I don't ONLY keep bichirs.....new West African dwarf cichlid

[Fruitbat]

For those of you who believe that I'm stuck in a rut with bichirs and bush fish....allow me to introduce one of my latest acquisitions. This is Nanochromis transvestitus, a small African river cichlid. The transvestitus specific name comes from the fact that, unlike almost all other cichlids, it is the female of this species that is the more colorful and bears the fanciest pattern.

This is a young fish...only about 1 1/2 inches long....and I suspect it is a male. The other one is even smaller but has significantly more pattern in the tail so I suspect that one is a female. She's being coy right now so no picture of her as of yet.

-Joe

 

[Toirtis]

Drag queen fish, eh?

 

[Fluff]

Nice.

 

[Fruitbat]

Yeah Toirtis.....but the female ought to be a real mind-bender once she gets some size and colors up a bit. Here's a picture of one that I snagged from the web (Fishbase):

I'm hoping that mine will eventually look that good!

-Joe

 

[An t-iasg]

I think the fish in the first picture is pretty cute! He doesn't look like what I would call a cichlid. I guess that's the difference between an African river cichlid and a Rift Lake cichlid?

 

[Fruitbat]

An t-iasg...

Almost all of the Nanochromis species are long, slender types with big eyes. The most commonly available is Nanochromis parilus (which used to be shipped in as Nanochromis nudiceps but that is apparently a similar, though different species). I'm trying to get some other species of Nanochromis as well but, though they used to be fairly readily available many years ago, the dramatic increase in the popularity of Rift Lake cichlids means that the river cichlids are no longer imported as frequently.

-Joe

 

[Toirtis]

They are interesting...I have a friend with a few...he keeps open water cichlids, too.

 

[FishLover14]

Neat Fish!

 

[lmw80]

very nice looking!