Cichlid ID

[Infamouz88]

Are these real Electric Blue Johanni? I bought two of these in separate occasion from Petsmart. The reason I ask is because one does have solid horizontal lines going across his body and the other has broken lines looking kinda vertical. Also does anyone know how to sex these guys? Is the female really yellow or just when they are juvenile?

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[Infamouz88]

Two Electric Blue Johanni

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[kay-bee19]

When taking into account the shape of the fish, it looks somewhat like a metriaclima msobo. The electric blue johanni (melanochromis cyanohabdos aka maingano) is more 'torpedo shaped'; the cichlid in question appears to have a bulkier 'build'.

But msobo's have blotched or streak patterns not stripes, so your fish a robust maingano with imperfect stripe patterns or may be something else entirely different(for comparison, here are some of my msobo's which I posted years ago:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f100/metriclima-msobo-magunga-262311.html#post2481057 ) .

M. cyanohabdos ('electric blue johanni') are a monomorphic species with both genders being born black/blue horizontally striped (not to be confused with melanchromis johanni, known simply as 'Johanni') which is a dimorphic species: both genders are born yellowish and as they mature the males transition into black/blue horizontally striped fish (the females remain yellowish); msobo's undergo a similar transition as seen in the msobo link above.

 

[Infamouz88]

@kay-bee19 : I see what you mean, the one with solid lines does look more of a torpedo shape. No broken lines whatsoever. The other one does look more robust and has the botched lines and I've noticed that he turns his color down a lot, almost not having black or faded black on his body. They supposed to be the same fish but seems like the one with the solid lines is more fuller in color. I will continue to see if I can spot more differences between the two, and does it matter that the dorsal find has one yellow dot instead of like 3 or more than what I've seen on the metriaclima msobo's? And you have really nice Msobos, I need to get some females if the blotched one is a Msobos because with the info you've provided the other might be an electric blue johanni.

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