found. All of a sudden I see something move in the gravel. The employee starts to shift around the gravel and lo and behold, there it is. It burrows! So after about 10 minutes of constant chasing and burrowing, he gets it into the net.

His scales are scraped up pretty bad from the sharp gravel in the tank. He is currently in QT for the next two weeks to observe his behavior and to make sure he doesn't get an infection from the scratches. He was pretty stressed when I took the pics. It was a 2 1/2 hour car ride home from the lfs. I'll take some more pics maybe tomorrow after he calms down.

 

[Zagz]

Nice!! What a find! Congratulations.

 

[Jchillin]

Nice story FF! Persistence pays off. I've never seen one of those before and I understand why you were so persistent.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

He's actually very beautiful. But the stress and sharp gravel do not help his appearance. He definitely was quite the find. Even the lfs that specializes in Malawi Mbuna had never seen one before in person.

 

[mr funktastic]

u are soo lucky!! i have been looking at all the local fish stors near me to find one and no luck yet. how much did u pay for him? i hope he makes it and recovers well.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

He was $18.99. Typical price for an adult Mbuna around here. Adult Labs are about $25. The lfs had no clue what he was. They had him labeled as a "Peacock Blue Tail" He's definitely not a Peacock and does not have a blue tail. I told the employee I wanted the Acei and he said that they didn't carry those. LOL

 

[mr funktastic]

and they specialize in mbuna lol. the big als near me has a very good selection of all cichlids and they are almost always instock. and they actually train there staff to know what the fish are and how to care for them, it is amazing!! lol.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Oh no, this was not the same place. LOL I had called the other store before I purchased and asked if they carried them.

What is in stock? The Ngara or regular Acei?

 

[mr funktastic]

the acei is always in stock. actually they have a ridiculous variety of all cichlids in there and they are always there. i will ask for a list one time to show people the amazing variety that they have. i just bought some msobo deep that i have never seen anywhere else and the selection of peacocks is amazing. u need to find a female (or male) for your new cichlid so you can start breeding them and making a nice profit. i know i would buy some

 

[Fishyfanatic]

We are thinking it is a female but I have been advised that it could be a male. LOL It does not show the barring that the males do which leads me to believe that it is a female. But it burrows, which leads me to believe it is a male. We'll see what it looks like once we get it into the main tank. The Actinic light will help bring out the colors, so maybe we will see some barring.

 

[rollin_22]

congratulations..... nice find

 

[mr funktastic]

i hope u have sand so he can burrow without the chance of getting all scratched up again. i know u can order these guys online but i cant find any sites that dilever to canada so i guess i am out of luck. once u get him under the good light and let him get healthy again he will start showing his true colours which will also help u figure out his sex. good luck.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Yup. All of our tanks have sand. It started by sanding our 55 gal when we got the eels. After seeing the effect in that tank, we sanded all of our tanks. Not only is it a LOT cheaper, I love the look of it.

In two weeks we will move him over to the 150. I don't want to put him in the main tank and have something go wrong with his scrapes. He is out and about right now. Taking NLS pellets easily. Being that he is black, he just looks like a shadow in the tank.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Nice fish...... Great catch......

 

[mr funktastic]

ya i really wanted one becasue i have black sand and white rock. so sometimes he would be invisible and othertimes he would stand out like crazy. look at the pic of my 55 in my gallery and u will know what i mean lol

 

[Fishyfanatic]

He's still pretty shy this morning. I think from all the trama of being caught at the lfs. He is eating his breakfast right now.

How is the Kenyi doing in regards to aggression?

 

[mr funktastic]

whos kenyi? mine? it wasnt a real kenyi it was a cross between something else that i never actually figured out. they were not overly agressive when i had them actually the 2 of them were rather peaceful but i returned them to the local fish store becasue they just didnt seem to fit in with the rest of my fish. all my other fish were solid colours and they were striped. i also returned the elongatus mepanga (blue with yellow tail) he was very agressive to the other fish.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

LOL SOrry. I just looked at your Gallery and assumed it was a Kenyi.

 

[rich311k]

Congrats on your find.

 

[mr funktastic]

its ok i assumed it was a kenyi also but was told differently from all the members here at AA. i wouldnt reccomend kenyi but that is only my personal opinion. there are many other cichlids with the same colouration bu a much nicer attitude. i highly reccomend cobalts. i have 2 in my tank now and they are very peaceful and have extremly good colour. also the msobo deep. the females are a bright orange colour and so are the males but the males turn into a dark black and blue colour. my male is just starting to turn colour and he looks quite interesting. he is kinda speckled and he has a blue stripe along his top fin. i will try to get some pics of them