Species Identification

[Mbuniac]

Hello,
I am brand new to the Lake Malawi fishes and Africans in general, so please be patient with questions that have probably been asked a thousand times over. I have a 29 gal. tank, but am in the process of setting up a 125 (as soon as a finish the stand. I live in a small town and my only sources for fish are Walmart and a small pet shop that carries all sorts of pets. They generally don't have a clue as to the species (they group them all in one tank as "assorted African Cichlids). I just purchased two fish that the store told me were Bumblebees. The little research I have done has proven that to be wrong. Currently they are about 3" long, bright yellow with vertical black bands and a horizontal black band down the center of the side. Their bodies are somewhat slimmer than the two Red Zebras that I have. Can anyone help me identify them? It's important to me since I want to stick with Mbuna at least for the time being and need to know their specific needs.
Thanks ahead of time, Sam

[SGypsyMermaid]

welcome, mbuniac--they sound like juvenile pseudotropheus(maylandia? metriclima?) crabro which are sometimes referred to as 'bumblebees'.

http://www.ancistrus.ch/crabro.jpg

[jonah]

They do sound like bumblebees. There are numerous fish available to the hobby that have similar names so you may have better luck looking for a picture of Maylandia crabro. Google probably has scores of pictures of this fish. I think they get to about 6" in length and are generally considered aggressive. Males will turn primarily black with some yellow at maturity, while females will maintain juvenile coloration. I have several in one of my tanks and they don't seem anymore aggressive than my cobalt or kenyii.

Have you considered mail order fish? There's lots of good sources of cichlids that will ship. I think there might be an aquarium club in Idaho, they may be able to hook you up with a local breeder.

Good luck. :D

[chennes]

Maylandia Crabro:
http://www.cichlidforums.com/postimages/2002-09-16/1155-001.jpg



















(image from http://web.mit.edu/lxs/www/cichlids/together.html).
Chris

[Boilermaker]

Welcome, Mbuniac
There is another poster from a different site out of Pocatello, has a ton of africans. If your interested in getting a hold of him send me a PM.

[Mbuniac]

:D I'm so glad I found this forum! I have had tropicals and south/central american cichlids, but Africans are a whole new ballgame. I want to do this right, (my wife says I'm to anal) but she said it with love! I am sure I will appreciate your input more and more in the future. Thanks everyone for your replies! You hit em right on the head, Bumblebees they are. So far (2 wks) they are far from the most aggressive fish in the tank. I have two Aurata who's personalities are entirely different. The male is top dog, but doesn't bother anyone unless they get too close. The female chases everyone but not to bad. My largest Red Zebra and Bumblebee sort of ignore her and just move out of the way. The larger bb chases the smaller bb occasionally and the larger Zebra chases the smaller one.
Half of my aquarium is lace rock and there are plenty of nooks and crannies for hiding. The big difference I'm finding about my 125 gal. tank is that my arms aren't long enough. When I have to reach the bottom I have to take my shirt off to keep from getting it wet! Trying to "gently" set heavy rocks on the bottom is a real trick. Sorry about running on so long, I just got excited.
Thanks again, Sam

[SGypsyMermaid]

i don't think folks on this forum get their knickers into a twist about long posts--if they did--they would have kicked me out long ago! :lol:

[jonah]

:D The big difference I'm finding about my 125 gal. tank is that my arms aren't long enough. When I have to reach the bottom I have to take my shirt off to keep from getting it wet! Trying to "gently" set heavy rocks on the bottom is a real trick.

I know what you mean. One of my 125g's is decorated with Texas Holey Rock. One of the biggest pieces was over 75lbs :shock: . My back aches just thinking about it. When I first put them in they looked too white, but now they have a nice coating of green algae on them that my fish pick at constantly.