How to Identify your Cichlids

Hi Everyone,

This is my first time posting a message on this board. Although I have had fish all my life I am fairly new to owning my own fish tank. I set up a 40 gallon tank about 2 1/2 - 3 months ago. I started off the tank with 4 cichlids. 2 I know where Jack Dempseys and the other 2 are some sort of purple peacocks (maybe zebras? they are very common at the local ps) Well I should start off by saying that the Jack Dempseys did not make it the tank with the africans. Anyways, once the tank levels were all balanced and we got the OK to get some more fish my husband went a little crazy and the ps. Now I know alot of people are going to come back and say that we have way to many fish in this tank but the fish seem to be doing great for now (probably because they are young and not full grown) anyways here goes, in the 40 gallon we have 14 fish all together plus 1 plecko.

Here is what i know we have
1 P.S. Red Top Zebra
1. Pseudotropheus Demasoni (I love this guy)
3 Pseudotrop auratus chuipokae
1 Jaco freibergi Peacock "Eureka"
1 O.B. Peacock (All Black, but seems to change colour in the light to a very light grey, then purple, then back to black)
1 Red Tail Shark
2 Red by Red (Anyone ever hear of this type of fish?)
1 Sheild Back Plecko


my question is this, i still have 4 other fish that i am completly stumped as to what they are. 2 of them I confused them with Yellow Labs as when we got them they were bright yellow with a dark line ontop of his top fin, once he was in the tank for a few hours his colour started to fade a little and i noticed that his top fin doesn't have a black line but almost neon (?) and his colour almosts looks green. (?) I went back to the pet store but of course they don't know what type of fish he is (Why do I go there?) and the other 2 fish are those 2 purple fish that i can't seem to name. I don't know why its like everytime I go to buy fish i see them there.

Well does anyone know how to name these fish? I can try to get their pictures on the web but my camera seems to not like me at the moment. I have searched numerous websites to try and find pictures of them but with no luck. I do know that they are all malawian cichlids (except for the Auratus')

Thanks everyone

 

Actually I think that Red by Red is a Red Zebra, But more Yellow then red

 

They could very likely be hybrids. A picture would really help.

-Chelle

 

I am gonna try and get a picture of them tonight and post it.

One other question, I keep up with weekly water changes of 25% and then once a month I take out all the rocks and clean under there. (Very Dirty) Is this to frequent of a water change. The fish don't act weird or anything. What would you suggest for water changes?

Does anyone know of any good websites for identifing cichlids. I did find one, www.malawimayhem.com . I thought it was pretty good.

 

I think I I.D'd the purple guys as Pseudotropheus Lombardoi. but i think they look more as zebras. does this ring a bell to anyone? http://aquascope.ru/modules/wfsection/images/article/1/Pseudotropheus_lombardoi.jpg

 

Ok I was able to get images of the fish in my tank that I was not able to identify. Hopefully someone will recognize them and let me know. Also, I want to appolagize for the size of the images. Thanks in advanced everyone.

First is the black guy, i think he is so cool because depending on the light he will change colours to a really pale black (almost grey with black stipes) I was told that he was a O.B. Peacock but i don't think he is.


Second we have the little red guy, he hasn't grown much since we got him about 2 months ago. I have no idea what he is any suggestions. You can't tell very well but on his brest he has some red in him


third and fourth is the orange guy and the yellow guy, this is the clearest picture i could get of them, sorry, i was told that the orange guy is a red by red i kind of think that he is a red zebra, any thoughts? The yellow guy, at first i thought he was a yellow lab but his colour changed to a more pale yellow (almost greenish) I went back to the pet store and saw alot more like him and I was told that he is deffinetly not a yellow lab. He has almost like a blueish line on his top fin, not sure if you can tell. Thats him in the very back inbetween the rock



fourth is the purple guy , not a great picture. I see the purple guy all the time at the local fish store but they can't give me a name. I have 2 of these and the other one has a more distinct colour difference, the purple is more deep.


And lastly i was told that this is a red top zebra and am pretty sure he is, any thoughts?


Thanks everyone for your help

 

#1 - definitely not an ob peacock. Pseudotropheus zebra would be my best guess.
#2 - can't really tell. If it's a peacock, it probably won't develop much color until it's older.
#3 - yup, looks like a red zebra.
#4 - little difficult to tell. Could be a Melanochromis johannii. Females and juveniles are kind of a yellowish orange. The only other thing that comes to mind is there is a hybrid of, I believe, a yellow lab and a red zebra that's getting more common. It basically looks like a yellow lab w/o the black on the fins and because of the red zebra, some could have more of an orange color.
#5 - looks like a kenyi Maylandia/Pseudotrohpeus lombardoi to me.
#6 - looks kind of like a red top to me.

-Chelle

 

Thanks for the reply! for number 2 do you think it could be a Jacobfreibergi peacock “Eureka” thats what the pet store told me. here is a picture of one online
http://species.fishindex.com/photo_969aulonocara_jacobfreibergi_eureka_peacock.html

 

Looks like it could be. Just got to wait for its color to come in more to be sure.

-Chelle