Unidentified malawi cichlid

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fishstixs05

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
May 10, 2003
Messages
485
Location
El Dorado Hills, CA
I have 4 malawis i got last wekk (see bargain post) and i cant tell what species they are. two are yellow with brown splotches. One is bright blue with a yellow eyespot on the tail. The last is the same only yellow. Sorry, I dont have any picture to show.
 
Pictures would help tremedously.. The yellow/brown ones sound like they MIGHT be OB Peacocks.. No idea on the blue. The yellow could be an electric yellow lab..
 
I dont think so, it doesnt have the black stripe on the top fin, and i ook at pics of OB peacocks, they are not at all like the two fish. Mine are pure yellow with a few distint brown splotches
 
The eyespots are usually called egg spots, and refer to a method that males use to tempt females to mate with them (a slightly wierd method of mating it is, too!).

There are lots of spp. of blue Malawi cichlids... the electric blue hap is the most famous, perhaps. Can't look up the species name coz I'm on a wierd computer. Try looking up "electric blue hap" though, and you'll get some results.

If that's wrong, and you want to browse a site that's got all the known Malawi spp. and pictures of most of them, go to www.malawicichlids.com. The site is fantastic; it has not only the great pix and brief descriptions, but it has plenty of resources on how to feed the fish, their evolutionary adaptations (if you believe in evolution, as I do) etc. Great site all around.
 
Found out 2 of them, the ones w/ the eye spot are types of zebras, but stil not sure on the ones with the brown/black splotches. Also, if those eye spots mean they are males, are they ok together or will they fight?
 
The eggs spots aren't an accurate method for determining sex in all species. With some Africans, both the males and the females will exhibit them. Your zebras with egg spots ARE males, however- and depending on how large the tank is, you may have serious aggression issues to deal with.
 
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