Odd surprise!!!

[coldmachineUK]

Well, after quite some time it's finally been confirmed: my ps. saulosi are in fact not ps. saulosi!

Curse cichlids and their similarities!

I am apparently the proud owner of seven Pseudotropheus Msobo Magunga, which I think are being reclassified into Metriaclima.

The good news is that they're from the same lake, have the same dietary and tank condition needs, and they're a little more rare (so more expensive than what I paid). The downside is they're supposedly more aggressive, grow a little larger, and obviously weren't what I was expecting!

Anyone ever kept these before? Mine are doing just fine...if way more docile than they ought to be as you'll know from my other posts :S They were docile even for saulosi lol!

I'm going to look at upgrading the tank size when I get my own place again, that's for sure.

Edit: Oops, can someone move this to the Cichlid area please? :S I posted in the wrong place!

 

[Fish Kid]

.........hhmm did you buy 7 females??? well i guess they would have to be... as it would me rather difficult to mistake the males......... well im sorry if they are but (i love cichlids) and well to me at least....that would be a big mistake. umm well i myself have never kept that specific species, (i have had a pair of ps. saulosi) but not the pseudotropheus msobo magunga.. you shouldnt have any troubles with them as I do not beleave they are ~too much~ more agressive... my particular pair were highly aggressive.. but that is (quite obviously) because, they were a pair... i might add.. with fry. i dont know how much of a help this reply really was. but o'well thought i'd share!!!

 

[coldmachineUK]

lol, no I didn't buy 7 females. I bought them as juveniles (I ordered saulosi from my LFS).
Ps. msobo juveniles are all coloured yellow regardless of gender, as is the case with ps. saulosi and others besides
It's only as they grow that they colour up, as you will know. Otherwise I wouldn't have had to wait as long as I have to discover it, and I'm sure the experts on here would have pointed it out earlier too from the countless photos I've posted of them

Since the 3 males werent colouring up as I expected (no black vertical bands) I double checked at a few places and have now been told it's likely they're the msobo magunga!

My only worry is they grow a little larger than saulosi, an extra inch to be precise, so I'm going to have to think about a bigger home in the long run! I already have my eyes set on a 65G (48x18x18) but I've no room for any more tanks right now!

 

[Fish Kid]

oh im sorry... it hadnt crossed my mind that they might me juveniles!!! sorry about that...... yes i guess as they are all yellow (as many Lake Malawi cichlids are) they are VERY easily mistaken........ well besides them being a bit bigger... you should be fine.... oh yes one last question... umm what size tank are they in? and are there any "tank buddies" (although they aren't much of a "buddie" type of fish)

 

[coldmachineUK]

They're in a 36G right now. When I thought I had saulosi I knew this was do-able based on a strict pwc regime and good filtration. I have seen smaller tanks stocked with greater numbers of saulosi which worked perfectly. There's a relatively well-known setup which won a tank of the month competition over at cichlid-forum.com that had 16 in a 30G.

But, now it's a whole new ball game!!! The new tank is definitely on the cards now, when it wasn't even a consideration before.

The bizarre thing is: there's been no aggression whatsoever. I used to say this even when I thought they were saulosi: I've lost only one fish, and that was in the 1st week after putting them in to the (fishless cycled) tank. There were 8, now there are 7. The dominant male just nudges the others politely now and then, as if to remind them who's boss. No chasing, no fighting. I think it must be the decor: lots of territory.
But, now I discover they're a more aggressive species I'm even more dumbfounded! They really are bizarrely docile.
I should add: this isn't 'until they grow older or start spawning'. They already have. I'm on a 4th batch of fry as I speak (3 females holding now, 3 batches of fry released). They started spawning just before Christmas (my first batch was on Boxing Day, what a great Christmas present!). One female, then two, and now all four are in on the act lol.

The other occupants: two syno petricola, one syno multipunctatus (mis-sold as a baby petricola by that very same evil LFS!), and one LDA08 plec. All small fish that make up a good cleanup crew.

Definitely going to think about a 65G though for sure! Heck, it's the excuse I was after

 

[Fish Kid]

well it sounds like you should definitly upgrade to ~at least~ a 55gal but, well you know, 65 is even better!!! i think it is posible that because you have 3 males and 4 females, the distribution of "mutual hate" is pretty even!!!! well look 1 dominate male 2 little followers and 4 females..... (they have lots of room to umm well you get the point).... well thats the way i look at it..... although i would think about ~possibly~ adding another female... but if its going good you might just want to let it stay the way it is. (dont want to ruin something good) I find it amazing however that even though they are breeding there is no aggresion!!! remarkable.... you have something good.... even with the less aggressive cichlids that is unheard of....... hmm (just thinking)

 

[triazole]

yoikes! that's quite a surprise!
i'd let them be for the time being. but then again, i've never kept msobos.
btw, how did you figure this out?

 

[kay-bee19]

I have several metriaclima sp. msobo.

As juvies their aggressive nature is under-developed until sexual maturity is achieved (after which they become fairly aggressive).

Ironically, I've experienced exceptional female vs female aggression with this species (the males thus far have been relatively laid back). Interesting dimorphic species in any case:

 

[coldmachineUK]

Well, they've definitely reached sexual maturity since I'm on a 4th batch of fry right now. The dominant male nudges the others away from his spawning area when he's 'busy' but there's never aggression. No chasing, or fighting at all as I say. Very odd, after what I've read about them now.

triazole, I discovered it when I noticed my males weren't colouring up with the black vertical bands like I was expecting them if they were saulosi. So, I posted photos on a cichlid website forum, and people there ID'd them as msobo. They also posted some really useful articles and links, one of which shows the gradual colour transformation of the males and it matches mine exactly.
The only weird thing is that someone else then posted a photo of their msobo and they were really really dark blue, nearly solid dark blue. Totally unlike the other msobo photos I've seen (and different to my own fish). But, the folks in the forum agree that his are msobo too! All very odd... :S

 

[Fish Kid]

there is always the possibility that his tank conditions were poor.... or that there wasnt enough light in the tank (both of these easily contribute to cichlids colors being darkened.....) so even though it was darker if it had the same markings (they are kind of distinctive) then its probably still a msobo....

 

[triazole]

all i can say is - wait and watch!

 

[maxwell1295]

That is one heck of a mistake...and a good one at that! The Metriaclima sp. Msobo are some beautiful fish and probably my favorite among the mbuna that I do not have. One day, when I get a 180G Mbuna setup, I WILL have some of these in there!

As far as I know, they have already been moved from Pseudotropheus group into the Metriaclma/Maylandia group. The juvenile coloring is very similar to the Ps. Saulosi, but the Saulosi have slight barring that is laking in the Msobo. Still, I can see where an LFS could make a mistake.

http://www.malawimayhem.com/profile_show.php?id=554
http://www.malawimayhem.com/articles_msobo.shtml
http://cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=801

 

[coldmachineUK]

Thanks for all the replies, I really appreciate what people have to say.
Yes, it's still sinking in the whole thing :S

About the other guy's fish who were much darker than most photos I found online: well, I discovered a photo on the Cichlid-Forum.com that matches his, and it sure is the same species. It's just a colour variation, or how the light catches them I suppose. Most have the pale blue at the top and the darker blue blotches at the bottom like maxwell's photo shows.

Here's some photographs of my fish:

Here's a really good photo of how the males colour transformation takes place. You can see how the dominant male pictured in my photos is on about stage 3 (3rd pic from top):