What kind of cichlid is this?

[Courtney8526]

This was one of the first cichlids I got in October and I don't remember what it is called. Can anyone help me?

 

[mattrox]

It is an lake Malawi cichlid of some sort. Can't tell exactly which one. Do you have a shot of it directly side on?
The Cichlid Room Companion - Cichlid catalogue try this and check Pseudotropheus socolofi.

 

[Courtney8526]

I think that is it. I will try to get a picture of it from the side but I'm not sure how that will work out.

 

[mattrox]

They should be a nice blue colour.... May be still maturing.
Species Profiles -- Cichlid-Forum

 

[kay-bee19]

Socolofi's are blue when they're fry.

Probably a hybrid (partially socolofi and possibly partial melanochromis sp. due to the evident horizontal pattern).

 

[mattrox]

That's what I thought, but the cichlid room companion has one of a similar colour. Regional variation?

 

[1oscar]

lake malawi mbuna looks lie a kenyi

 

[kay-bee19]

That's what I thought, but the cichlid room companion has one of a similar colour. Regional variation?

The socolofi on that site is displaying stress barring (which can occur at times during certain circumstances and causing the coloration to shift from powder blue to steel blue). It shouldn't be a permanent 'pattern', though. Regional variation? Hard to say. The socolofi is an unmistakenly blue fish.

Courtney, can you post a 'broadside shot' of this fish as maddox requested?

lake malawi mbuna looks lie a kenyi

The fish courtney posted has no kenyi-like features at all. The shape of this mbuna's body and head greatly conforms with that of pseudotropheus socolofi, on the color/pattern is somewhat different (based on what is seen in that particular photo).

 

[Courtney8526]

I'm still trying to get a picture from the side, it isn't working too well. I'll have to try again today. That fish doesn't like the camer as much as some of the other fish like my albino. But I don't think that it's a kenyi. I have a kenyi in the same tank and they don't look the same.

 

[Courtney8526]

I got a few more pictures. Maybe these will help.

 

[kay-bee19]

Ok, based on the additional pics I'm going to revise my assessment and say it's probably a socolofi with lots of barring and not a socolofi/melanochromis sp. hybrid (the horizontal pattern isn't as pronounced as it first appeared); also it's a female.

Not the blue-est of specimens but it should lose the barring pattern as it becomes more dominant in the tank.

That pattern is typically displayed when the fish occupies the lower levels of the tank's pecking order or gets intimidated. In addition to the kenyi what other fish are in with it?

 

[Courtney8526]

There's an albino, acei, red zebra, yellow lab, cobalt blue and a giraffe cichlid that won't be in there much longer. I think it has gotten more blue around its face in the last month or so. It used to now have any blue at all.