yellow lab question ??

[littledevil]

my yellow malawi has got some dark markings around his mouth area whats this all about ?? had them before and it has cleared but its back should I worry ?????

 

[mr funktastic]

the darkening aroud the mouth usually indicates a male. is it spots or more just like a genal darness? he may be becoming the dominant male in the tank or is showing more for a female. i have seen one that looks like homer simpson and his 5 oclock shadow before lol it was awesome. maybe a pic? that would help also.

 

[littledevil]

he is the dominant male i will post a picture when i can catch him in front of the tank cheers

 

[toddnbecka]

That's an indication of a dominant male, though some males don't show it. There are yellow lab's from several different locations in the lake, apparently some don't have that trait.

 

[Zagz]

The markings are normal. It's a variation in coloring. Some males have it some don't. I have one male that has a 5 o'clock shadow. We call him Homer cause he looks like Homer Simpson.

 

[DeFeKt]

I'm not exactly sure if it's an indicator of it being a dominant male, be careful though, It possible it might mean this fish is getting to much protein.
What are you feeding it?

Also, what are your levels? It could also be an indicator of high nitrates.
My older EY Male is very VERY touchy to nitrates and stressful situations. He gets it when i've been lazy on waterchanges.

 

[DeFeKt]

Hey, just to be sure, by

yellow malawi

, I presume you mean Electric Yellow?

 

[Thebluyak]

mine has it too, i wouldnt worry to much about it.

 

[triazole]

black markings are a sign of questionable breeding. the bars/markings become more prominent when the fish becomes stressed - either from water quality, or dominance issues. the point is, its natural, and nothing much to worry about.

 

[DeFeKt]

the bars/markings become more prominent when the fish becomes stressed - either from water quality, or dominance issues. the point is, its natural, and nothing much to worry about.

I'm not sure if I understand sorry, If the fish is stressed, shouldn't there be something to worry about?

 

[mr funktastic]

if the fish is stressed they will have verticle lines down there body. the darkening around the mouth is something different.

 

[triazole]

If the fish is stressed, shouldn't there be something to worry about?

i'm sorry i wasn't clearer. definitely there's reason to worry over water quality issues. but, black bars due to stress generated from dominance issues are natural. i have had perfectly yellow labs develop and lose bars according to their current position in the social hierarchy.
i've read that pure-bred labs should be perfectly yellow. there was a huge debate on cichlid-forums.com a while back (and it continues to resurface now and then).

 

[travis simonson]

I've seen many of my alpha-male L. caeruleus develop black freckle-like spots around their mouths. I don't believe it is anything to worry about. If it's a sign of poor breeding then I need to look elsewhere for stock

 

[Zagz]

Here is a link that shows many different yellow's. If you scroll down the pics you will see one with dark coloring around the mouth.

 

[travis simonson]

Here's a pic of my current alpha-male with some of his kids and a nice 5 o'clock shadow

Nothing to worry about I'm thinking

 

[mr funktastic]

Here

i fixed your link for u zags. i think u have a healthy male yellow lab lol nothing problems to worry about

 

[DeFeKt]

Very informative article that. Andrea is actually a friend of mine/breeder/tank builder who is totally devoted to her fish. Probably around 70% of my fish have come from her or been bred from her colonies.

This comment

Electric yellow colouration is also widely affected by diet and medications. Some processed foods have the ability to turn the fish a muddy colour whilst fish that are fed natural (carotene) colour enhancement food tend to become peach/pale orange in appearance.

and the reference to the picture zagz spoke of

Bottom left denotes fish with a lot of black blotchiness throughout the body and “muddy” face mask.

is starting to make me think more along the lines of diet rather then water quality being an identifiable issue.

Understandably stress could also attribute to the markings becoming more prominant OR it could just be one of those line bred mysteries..who really knows?

I guess the moral of the story is that if there are no other signs of problems, don't be overly concerned..

 

[travis simonson]

I would note that some (disreputable) breeders will feed their stock hormones that artificially brighten them for a short period so that when buyers see them they appear very brilliant, but their color soon fades after purchase.

Almost all of my fish come from a very reputable wild-caught importer here in the Denver area, but I have seen the hormone-fed false coloration effect before. Just be careful where you purchase your fish, find a reputable dealer/breeder and you will be fine

 

[maxwell1295]

Some good info here. I'm looking for some Yellow Labs myself and I'm wary of picking up some bad stock. Luckily, I have a few local breeders.

 

[triazole]

as long as you don't sell the fish with bars to anyone, the "gene pool" is going to be safe and sound. personally i'm not a big fan of the purists, but just try to pass on the info.
this is the thread i was referring to earlier - http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=89428&highlight=yellow+lab+bars
however, i noticed that the points presented by a certain guy, SiEmIoN (from poland), were edited out in the forum - he spoke in favor of the barred-fish! but go through the views of Neil (RD) and Joea - things should be clear. and it seems some wild-caught labs do have black moustaches - but these traits are not desirable - and hence, frowned upon.